Long Way Gone Reflection
Reading A Long Way Gone was an introductory for me to the issues facing children in war stricken areas. Though I knew that these atrocities happened, I had never gotten down deep into the nitty gritty details. Ishmael Beah does a remarkable job telling the story of this difficult period of time in his young life in a way. He incites emotion and conscious deliberation within oneself about right and wrong in regard to the use young people in warfare. My experience with this text showed me though the writer my not show the expertise of prominent writers who have come before him, he is an amazing storyteller with the ability to make his audience feel the pain that he felt. Beah’s style of writing is unusually matter of fact in a way that reminds me of several texts by Ernest Hemingway. …show more content…
Though it may often times be necessary for a country to employ young boys in the army to fight for a noble cause or to protect the values that they stand for, the future of an entire generation will be at risk. If the nation’s youth are psychologically damaged beyond repair, then the end result is that the enemy has destroyed the nation without even having to win the physical victory. Also, does the nobility of the cause make the difference in determining if using children to fight such battles is right or wrong? When we think back to the United States’ revolutionary war, most people would probably say that us having used young boys to fight wasn’t that big of an issue because we were fighting for freedom. However, if the battles had taken the form of those we see happening in current nations, we may not feel so comfortable with it. The war in Sierra Leone was incredibly more gruesome, but was the cause they were fighting for any less
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.
Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah
716 Words | 3 PagesWar is destructive and tears apart the most important parts of life. Ishmael Beah was a boy in Sierra Leone when a civil war was taking place Ishmael wrote a book about his experiences titled A Long Way Gone. The book is about how Ishmael went from a boy to a soldier. Ishmael lived happily in a village when it was attacked by the rebels RUF he fled from village to village. Ishmael eventually ended up by the Army and joined them to fight the rebels.
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.
Long Way Gone Themes
675 Words | 3 PagesThroughout the book, A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, violence is a predominant theme. Ishmael is a witness to violence at the early age of twelve when the civil war reaches his village in Sierra Leone. The death of his family, the loss of his childhood/ innocence and his transformation into a killer were all direct results of the violence due to the war. The rebel forces killed Ishmael’s mother, father, brother and grandparents during the war.
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.
Military Draft Benefits
982 Words | 4 PagesThroughout history, countries are inevitably pulled into conflicts that result in war. These conflicts usually occur because of interests in: economic gain, territorial gain, religion, and nationalism. America, like every country, needs a military to defend itself, especially when tensions arise in other parts of the world and when militia numbers start to decrease. This then allows the government to draft its population to serve in the military. People argue that young men and women’s bright lives are often cut short, and not allowed their Constitutional right to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”, but there are many benefits for the nation and the individual by serving one’s country.
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.
A Long Way Gone Annotated Bibliography
1454 Words | 6 PagesAnnotated Bibliography Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. N.p., n.d. PDF file. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a book that retells his own experiences as a child soldier.
Revenge In Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone
712 Words | 3 PagesRevenge 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.
Long Way Gone Rehabilitation
834 Words | 4 PagesA Long Way Gone: War and Rehabilitation Following the life of Ishmael Beah in his autobiography, A Long Way Gone, readers experience how a young boy adjusted to drastic changes in lifestyles. The first- and perhaps more marked- change in lifestyle was when he became a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Army. The second was when he was taken away to be rehabilitated by UNICEF. Although there are several important components in both Ishmael’s life at war and his life during rehabilitation, it is his relationship with fear, how he deals with trauma, and his character in general which significantly share resemblances in each of the two mentioned lifestyles.
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 Rhetorical Analysis Essay
884 Words | 4 PagesA Journey Traveled Through Pain Imagine being involved in a bloody massacre and watching your community dissipate into the dusk. Picture dodging the piercing bullets as they whisk past innocent ears. Envision your home turning into a battle ground, breaking up into military bases—flipping the world upside down. (nice capture tactic) This was peoples’ lives for many years, beginning in the 1960’s, during the Civil War in Sierra Leone.
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.
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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