Long Way Gone Themes

There were many themes illustrated throughout the memoir, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael beah. These themes include survival/resilience despite great suffering, the loss of innocence, the importance of family/heritage, the power of hope and dreams, the effects of injustice on the individual, and the importance of social and political responsibility. Every theme listed has a great meaning, and the author puts them in there for the readers to analyze and take with them when they finish reading the book.
The theme of survival/resilience despite great suffering was shown throughout the book. Ishmael’s ventures from village to village while running away from the RUF, going through treacherous circumstances such as burning sand, angry citizens, and even

confronting RUF soldiers. When a problem would arise in front of Ishmael, he found a way around it, whether it be using lucky opportunities to your advantage or trying to live using survival tactics. When the rebels and the ARFC had a joint attack on Sierra Leone as Sobels attacked the city of Freetown whilst Ishmael was living with his Uncle, he survived due to his childhood forming him to become a survival master in the circumstances that he was facing. For example, on page 206, line 2, Ishmael states, “We lay in the gutter for six hours, waiting for nightfall. Chances to escape death were better at night, because the red track of the bullets could be seen in the dark.” If Ishmael hadn't of been a soldier with lots of experience, he would not of had the patience to lay in the gutters, and he would of not known when to set out and run away. However, even though Ishmael being a boy soldier may look like it has benefits, it had many misfortunes too, such as the loss of innocence.
Before and during Ishmael’s time as a youth soldier, he lost so much innocence due to two major events. The first of these events is when he realizes his whole family has died and he would have to live the rest of his life without them. On page 95, line 19, when Ishmael found out his parents have been burned to death, the author shows how he was feeling, “I screamed at the top of my lungs and began to cry as loudly as I could, punching and kicking with all my might into the weak walls that continued to burn.” When Ishmael realizes his family is gone, he goes into a breakdown, losing all his innocence because he now knows that he will never see his family again, and he wants to kill the people who killed his parents. The second, and most innocence stealing portion of Ishmael’s life was the period when he begins his life as a soldier and goes out mercilessly killing for resources and revenge. He could kill anybody without caring about the person or the family they come from. Due to how important family was to Ishmael, if the family was not killed, Ishmael’s childhood and innocence could still be partly in tact.
Another huge theme in the book is the importance of family and heritage. When Ishmael loses his family, he gives up hope in a way, and kills the rebels in vengeance for his family. Due to how important Ishmael’s family was to him, he felt like that ne needed to avenge their deaths by killing as many rebels as he could. Later in life he regretted that decision, however, it still shows how important family is to an individual and what effects there are if the family is taken away. Another scene where family plays a major role in Ishmael’s life is when Ishmael’s Uncle takes him to his family. When Ishmael meets his Uncle for the first times, Ishmael’s contentment with life and with himself increases rapidly. On page 175, line 24, Ishmael states, “I loved the walks with my uncle, because they gave me a chance to talk about my childhood, about growing up with my father and older brother. I needed to talk about those food times before the war.” These walks would give Ishmael a new hope at a family and would let Ishmael express himself to a now close family member.
The power of hope and dreams plays in the role of Ishmael’s thrive to find a better place for himself. Whilst Ishmael was continuously running from the RUF, his spirit stayed with him and he persevered because he hoped to meet up with his family again. An example where this is shown is on page 69, line 14 , where Ishmael tells the reader, “I thought about where my family was and whether they were alive” Ishmael needed to know if his family was still out looking and worrying for him, and his ultimate goal was to reach them whilst surviving whatever obstacles came his way. At the end of the book, Ishmael is hoping to temporarily stay with Laura Simms in New York City in order to find a better life for himself out of Sierra Leone. With the power of his hope, he pushed through any obstacles that came his way and did eventually reach New York to later on marry Laura, which happens after the book left off.
A very prevalent theme in the memoir is the effects of injustice on the individual. An example of this theme is shown when Ishmael’s family was basically confirmed dead, he felt injustice and wanted revenge. Due to his want for revenge, and his peers encouraging this revenge (along with his army’s lieutenant), Ishmael went mercilessly killing others with his army as revenge. A quote from the book that proves Ishmael wanted revenge for his family is on page 112, line 15, when the army lieutenant was showing the orphans how to kill the rebels by using banana trees, “...Remember, he probably killed your parents worse. Continue.” He wiped his knife with banana leaves. When he said this, we all got angry and drove our knives in and out of the banana trees until they fell to the ground.” Even though the lieutenant may of taken advantage of the orphans want for revenge, later on in the story he knew what was best for them.
The last theme is the importance of social and political responsibility.

An example of social responsibility is when the lieutenant gives up some of his young soldiers to UNICEF (which hurts his army’s power) because he knows that they will have better lives there as a growing child. A time where political responsibility is shown is the UNICEF staff has gone through a lot of troubles with rehabilitating their rescued children. Whether it be the former soldiers fighting against each other, fighting the staff, or them just not wanting to try and better themselves throughout the rehabilitation process, the staff always knows how to better the situation and they never give up on their kids. Whenever the kids at rehabilitation would hurt the staff misbehave the staff would say, “It is not your fault that you did such a thing to me,”, stated on page 140, line 13. Another example was when the kids were misbehaving at their new school, and instead of the instructor yelling or getting mad, he said, on page 148, line 24, “It’s not your fault that you cannot sit still in class You will be able to do so in time.” The staff at Benin home had good hearts and continually tried to better the former soldiers lives as much as they could.
In conclusion, there is a numerous amount of themes in the book, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah. These themes, along with other morals shown in the book, can be learned by the books readers, and Ishmael problems can relate to other people’s problems, which can help them get through the struggles they are having in today’s

life.