A 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. Ishmael, accompanied by close friends, is traveling through Mattru Jong when he firsts hears of the rebels attacking his village Mogbwemo. Once they give up searching for …show more content…
Ishmael Beah being number one for he is the author and narrator of this account. He retells his journey, fighting to run from war and battle with internal struggles. After being captured, brainwashed and beaten Ishmael is finally given a break. He has the chance to recovery and is reunited with his Uncle Lennie. Lennie assists Ishmael in his recovery and helps him to remember the happy times with his loved ones. Eventually Beah finds himself in New York City where he shares his stories with avid listeners. Junior Beah is Ishmael’s elder brother who was separated from his brother during the war. Junior shared interests with Ishmael and they both enjoyed the music that saved their lives, rap. Ishmael’s Uncle Lennie also plays a major role in Ishmael’s journey because he helped ease him back into everyday life. As the reader he is the only living family member we are introduced to. While Ishmael was in rehabilitation center he was assisted by a nurse by the name of Esther. She took Ishmael under her wing and treated him as a brother. She purchased him a cassette player and tapes to listen to. Once Ishmael is released and arrives in New York he soon meets a storyteller names Laura Simms. She takes time to listen to Ishmael and becomes the mother figure in his
A 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
“My squad is my family, my gun is my provider and protector and my rule is to kill or be killed. ”(Ishmael Beah)”A long way gone”was written by Ishmael Beah and published in 2007. Ishmael Beah was very happy kid he was really close to his family but they were seperated when the war happened with the rebels, later on he was caught by the rebels but he was able to escape, the rebels killed all his family so he was recruited by the army, they gave him drugs so he wouldn’t feel anything he had no emotions. The three most important scenes in this story include when Ishmael was alone in the jungle, when Ishmael was in the army,and when Ishmael was NYC.
In the memoir, A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael faced the tragic start of war in his home place, Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone on January of 1993. At just the age of twelve his village had been wrecked by rebels who had been going to other villages as well. It was just a normal happy day before everything had occurred. When the news spread, Ishmael, his brother, Junior, and friend, Talliou were at a rap performance. They left in search for money and any family, but everything was gone.
A Long Way Gone: Fact or Fiction? Throughout A Long Way Gone, the author, Ishmael Beah, describes in great detail the atrocities that were committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war. Before being forced to get involved in the war, Beah was an innocent child with a passion for hip-hop music. After joining the army, his thoughts and actions became increasingly twisted and immoral.
A Long Way Gone is an autobiography written by Ishmael Beah, the book details his childhood throughout the Sierra Leon civil war. The book shows how you can turn an innocent child into a killing machine. We see both sides of the warring party do this with them drugging the children, turning them against the enemy with propaganda and threatening them with death. These are the factors that made a quarter of all the soldiers within this war under the age of eighteen.
In 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.
In hard times family should be there for one another; but not in his case. He was all alone. When his uncle came to take him back to his house to live, Beah was unsure and did not want to believe his uncles identity. His uncle then began crying and Ishmael was assured his uncle was telling the truth. In this case if they had read the whole memoir they would understand losing family would not be cool, nor would they want to experience that
A second way we see that Ishmael will always be human is when he accepts Esther as his sister and is happy with the connection. Ishmael reminisces, “That afternoon, as Esther walked away from where I sat on the rock, she continually turned around to wave at me,
They are eventually separated, and Ishmael finds a group of boys his age.
The 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.
What 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.
Revenge Isn’t so Sweet “While seeking revenge, dig two graves - one for yourself,” says Douglas Horton, an academic leader. A Long Way Gone shows us a story of revenge when a young boy gets swept up in a war after his family is killed at only twelve years old. Ishmael Beah in the novel A Long Way Gone illustrates that revenge is never the answer when he joins the army out of spite, loses his humanity in the war and struggles to forgive himself after his journey.
Beah was exposed to and committed many offenses such as killing, stealing, and many forms of trauma. After a few long years, sixteen-year-old Beah is taken out of the war by UNICEF and sent to a rehabilitation center. Eventually, Beah is helped to find
Who 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.
(Conclusion) Ishmael Beah narrated his personal experience from an honest point of view. By doing so, he enabled the reader to understand everything he chose to explain head on, with no barriers. The reader was able to know what Beah went through, in his own words. “I began to cry quietly and all of a sudden felt dizzy,” (Beah 34). The readers were able to understand how he felt in certain situations.