The Long Way Gone And Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone

The war in Sierra Leone lasted eleven years and resulted in mass murder, destruction, and mainly, loss of innocence. This war impacted nearly everyone in the country, however its specific damage on the children of Sierra Leone is a tragedy that haunts the victims to this day. The Rebels killed and tortured thousands of innocent people and destroyed villages throughout the country. Boys as young as twelve were forced to form an army and fight against the rebels. Ishmael Beah, a young boy living amongst this war, tells his story in the book A Long Way Gone. He explains the gory and disturbing details of his life as a boy soldier. As the young boys were brainwashed into killing, the women and young girls of the country were being raped,

Mariatu, at the age of eleven, was raped by a man she knew and feared. “Salieu lay down beside me. I didn’t believe he would do anything to me if I appeared to be sleeping, but he started touching me all over, fondling my breasts and my hair, making his way in between my legs,” (Kamara 69). The young girl was so innocent she had not even understood exactly what happened to her. Not only did she not understand what trauma she had been through, she was also unaware that pregnancy and a child could come from rape, which it did. At the same age, Mariatu was tortured by rebel boys her own age. They cut off both her hands gruesomely. “I had no energy left as a boy took my other arm and held it down on the boulder. It took three attempts to cut off my left hand. Even at that, some of the flesh remained and hung precariously loose,” (Kamara 41). Subjected to torture, she was a victim. One could argue Ishmael was no victim, in fact he was a perpetrator and a killer, however the underlying goodness of this young boy’s heart proves his true desires and regrets. He was brainwashed into killing and committing sins he could not bare. He lost his innocence, something he could not regain. However his morality and values never left his side. In Ishmael’s book he writes a story about a monkey. Summarized, this story states; “There was a hunter who went into the bush to kill a monkey. When he was close enough to the monkey, he raised his rifle and aimed. Just when he was about to pull the trigger, the monkey spoke: ‘if you shoot me your mother will die, and if you don’t, your father will die.’ So what would you choose?” (Beah 217). Beah never revealed his answer as a child, but he always knew he would choose to shoot the monkey, because although he loved his mother and did not wish for her demise, if he shot this monkey, no other hunter would