A Long Way Gone
A Long Way Gone. Ishmael Beah. New York: Sarah Critchton Books, 2007, 229 pages. The theme of this book is to never give up on hope. Hope is what everybody should believe in and have because hope occurred in the past and will be there in the future. The author uses a lot of imagery, symbol, and builds a connection with the readers. In the country Sierra Leone, a war broke out in 1993 where the rebel turns against the government. The main character, Ishmael Beah, at age 12, face his hardest situation that took away his childhood. He has to find safety and his lost family. Many times he would get caught but his talent of rapping has helped him escape death because he has hope. Ishmael has a tough journey looking for safety until he settles …show more content…
Readers can relate to the narrator’s situation, as well as the universe. Everyone struggles in life and goes through many obstacles, such as losing a loved one. On page 208, Ishmael loses his beloved uncle. In denial, tears ran down his aunt’s and his face. Many people have gone through the heartbroken experience of losing someone special, like how Ishmael did. Readers who became independent at a very young age can relate to Ishmael. On page 49, Ishmael walked for two days straight and felt afraid. This mutual connection between the narrator and readers increases the readers’ interest to continue reading. Therefore, I strongly recommend this memoir for all people to read. Ishmael has done a splendid job continuing to have hope. He manages to survive and remain strong through 2 to 3 years during the terrifying war. Overall, creating a strong imagination, representatives, and being able to relate the memoir to the readers’ life was how I evaluated A Long Way Gone. Readers like to have vivid images in their head as they read, to examine the text and find many minimum interesting facts, as well as allowing themselves to think that they weren’t just the ones that has gone through a particular
Summary Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
357 Words | 2 PagesA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is the true story of Ishmael Beah’s, the author and narrator, experience leading into and eventually becoming a child soldier in Sierra Leone’s military during the Sierra Leonean Civil War. The story begins with Beah, then a twelve year old child, leaving his home village of Mattru Jong to attend a talent show where he and other boys, including his brother Junior, would hip-hop dance to their favorite music genre, rap. On his way he encounters his grandmother’s village where she convinces the boys to stay the night, in the morning he is stunned to learn that Mattru Jong was attacked by the Royal United Front (RUF) and that the people who were in the village were now dead or refugees. After this, Ishmael
Symbolism In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael
574 Words | 3 PagesSymbolism is used to help you not only understand the characters but also helps develop a coherent theme. In the long way gone the symbol used to help explain Ishmael’s struggles comes straight from his own pocket in the form of a beat-up cassette. It follows him along on the journey and with its demise you also see the tragic end of the childhood it has represented. When the fighting and violence started to occur brought by rebels and soldiers Beah and his friends still had the cassettes to enjoy and dance around with allowing them to still have an essence of childhood.
Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
355 Words | 2 PagesThe book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a memoir about himself involved in war as a child. War began happening in Ishmael’s hometown in Sierra Leone, which was Mogbwemo, so everyone broke apart and he lost his family, except for his brother. He had to start running away from the war to stay alive, so he went with some of his friends and his brother into different provinces of Sierra Leone. They went from village to village looking for food, shelter and safety. Ishmael was caught many times by the army and he thought he was stuck with them forever, but he escaped many different ways.
Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
486 Words | 2 PagesA Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is the painfully true biography of Ishmael, his elder brother Junior, their friends and their journey to out run a war that is occurring in their hometown, Sierra Leone. The majority of the story takes place in Sierra Leon in between the years of 1993 and 1998. Ishmael’s journey begins the January of 1993 when he is the age of twelve. Individuals have begun to revolt which takes everything a turn for the worse. The rebels have struck the country with fear and caused complete chaos by killing families and destroying what they once called home.
The Role Of Music In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
318 Words | 2 PagesIn Ishmael Beah’s personal memoir, A Long Way Gone, music courses through the story quite often. Music is first seen in Ishmael’s peaceful childhood. He and his friends enjoy singing and dancing along to music, in particular, Rap Music. As the story progresses, and the war becomes more prevalent in the young boys lives, rap continues to play a substantial role in their lives, just in a different way. At the end of Ishmael’s life story, there is yet another role that music plays.
A Long Way Gone Analysis
1110 Words | 5 PagesHis memories of war will haunt him forever. Another example of this can be seen when Ishmael is at the UNICEF rehabilitation center. Ishmael is able to sleep without the use drugs now, but does not stay asleep. He dreams of the man who almost slit his throat. He wakes up, sweating and punching the air, and runs outside.
A Long Way Gone Theme Essay
946 Words | 4 PagesThe major theme in the story A Long Way Gone is that with family and love a person can make it through anything. Overall Ishmael’s story is a very powerful, eye opening read; it informs people on a subject that some know little to nothing about, the civil war in Sierra Leone. Beah uses the theme of family and love, along with the use of symbolism and other literary devices, to inform a larger audience of the issues that he and others had to face while trying to survive in a war zone. A Long Way Gone, an autobiographical memoir, written by Ishmael Beah, takes place in Sierra Leone during the time of their civil war.
A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah Character Analysis
657 Words | 3 PagesWhat is the meaning of adversity? Adversity is the difficulties, misfortunes, and sometimes even trials one must face in order to jump over an obstacle. WWll, holocaust, Racism are all adversities that pertain to individuals and events in the past and the present. One of the events that happened was in Sierra Leone and it was a Civil war between different African tribes. This event is explained through the eyes of the main character in the book “A Long Way Gone”, and his name is Ishmael Beah.
A Long Way Gone Ishmael's Transformation
536 Words | 3 PagesI have recently read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, a well written story about his transformation from a young boy to a child soldier. He was taken when he was just a little boy, still enjoying his childhood and forced to fight and murder people. This isn’t the only transformation that I have seen when reading this amazing story. I see his transformation from a child to a soldier and a soldier to a civilized adult, something he struggles with a lot. In this essay, I will be telling you about the transformations I seen while I was reading this novel.
Long Way Gone Rehabilitation
834 Words | 4 PagesA Long Way Gone: War and Rehabilitation Following the life of Ishmael Beah in his autobiography, A Long Way Gone, readers experience how a young boy adjusted to drastic changes in lifestyles. The first- and perhaps more marked- change in lifestyle was when he became a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Army. The second was when he was taken away to be rehabilitated by UNICEF. Although there are several important components in both Ishmael’s life at war and his life during rehabilitation, it is his relationship with fear, how he deals with trauma, and his character in general which significantly share resemblances in each of the two mentioned lifestyles.
Music In A Long Way Gone
844 Words | 4 PagesBefore Ishmael was thrown into the chaos of war, he and his brother and friends were part of a rap dance group. The carefree nature and fun music of this group reflects his thoughts and emotions before the
A Long Way Gone Character Analysis Beah
1002 Words | 5 PagesFamily: You Never Know What You Have Until it is Gone Throughout the memoir “A Long Way Gone”, Ishmael told how he lost his family in war, through this experience he realized that his family is crucial to his happiness and well being, he also learned that he could form other family bonds with different people. “I wanted to see my family, even if it meant dying with them” (Beah 109). The definition of a family is not limited to blood relation, other loved ones can be family as well.
Ishmael Beah's Memories
775 Words | 4 PagesMemories “Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose”(Arnold). In the book a long way gone a boy named Ishmael beah tells his story. In this novel Ishmael’s village is eventually raided and he becomes on his own. Through being on his own he thinks of the past and memories of a better life. These memories that he thinks of can hinder him and help him along the way through his journey.
A Long Way Gone Conflict Analysis
1572 Words | 7 PagesA Long Way Gone Forest fires engulf tall rows of trees, turning green leaves and the homes of animals into ashes. Although fires leave a destructive trail of darkened groves, they create a chance for new life to develop. Nutrients find their way through the ashes into new soil, a new life begins to flourish, and old wreckages create new homes. Ishmael Beah, the author of ‘A Long Way Gone’, tells his readers his story that one man could never forget; new opportunities and chances for a better life often flourish in the ashes created from past challenges. The book ‘a long way gone’ is based on true events experienced by the author.
A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah: An Analysis
1841 Words | 8 PagesTo a child in a country of war, life can change “rapidly in a matter of seconds and no one [has] any control over anything. [They have] yet to...implement survival tactics, which [is] what it came down to” (Beah 29). Children who become soldiers are given hardly any choice because their families are usually dead, and without the army they have no family or way to survive during the war. The book “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah tells the story of how Ishmael became a child soldier in Sierra Leone during the war.
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