Reflection On A Long Way Gone

“The saddest sight these days is the imagine of hundreds of children kidnapped and lured into being child soldiers from the age of eight”(Roger Moore).”A Long Way Gone”was written by Ishmael Beah and published in 2007. As horrible and terrifying the experience was for Ishmael Beah starting in Sierra Leone from a young age,he still had enough courage to publish his own memoir.As a kid Ishmael was a happy child that loved music and dance.While performing rap music with his friends away from home his village got attacked by the rebels.Without knowing if his family is alive or not he has to survive on his own going from village to village.He later is forced and brainwashed to become a soldier and under the influence of drugs he became a killing

Nowadays, European countries such as England, France, Germany, Belgium, and many other countries possess a colossal clout throughout the world. It is an impeccable fact that such countries, indeed, have served as a rudiment pivot and step for the world to be advanced to the point where we are since the Industrial Revolution. Such countries, because of it, without a doubt, have a crucial status globally and become the superpower and commercial hub on our planet. On the back side of their gleaming growth, however, there is an invisible part left behind their luminous development: the Imperialism. The term “Imperialism” refers to a policy of extending a country’s authority and political clout by using its military forces and diplomacy. As Frantz Facon once stated that “imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land by from our minds as well”, one can assert without much exertion that such European powers, in the course of Imperialism, indeed, brought about an array of irreversible impairments such as ethnic tensions, slavery, increased local warfare, and many others. Rwanda, for instance, is a country that is rife with the presence of such an irretrievable deficiency. Rwanda, indeed, has shown a startling economic growth and become an emergent leader country in Central Africa. The World Bank has recently eulogized Rwanda’s recent remarkable development success, which it

Authors use symbols in literary to show you gateways into themes. Some are easily noticed but some are much more complex. In his literary work, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael Beah uses symbols to underscore his central theme of oppression and freedom. The symbols used in this literary work to show the theme of freedom are the moon and the cassette tape Ishmael had from his childhood rap group. The symbol used to represent the theme of oppression is Ishmael’s dreams or nightmares.

“Why dwell upon the study of the Holocaust when history is loaded with other tragedies? Because the Holocaust was unique. This is not to say that other tragedies were less horrible, only that the Holocaust was different and should not be compared and trivialized,” the author noted (Tarnor Wacks 9). A mere 71 years ago a defining feature of world history took place, in concentration camps across Eastern and Western Europe. 6 million Jews were ripped out of their homes and ultimately murdered. It is imperative that we remember the Holocaust because the magnitude of this tragedy is astronomical and shouldn’t be forgotten.

“....and in Beah’s case the arrival of the rebels in his small town meant sudden separation from his parents…”(Boyd 302). The quote above shows how barbaric Sierra Leone is by taking all these kids away from their parents, without their parents having a say in it. Also, its really hard for them to survive because they’ve never been alone and are “Terrified” (Boyd 302). So they had to make a decision fast and go to “Rudimentary training” to not be suspected and killed. Other reasons why Sierra Leone is a bloodthirsty is when Ishmael Beah went on an interview about what he had to deal with in his life, he stated that they made take drugs and that they had more drugs and gun ammo than actual

The 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.

“Somebody being shot in front of you, or you yourself shooting somebody became just like drinking a glass of water.” (Ishmael Beah). “A Long Way Gone” was written by Ishmael Beah and published in 2007. It is a written masterpiece that captivates its readers by telling us his story, a former child soldier. In this he narrates the pain, the suffering and the fear that he endured for three years, literally fighting for his life against the rebels that caused all the chaos and the mayhem. Reading the book was like a rollercoaster ride of emotions and I am going to share what I believe are the three most important scenes. This include Ishmael hiding and surviving from the rebels, Ishmael transitioning and being trained into a child soldier, and Ishmael’s recovery and rehabilitation.

No two people on earth are alike, because at the end there is always one small difference that sets them apart. In the book “A long way gone”, By: Ishmael Beah discusses about the author himself when he was a young boy who lived in Bonthe District were the conditions were harsh, and war was happening. During the war he loses many loved ones, he learns to be strong minded through his experiences. A similar character that went through the same situation is a boy named Chava from a movie called “Voces Innocentes”, who also lives in a country where there’s war, and young boys are forced to fight a war were they have no option. During the war chava also faces many loved one losses. Just loke Ishmael, he learns to be strong minded through his experiences. Although both of these characters seem similar there is one fact that makes their outcome different.

When the Rwanda genocide began in 1994, its population stood at more that 7 people. Roughly 85% of the population was Hutu, 14% Tutsi, and 1% Twa (un.org). The decades following Rwanda’s independence from Belgium in 1962 saw growing ethnic tensions and periodic violent attacks and reprisals between Rwanda’s Hutu majority and its Tutsi minority.

Innocence is something that all people are born with. How and where we are raised directly connects to how long we will keep that innocence. In a small town in Sierra Leone a 10 year old boy lives a life that is similar to most children throughout the world. Beah listens to music, plays with his friends, and enjoy to cause trouble. As result of the war he is forced to wonder from village to village in search of food, water, and hopefully his family. This happens until he ends up on an army bace of the Serra Leone National Army. Beah, subsequently becomes a child soldier and starts his experience fighting a war at only thirteen years old. Ishmael Beah, experiences the loss of innocence throughout his memoir, A Long Way Gone which leads him to a troubling and traumatic childhood.

The 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. Paradoxes are not only shown in A Long Way Gone, but also illustrated in other pieces of literature such as short stories, essays, and articles.

It may seem to be an understatement to say the child soldier underwent significant changes during each period. The war molded him into a hardened killer, and rehabilitation shaped him back into a functional member of society. However, what is astounding is that Beah came out of both experiences with traits of leadership. Granted, his use of those traits served two widely different purposes. As a soldier, Beah built up skill and experience with combat, allowing him to gain higher rankings and respect from those who fought with him. He cooperated well with his fellow soldiers, working with their plans and directing his own. Beah even remarked he felt better about being a soldier as a result of his successes (124). By the time he was put into rehabilitation, though he lost what he gained as a soldier, he later gained the proficiency of speaking about his experiences. Through his connections with others from rehabilitation, he climbed up so he could eventually speak on the war and raise awareness about Sierra Leone’s child soldiers (198). Being a soldier and being a speaker as a survivor showcased Beah’s incredible

“The rise of genocide coincides with the rise of the modern political state, and every single one of these events is inconceivable without the

A Long Way Gone: inaugurates a world where young men, like Ishmael Beah, are forced to participate in the civil war of Sierra Leone causing them to lose their families. This book definitely outlines the importance of family through Ishmael’s experiences of adaptation,

For several decades various cultures have been rich with history and traditions that transcended time. However these cultures go through very dark times such as genocide. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, specifically those of a particular ethnic group or nation. On one hand neutrality is a positive alternative of genocide because if a country stays neutral, that country would likely have peace. On the other hand being a bystander or being neutral is letting thousands of innocent lives die at your hands. This inaction by the decisions of a country influences people to deem their self interests more important than the unity and prosperity of the human race as a whole. Neutrality is a very hard decision and can have a number of different impacts both positive and negative, which is highly controversial but neutrality should not be used as a decision for a country.