Ishmael Beah Themes

In the book reveiw for Ishmael Beah’s memoir, “Babes in Arms” the author, William Boyd, outlines the difficulties Ishmael Beah had to go through as a child soldier. As a result of the war in Sierra Leone, the wartime experience Beah had to withstand as a child impacted his life. First of all, there were many obstacles Beah had to face as a child soldier, but one in specific was the separation of his family. This can best be explained in the following quote, “A 12- year- old is conscious only of immediate circumstances, and in Beah's case the arrival of the rebels in his small town meant sudden separation from his parents…”(Boyd.

Ishmael Beah is only twelve years­old when his village in Mattru Jong is attacked in January of 1993. He happened to be on his way to another village to perform a show with his brother, Junior and a few of his other friends at the time. That’s when his entire life is turned around. He has to travel from place to place, running from rebels (Revolutionary United Front), struggling to survive, losing his brother in the process. Eventually, he is alone and meets another group of boys that he recognized from his secondary school back in Mattru Jong.

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.

An 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.

Memoirs of a Boy Soldier ★★★★ I rated this book 4 stars because I really enjoyed reading this book and learning about what goes on with the children(mainly boys) out in Sierra Leone. It was interesting knowing that these are the kind of things that happen in the third-world countries and the children are forced to live through it. 2. Page Number: 33 Short passage: “He kept screaming, ‘My head! My brains!’

yeEven though This book was very boring and hard to get through,i’m glad i finished it. Ishmael tells his story in graphic detail. He starts from the very begining at his village. Ishmael along with his hip hop group walk to a nearby village .

Ishmael 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.

According to chapters 20 through 24, the author develops Ishmael as an advocate of whaling. Specifically focused in chapter 24, Melville introduces Ishmael’s opinions, thoughts, and advocacy on whaling and the amount of respect whalers. For example, in the passage, Ishmael argues, “I am all anxiety to convince ye… of the injustice hereby done to us hunters of whales... one leading reason why the world declines honoring us whalemen, is this: they think that... our vocation amounts to a butchering sort of business…” This allows the reader to understand Ishmael’s determination for justice to whaling, developing him into a deeper character with personal views and opinion to create a realistic characteristic for him.

Nature in “A Long Way Gone” is often described as beautiful but also dangerous, for example he describes many villages out in the country do not have running water or electricity and are surrounded by bushes and jungle. Ishmael can see a grander perspective when confronted by natural beauty. Ishmael strives to be like the moon, he is adept at living off of the forest when he is stranded, and he rejoices when he sees the ocean for the first time. Also, during the story the forest is described as nature foreshadowing the evil that is coming because of the war. Ishmael could not outrun the evil because forest did not end, and even when it did end to the beach that just meant he had nowhere else to run, and that eventually the evil will come.

In this chapter, Ishmael is in Lima, Peru and is talking to two of his friends, Don Pero and Don Sebastian. The story he tells takes place before the events of the book and the story goes like this: The Town-Ho was a sperm whaling ship from Nantucket and it had started to take in more water than usual. The captain assumed a sword fish had stuck the bottom of the ship and it wasn 't huge issue. After a few days at sea, with the crew taking up multiple shifts of pumping the water out of the hull, the captain concluded to get the ship repaired at one of the nearby islands. After this, Ismael brings up why the captain decided to do this.