Ishmael Beah
A 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. This is Ishmael Beah’s most famous novel. This nonfiction story captures the author 's childhood. This novel was mostly everything I expected from a war story; combat, chaos, and casualties. I would say that some of the scenes described were a little to gruesome. This civil war significantly took a toll on Beah; socially, mentally, and physically. A …show more content…
Being a partial American teenanger, I would say that American teenagers should read this book. This book has made me be very grateful for what I have, from the parents I have, to the clothes I wear, and to what I get on my dinner plate. I cannot even imagine Beah’s childhood. I cannot even think how I would cope with the fact that all of my loved ones are gone. On top of that he had to kill to survive. Many American teenagers complain that they hate their life because their parents took their phones away for the weekend and/or their closet does not have enough clothing in it. Beah’s childhood makes our childhoods seem like paradise. It is important for American teens to read this novel because then they can understand how grateful they should be for the things they have. Beah had to undergo war, and that had many negative effects which some privileged teens would say only happens in books.
The Sierra Leonean Civil War had a very negative effect on Beah. Ishmael Beah lost his brother, his mother, his father, his friends, his uncle, his belongings, and his mentality. This theme is important because it shows the consequences of war. It changed who Beah was. Before the war, Beah was an ordinary African school boy who after school played with his little brother, Junior. After the war he became a merciless ruthless killer who live to kill smoke marijuana, clean his gun, or
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
Compare And Contrast A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
503 Words | 3 PagesThe impact of war can have very harmful effects on people, especially children. In “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, he explains the war of Sierra Leone from his point of view. The tragedy of losing his family, becoming a boy soldier, and the effects of war is said throughout the book, making it an interesting story to read. But, while Ishmael explains what he went through, it is hidden that other people were affected by the actions he took. Although Ishmael did play a victimizer, he was also a victim at the same time.
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.
A Long Way Gone Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier By Ishmael Beah
469 Words | 2 Pages"A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah, has permanently altered my understanding of "Civil War". Due to the way Ishmael Beah talked about his own near death experiences, children who read his book can now have knowledge of war, from a child's perspective. The absurd savagery Ishmael was exposed to, taught him lessons a child like myself should never have to learn. Reading this book has brought light of the many intentional and unintentional consequences of war. Ishmael had been born in Mogwemo, a poor segregated village, like most of the regions in Sierra Leone.
Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
867 Words | 4 PagesIn Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah decides to write about his time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. When he made the decision to publish his story, Beah was trying to tell three main messages to his readers. He was first attempting to get the message out to the world that conflict in Sierra Leone was a serious issue, given that at the time that he wrote his book, most Americans couldn’t even locate Sierra Leone on a map; he also tried to show how human nature can cause people to do uncharacteristically terrible things in desperate situations. Finally, Beah was also trying to portray the message that despite the immense, grief, guilt, anger, and pain that people can feel after being affected by a violent situation, a person can always be healed, if enough work is put into helping them, no matter how damaged that
Themes Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
1749 Words | 7 PagesIn “ A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael recalls moments in his life where he experienced servere pain, felt distress and depression. The book expresses many themes including: “war is terrible” and “there is always love and friendship”. Ishmael stuggled to gain back his childhood, which was now filled with war memories, in hopes of starting a new life away from the war. Ishmael thought to himself “This was one of the consequences of the civil war. People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy”(37).
Ishmael Beah Narrative Report
777 Words | 4 PagesGabe Tonucci 8/20/2015 “These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past”(Beah 20). After a month of living in the relative safety of New York City, Ishmael Beah haunted by the events that he witnessed and took part in during the war. No one in New York could possibly understand what he had to go through, leaving all these thoughts trapped inside of his head. Not helping his situation is the fact that every night he tosses and turns from having nightmares we witnessed the RUF preform and the horrible things he did himself. He is a young man divided against himself, as his country had been divided against itself - in both cases, due to the rebels' violent actions.
A Long Way Gone Analysis
1110 Words | 5 PagesNot experiencing war is a luxury many people unfortunately do not get; however, Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone, lives and survives the war, though not without heartache. With war there is always fear, death, and hell. Ishmael Beah proves war is hell through the killing of civilians, the distrust, and the after effects of the war. Ishmael proves war is hell through the killing of civilians. Many innocent bystanders of the war are forced out of their homes, made to run for their lives.
A Long Way Gone Literary Analysis Essay
672 Words | 3 PagesThe human condition is full of paradoxes and double meanings. We can commit the most shocking and terrible acts, but we can complete the most virtuous and honorable feats. Ishmael Beah describes the appalling and violent behavior he and other children exhibited toward the human life during his time in the Sierra Leonean civil war in his memoir, A Long Way Gone. Beah also details the forgiveness and kindness of complete strangers that helped him become the man that fate meant him to be. Homo sapiens are complex creatures brimming with irony and surprises.
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.
The Concept Of Family In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
273 Words | 2 PagesWhen the war had just begun, Ishmael was driven to continue by his biological family, “I wanted to see my family, even if it meant dying for them” (Beah 96). As the war continues his biological family drives him in a different way, “I got angrier, because they looked
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier
1294 Words | 6 PagesThe book “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” is an autobiography about a boy named Ishmael who went through so much at a young age. This book should be read because it’s a story you could relate to and give you a perspective of how society is today than it was before and how it has affected people across the world. On the (front cover of the book) Carolyn See from the Washington Post says “Everyone in the world should read this book… We should read It to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.” She’s right, reading this book will provide you with facts you never known and could change the way you see things today.
A Long Way Gone Conflict Analysis
1572 Words | 7 PagesAt the age of 13 till the age of 16 the author, Ishmael Beah, pulls himself through many terrible conflicts in Sierra Leone. The author uses conflict to show his readers the realism of his story. By using conflict in many different ways, it allows readers to gain an understanding of how Ishmael struggles changed his life for worse and for better. By using person vs person, person vs society, person vs self, and person vs nature conflict the author is opening doors allowing readers to get a full understanding of Ishmael 's challenges of a life in war. The most commonly seen conflict in ‘A Long Way Gone’ is person vs society.
A Long Way Gone Character Analysis
1035 Words | 5 PagesLater, UNICEF came and decided to take Ishmael out of the war and put him in a rehabilitation center. In this part of the novel, the reader can see how his desire for killing has controlled him completely. By fighting and killing rebel members in the rehabilitation center and beating up the guards to force them into doing what the children wants to do, the reader can see that the war has changed their ways of life and thoughts. The army was able to change Ishmael 's desires and from that, he became a deadly
Reflection On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
498 Words | 2 PagesThe way Beah explained what happened to him, he did it in a sad way. My response to the writer is that I feel sorry for him. I cannot relate to him in any way since I have never been exposed to war and even been a soldier fighting in it. He was strong through the hardest part of his life; the actual war itself, rehabilitation, and ultimately escaping Freetown, Sierra Leone to eventually fly over to New York and start a new life. Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, replays a part of Beah’s life that will always be very vivid to him.
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