Ishmael Beah Analysis
Snatched from their families, with guns pointed at their heads, they are forced to kill. Beaten and drugged, they lose all moral values. They are brainwashed into believing that killing is required to survive. These people are children, innocent victims, who need rescue.
First of all, child soldiers are treated very poorly - like machines - to perform one task: kill. So, the captors do whatever they can to train the children to kill. Ishmael Beah, once a child soldier, was rescued by the UNICEF after being a child soldier for 2 years. As a child soldier, he saw crying children shot before his eyes, and he was brainwashed and drugged into oblivion. His captors desensitized him so much that he said, “Shooting became just like a drinking a glass of water.” So, when a child like Ishmael, who was
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They are forced to kill their best friends to prove they are loyal, if they don’t, they are killed. It comes to the point were shooting is “just like drinking a glass of water.” It is often argued that the children choose to stay and kill. Many ask, why didn’t they just desert? Why not shoot the commanders? Because they are afraid of what will happen if they do. Remember Sai Seng, beaten to death because he deserted? For child soldiers, disobedience is unacceptable. They don’t even think of disobedience because they see what happens to those who do disobey. They are told that spirits protect the commanders and they are brainwashed to just shoot at the enemy. A child soldiers life is full of threats. If you argued with the commander, you were threatened with death. If you refused to participate in executions and beatings, you were threatened with death. If you didn’t run straight into gunfire, you were beaten. They even tell them that spirits will kill them if they don’t stand tall in the path of gunfire. Charles, a 15 year old child soldier
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”.
I Ve Gotten Used To Killing Soldiers Analysis
115 Words | 1 PagesThe kids who are fighting are being bribed, manipulated, and brainwashed. In the article ‘Armed and Underaged’, it says, “They (the children) are easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless, and, most important, in endless supply” (Gettleman 6). Easily manipulated with many kinds of things such as drugs. Also stated is, “They don’t complain, they don’t expect to be paid-and if you tell them to kill they will kill” (Gettelman 6). That goes along with the whole brainwashing thing.
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857 Words | 4 PagesThey also do not have to live with the fear every day, wondering whether they will be killed or not. While reading an article from the New York Times, it has mentioned that rebels would just rip children from soccer fields to fight. They are considered the perfect weapon being easily manipulated and are considered fearless and loyal, unlike adult soldiers. (page
Should Child Soldiers Be Granted Amnesty Essay
569 Words | 3 PagesThis quote shows that many of them don’t have any interest in being soldiers, so they don’t want to be violent. “They are easily manipulated.” (Gettleman) Since they are only kids, we shouldn’t expect them to be mature enough to think about what they are doing as soldiers. Besides, most child soldiers don’t
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868 Words | 4 PagesMany young children under aged have been taken in by the government. They are being held captive tell they are drugged enough and brainwashed to go out and kill or to be killed. They are forced to train to kill under the influence of drugs and they are hardly aware of what they or doing. Child soldiers should be given amnesty because of the absents of their minds and them not being able to process what they are doing. These children are often seen as targets because they are under aged and not able to take responsibility for their actions so they are targeted to be able to kill without punishment.
Symbolism In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
607 Words | 3 PagesHow would you feel if you were recruited as a soldier during war? Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world. The importance of this is portrayed in Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone. The author believes that innocent kids should not be selected to fight as soldiers, lose their innocence killing people, witnessing violent scenes and suffer because of war.
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630 Words | 3 PagesSome other groups might say that the children wanted to join the militant groups. To be fair these children wanted to join because the commanders offered them
Should Child Soldiers Have To Be Right Essay
450 Words | 2 PagesThese people often claim that they could have been heroic and died rather than kill on the battlefield, but they physically can’t. As stated in a branch of the web article “Who Runs Your Life?” , there is actually a human instinct that comes with the portion of the “Fight or Flight” response that shuts down the frontal lobe, making people physically incapable of making a decision that would take their own life (Schwartz). This instinct is only active around the ages of 5-15, and just doesn’t work around 2% of the time. Uncoincidentally, about 1.5% of potential child soldiers refuse to join and are
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939 Words | 4 PagesThe most important reason why child soldiers should be granted amnesty is because it is not their will to commit these crimes, it is simply being forced into act they would never commit unless their life was on the line. Emma Gordon, writer on E-international Relations Students says, “Children are often abducted at a young age, brutally initiated and forced to commit heinous atrocities, they are undoubtedly victims of these conflicts” (2011). Gordon uses the word “abducted” which shows that most if not all of child soldiers don’t chose to live that way. Additionally, the bulletin health
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924 Words | 4 PagesDid you know, there are children who have never played in a park or played a video game? These children are called child soldiers. A child soldier is someone under the age of 18 that is used in war times as combatants, cooks, bombers, messengers, spies, and human shields. For years children have been recruited to join militaries and government groups in several countries across the world. These countries include Uganda, Myanmar, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, Colombia, Nigeria, and the Philippines.
A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah Summary
1458 Words | 6 PagesAlso, according to the Invisible Children Association, “...child soldiers are often forced into fighting through false promises. They are also forced into fighting through drugs and alcohol.” This shows how they are forced and they think what they are doing is okay because they are brainwashed. These children are being misled and sometimes threatened to commit horrible acts, that they wouldn’t do if they knew what was happening. But these children were never taught what is right and wrong.
The Perfect Weapon For The Meanest Wars Jeffrey Gettleman Analysis
233 Words | 1 Pages“The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars’’ is an article by Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times on the subject of child soldiers. All over Africa militias are fighting each other for control over certain areas. These militias have deployed four foot tall killing machine that terrorize, loot, and destroy village after village these weapons: child soldiers. Mozambicans have learned that children were the perfect weapon since they were easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and most important in endless supply. There are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide experts say that the nature of the conflict changes especially in Africa.
The Pros And Cons Of Child Soldiers
1646 Words | 7 PagesAn unhealthy obsession with guns, being drugged to make killings seem normal, and being undoubtedly loyal to commanders is only part of what a child soldier is. Child soldiers can be dangerous and make up many armies in war-torn countries. In much of the world, usually in unstable countries, when conflict breaks out, children can quickly be swept up and put on the front lines to fight. Children may carry ten-pound guns and use bullets twice the size of their fingers. Some children are old enough to understand what they are doing, and others have no idea.
Essay On Psychological Effects On Child Soldiers
996 Words | 4 PagesScenes such as these are difficult to erase from one’s memory. There is an old saying that one must walk a mile in someone’s shoes to even begin to empathize and understand their life. However, no amount of walking would make it easier to grasp the horror that child soldiers are witness to. In countries and wars all over the world, kids are being forced to fight in battles that are not even theirs. No matter how much war may be glorified by some cultures, there are incredibly negative side effects on those who survive it.
Argumentative Essay On Child Soldiers
1422 Words | 6 PagesAssignment page Video Where many children all over the world merrily and freely live under the protection of the law, for others, this is a distant reality, they live in a world where they’re battling poverty, stripped of their childhood and basic human rights are expunged, they’re the innocent victims of conflict, and war is made to seem their one and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. They are put into a situation where it’s to kill or be killed. The United Nations defines a child soldier as, “Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” Since the past 15 years, child soldiers are being used in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their families and forced into becoming a child soldier, where living conditions are beyond imaginable.
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