Character Analysis: A Long Way Gone
The use of children in the Sierra Leone Civil War was widespread, with up to 10,000 children taking part in the conflict and up to eighty percent of RUF forces between the ages of seven and fourteen. Ishmael is one of these children. In his memoir, A Long Way Gone, Lieutenant Jabati and his men exploit several techniques to transform these frightened children into ruthless killing machines. They do this through the use of drugs, pop culture, as well as character and emotional manipulation. Tactics like these create habits and addictions that are almost impossible to break. First, drugs and alcohol were prevalent in the war and were used as a prerequisite before combat exercises. Beah is given white pills before his first raid, he was told they …show more content…
They are taught to funnel all their built up emotions against the rebels. The corporal tells them to, “Visualize the enemy, the rebels who killed your parents, your family, and those who are responsible for everything that has happened to you.” The corporal would say this over and over, and soon the kids were accustomed to taking out their hatred on the rebels. They wanted to kill. Beah and the other boys trusted their military leaders, lieutenant Jabati especially. They no longer had any sort of parental figure in their lives, and Jabati fills in this void. He recites Shakespeare with Ishmael for example, something his father used to do with him. He uses his influence to further distance them from their old selves, organizing competitions in which the person who kills their prisoner the fastest is the winner. This is a big step for some of the boy soldiers, as they have to execute someone while looking them in the eyes. When Beah won one of these contests, he was promoted to junior lieutenant. He writes that the combination of drugs made him fierce and killing had become as easy as drinking water (Beah, 2007). At this point Beah’s innocence is completely gone, he enjoys killing, and claims that being apart of something makes him feel
Summary Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
447 Words | 2 PagesThis led to Beah and his family separating and doing anything to survive. Beah experienced many terrifvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vfdv dfv df v fdv dfv fdv dfv dfmv mdf vmdf vm dfvmfvdfvdfvying moments during the civil war in Sierra Leone and he helps us see what happens to him
Summary Of Memoirs Of An Addicted Brain
1172 Words | 5 PagesThe book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain follows Marc Lewis and his adventures in doing different types of drugs. Marc goes to boarding school in Boston, Tabor, where he was homesick and being bullied by the other children. Marc starts doing drugs to fit in. He started using legal drugs like cough medicine and alcohol but progressed to doing more illegal drugs like marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD. The more illegal drugs were accessible at the Berkeley university since there was a large hippie movement.
Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
957 Words | 4 PagesIshmael Beah’s novel provides the historian with highly explicit illustrations of child soldier initiated violence. In a general sense, forcing children to commit war crimes was done for educational purposes. It was thought by factional and military leaders that juveniles would immediately become more accustom to death if they spilt the blood of a defenceless man. Beah explains how he “practiced killing the prisoners the way the Lieutenant had done it”. He asserts that “the person whose prisoner died the quickest would win the contest”.
The Responsibility Of Ishmael Beah's Attacks In Sierra Leone
338 Words | 2 PagesAn autobiography, of which Ishmael Beah unwillingly becomes a child solider due to a civil war that has arisen in Sierra Leone. Before the attacks had happen, Ishmael and his elder brother Junior had gone from home to perform Rap in Mattru Jong with their friends. Not long after their arrival, news of the rebels had come to their attention having raided their home town and no sign of their families being unscarred from the warfare. Ishmael, and his group of friends sought out to travel to each village seeking out their family. However trouble comes across due to the majority of RUF rebel attacks were caused by children around their age, many villagers had no trust for these kids.
Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
730 Words | 3 PagesOne of the most famous male child soldiers was Ishmael Beah who fought in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah later wrote a novel titled A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier in 2007. In this novel, Beah describes his personal experiences in a nonconventional military unit and its affects it had physically and mentally. The grave detail of the novel enables the readers to fully understand the seriousness of this phenomenon. Beah experienced many life changing events in his life beginning at the age of twelve.
Attachment In Ishmael's Benin Home
704 Words | 3 PagesIshmael has accept the fact that the war has ruined his enjoyment of meeting new people. Because of him going into villages and being chased out because they believed he was a rebel, Or having to go through other villages because he knew nobody there and he knew what was coming to their village and he did not want to stay had ruined the experience for him until later on in his life. Ishmael's experiences force him to deny his emotional side in order to survive. His flight from RUF attacks on the various villages in Sierra Leone requires him to let go of attachments to family and friends. Although he holds out hope to see his family, he has no choice but to close off himself to the world.
Essay On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
426 Words | 2 PagesA Long Way Gone is a memoir of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, who struggles to keep his humanity. Ishmael Beah, the author, achieved success once he went off to speak at the United Nations conference and when he realized that he could not go back to the war. Beah achieved success when he went off to New York and spoke at the United Nations conference. As Beah sat around the conference listening to all the other children that represented their country, Beah sat proudly “behind the Sierra Leone name plaque..
Examples Of War In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
816 Words | 4 PagesWar is a terrifying occurrence to be a part of but for most people, it is not part of their daily lives, and only know of it from history books and movies; But in Some countries, war is a part of people's daily lives. In his nonfiction memoir, Ishmael Beah develops his purpose to educate people on how war is not as cool as it seems through the use of being numb to emotion and drugs. Numbness to emotion is prominent in the novel. Ishmael has become a child soldier for the government and is now getting ready to kill a prisoner they captured. Ishmael writes, “The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and [he] [grabs] the man's head and slit his throat…” “...
Ishmael Beah
908 Words | 4 PagesA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a written, first-hand experience by the author himself, Ishmael Beah. After surviving the war, he did a fantastic job describing his journey for survival. The memoir is very descriptive and a good read. Beah writes about the horrors that he saw when he was a ‘Boy Soldier’. This novel is another addition to the collection of nonfiction survival stories.
A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
840 Words | 4 PagesWar is a devastating site to witness for anyone, but imagine being child in the middle of a civil war having to decide whether to kill or be killed. A twelve year old boy named Ishmael Beah, along with many other children, faced this challenge during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He later wrote about his journey in his memoir A Long Way Gone. Ishmael’s story consists of a conflict between the government and rebels.
The Theme Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
1109 Words | 5 PagesIshmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High School English IV curriculum because it exposes the students to the lives of the children in Sierra Leon who’s lives have been altered due to the war and it presents the theme of survival, and what humans will do in order to survive, whether it means hurting others along the way. Right off the bat, Beah starts off his memoir with describing his childhood when all he worried about was going to school and dancing with his brother and friends to the rap music on the tapes he carried around with him everywhere. The way that Beah depicts his childhood, is one without worry and laid-back, but all that changed when the boys decide to leave their village, Mogbwemo, for Mattru
The Theme Of Loss Of Innocence By Ishmael Beah
994 Words | 4 PagesYet in Sierra Leone more than 10,000 fighter were children (Dumbuya,1). War in this third world country alted every inhabitant’s life and view on war because it was fought in their backyard. “ My uncle was sitting on the verandah, tears in his eyes... he embraced us for a long time and told us not to go to the city anymore (Beah 207)”. Everyday tasks like getting food from the city were changed because of the war.
A Long Way Gone Annotated Bibliography
1454 Words | 6 PagesAnnotated Bibliography Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. N.p., n.d. PDF file. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a book that retells his own experiences as a child soldier.
A Long Way Gone, By Ishmael Beah
477 Words | 2 PagesWho is Ishmael Beah? Why is he important in Sierra Leone history? Well, Ishmael Beah is the author of A Long Way Gone, and, more importantly, former child soldier of Sierra Leone. A Long Way Gone is an autobiography of how Beah faced the violence of Sierra Leone. Today, he stands to help children avoid the vision of war; to protect children’s rights.
Figurative Language In A Long Way Gone
841 Words | 4 PagesIshmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High School English IV curriculum because the conflicts in Sierra Leone are still relevant in today’s society, and the figurative language and symbolism reveal the human resilience to survive. These are important ideas to an English IV student because learning from the past can assure we will not repeat these mistakes in the future, and learning about someone who went through very difficult circumstances and still prevailed helps prepare us for the harsh real world. Most importantly, the conflicts in Sierra Leone are still universal problems in today’s society. One night while Beah lays in bed and reflects on the days meeting with Esther, he begins to have flash backs of the first time he slit
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