Ishmael Beah's Memoir: A Long Way Gone
Memoir: A long way gone
“The idea of death didn’t cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water” (127).
At the beginning of the Memoir, A long way gone, Ishmael Beah was the average nice kid. He played with his friends, went to school, made music for fun and more. In the country Beah lived in, Sierra Leone, there was a large war going on for diamonds. The Rebels (RUF) were vicious and destroyed everything in their path to get to their goal. Unfortunately, Beah was one of the many people that suffered in the war. He ran for so long to get away and find safety, just to be caught up in it. Ishmael Beah went from an innocent child to a violent soldier. The main causes that led up to this were when Beah was constantly surrounded
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At first, he needed someone or something to blame for his family’s death, but the guilt eventually reached him. Beah and a few of his friends had finally reached the village where they would be reunited with their families. Just outside the village, Gasemu had stopped them to talk, it was all fine until they began to see smoke rising from the village. When they reached the village, it was already too late. Beah’s family had been burned in the village and we were able to see his snapping point where Beah began to show a bit of the violence he picked up. Immediately, Beah began to blame Gasemu for his family’s death. “I didn’t know what was happening to me. I got up, walked behind Gasemu, and locked his neck under my arms” (96). Not only did Beah just attack Gasemu and blame him for his family’s death, but he was also not able to think straight and just acted out. This shows that Beah is becoming more violent just from being surrounded by the aftermath of the war as during the beginning of his memoir, he was a very innocent and playful child but now he was randomly attacking and taking his anger out on someone …show more content…
After a while, Beah and even his friends were inspired by the characters from the movies and wanted to use their murder techniques and try it out on the rebels they captured. “We all wanted to be like Rambo; we couldn’t wait to implement his techniques” (121). Since Beah and some of the other soldiers were still children, they could easily be influenced or groomed in a certain way to the army’s liking. This was one-way Beah became more violent as he was manipulated and inspired by the war movie
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.
Summary Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
447 Words | 2 PagesThis led to Beah and his family separating and doing anything to survive. Beah experienced many terrifvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vfdv dfv df v fdv dfv fdv dfv dfmv mdf vmdf vm dfvmfvdfvdfvying moments during the civil war in Sierra Leone and he helps us see what happens to him
Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
216 Words | 1 PagesA Long Way Gone, is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone and grew up during the civil war in Sierra Leone. In, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael tells the reader his experiences as a boy soldier and his experiences in rehabilitation in order to regain his humanity. The book begins with Ishmael answering questions to his high school friends, in New York, about his time in the war.
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.
How Does Ishmael Beah Use Literary Devices In A Long Way Gone
887 Words | 4 PagesIn A Long Way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah explains his life and how he became a child soldier during Sierra Leone's civil war. During recounting his experiences, Beah uses literary devices which include metaphors, similes, personification, and symbolism to communicate his experiences. Before the war, Ishmael Beah was just a boy who enjoyed listening to rap music cassettes with his friends and preparing for the talent show. Ishmael Beah finally narrates the book when he is an adult, he tells us how carrying the tapes throughout the war changed his life. In his memoir, he used many associations with cassette tapes as a motif to show his psychological degradation and rehabilitation throughout his time in the civil war and return
Examples Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
299 Words | 2 PagesThe fear people encounter gives the rebels with guns and weapons power. Beah explains the fear of guns when he writes, “I prayed that my friends and brother wouldn’t make any sudden moves or even try to scratch an itch. The back of my head was getting warm, as if expecting a bullet anytime” (32). Beahs’ fear for his life and of his families gives the rebel pointing the gun tremendous power over them because it makes the rebel superior at that moment. Beah writes about
Examples Of Hope In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
564 Words | 3 PagesA Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah’s memoir. It retracts all of the tragic events Ishmeal endured while the Sierra Leone civil war occurred. Ishmael was a child who lived an ordinary life until rebels infiltrated his village which left him and others with no choice, but to flee. He was then forced to become a child soldier. This book shows the physical and mental torture Beah had to go through while has was a child soldier.
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier By Ishmael Beah
423 Words | 2 PagesThroughout these pages, Beah discusses his journey into becoming a soldier for the Sierra Leone Army. Within a very short time of being exposed to war, Beah had been brainwashed to kill all rebels, raided villages, become addicted to drugs, suffered from insomnia, lost all sense of reality, and described killing as “as easy as drinking water” (Beah 122). I think it is safe to say that war certainly wrecked and altered Beah's life in unimaginable ways, as it turned a gentle, innocent, rap-loving boy into a brainwashed, drug-addicted, killing
Essay On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
426 Words | 2 PagesA Long Way Gone is a memoir of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, who struggles to keep his humanity. Ishmael Beah, the author, achieved success once he went off to speak at the United Nations conference and when he realized that he could not go back to the war. Beah achieved success when he went off to New York and spoke at the United Nations conference. As Beah sat around the conference listening to all the other children that represented their country, Beah sat proudly “behind the Sierra Leone name plaque..
Examples Of War In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
816 Words | 4 PagesWar is a terrifying occurrence to be a part of but for most people, it is not part of their daily lives, and only know of it from history books and movies; But in Some countries, war is a part of people's daily lives. In his nonfiction memoir, Ishmael Beah develops his purpose to educate people on how war is not as cool as it seems through the use of being numb to emotion and drugs. Numbness to emotion is prominent in the novel. Ishmael has become a child soldier for the government and is now getting ready to kill a prisoner they captured. Ishmael writes, “The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and [he] [grabs] the man's head and slit his throat…” “...
Reconstruction In A Long Way Gone
586 Words | 3 PagesThroughout Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, themes of reconstruction of a lifestyle are explored as Beah learns to adapt to his current situations. The importance of reconstruction is displayed through Beah’s ability to rebuild his mindset and mannerisms over and over again after being placed into a new environment. This talent for being able to let go of the past and redefine himself is one of the key factors in Beah’s miraculous survival as those around him pass away.
Strength In A Long Way Gone
648 Words | 3 PagesThis is by drugs and brainwashing from his superiors, but also by missing his family and wanting revenge. Beah went into the army with bad intentions but found the truth in retrospect saying, “I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end...”(Beah 199). Beah loves his family so much that he will kill to avenge them. His love of family, even if this is not morally right, makes him want to stay alive and kill everyone that is relatively related to the deaths of his family. Even though killing people isn't the best way to go about revenge, it shows how far
Symbols In A Long Way Gone
1118 Words | 5 PagesAfter the “white tablet” Beah takes to boost his energy before battle wheres off following his return that night, he is faced with an extreme nightmare where Beah dreams, “... I was picking up Josiah from the tree stump and a gunman stood on top of me. He placed his gun on my forehead. I immediately woke up from my dream and began shooting inside the tent” (120). This intense nightmare from Beah shows how war, especially at this young of an age causes extreme difficulties as they take drugs to try to cover up these problems which does not last. Succeeding the wars end, after falling asleep reading the lyrics of a song in rehabilitation,
Morality In A Long Way Gone
1538 Words | 7 PagesIn the chaos and violence of war, the lines between right and wrong become blurred. Beah at the beginning found violence and specifically death disgusting and repulsive but as the novel progresses he turns into a killing machine. Beah’s ability to judge something as morally bad or good was blurred or completely eliminated. What may have been considered immoral in peacetime may be seen as necessary for survival in a warzone. Beah was forced into a position where it was either kill or be killed, he wanted to survive so he killed.
Reflection On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
498 Words | 2 PagesAdditional Activity 1 In the book, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the reader can gather certain information about the story he told. The point of view of his story truly affects the reader’s understanding. Also, Beah included details that defined his experience and changed his life. He also wrote his memoir with an emotion that drove the story.
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