Erica Jong Essays

Fire and Ice- Robert Frost In his poem Fire and IceRobert Frost compares and contrasts the two destructive forces: fire and ice. Frost presents the reader two options for the end of the world, either in hot fire or in icy cold. Although Frost chooses fire for the end of the world, he gives a fair comparison that ice could be the victor of the world's destruction. The theme presents itself with Frost taking the position of fire. Frosts describes his view toward fire in the third and fourth lines

“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

“When you tell a story, you give it out to the world and whoever listens becomes a part of that story.” Ishmael Beah, raised a war child and now a published author, is very aware of the impact that words can have. Beah published his memoir in 2007, and with it relays the power of stories to influence people. Thus, stories are significant in A Long Way Gone, as they are used to symbolize hope, introduce a new perspective for the reader, and reflect the memoir’s themes. Throughout Beah’s life as

Ishmael Beah, recalls his time as an orphaned child soldier, in Sierra leone, in his memoir A long way gone. Amongst those who were moved by the memorable piece of literature, there are those who quarrel with the idea that it is a completely factual account of the events that took place in Sierra Leone and the details regarding the physical wounds he obtained. While some of the claims made against its accuracy made are valid, It does not diminish the merit of the memoir. Beah’s escapade as a child

A Long Way Gone is an autobiography written by Ishmael Beah, the book details his childhood throughout the Sierra Leon civil war. The book shows how you can turn an innocent child into a killing machine. We see both sides of the warring party do this with them drugging the children, turning them against the enemy with propaganda and threatening them with death. These are the factors that made a quarter of all the soldiers within this war under the age of eighteen. Both the RUF and the Sierra Leone

In A Long Way Gone the author, Ishmael Beah, finds himself in a struggle to stay alive after the Sierra Leonean Civil War kills his family, and he is forced to become a child soldier. Throughout the memoir, music plays an integral role in Ishmael’s life. It keeps him out of trouble as a child, before he is affected by the civil war, and it saves his life, giving him hope during his quest to survive. Music also plays an integral part of my life. While music has never saved my life, as music did for

survive as illustrated in the following passage “ We could not find anything substantial to eat. We got hungrier day after day to the point that is our stomachs were hurting and our vision blurred at times. We had no choice but to sneak back into Mattru Jong, along with some people we encountered on the path, to get some money we had left behind so that we could buy food.” [27]. Ishmael buried all his emotions to survive, the author makes this point over and over "In the swamp, we ran past people who

Ishmael Beah, the memoirist of A Long Way Gone, retells the horrors he experienced during the Sierra Leone Civil War. In his story, he talks about his journey on escaping the war, becoming a child soldier, and recovering from his disturbing childhood. Ishmael was forced to flee after the rebel forces attacked his home. He started out with a few of his friends but eventually separated from them and wandered on his own. After running from village to village, his only chance of survival was to join

Ishmael who is the author of the book was a twelve year old boy who grew up in Mogbwemo. He was brave, dependent and tenacious throughout the novel. He wanted to rediscover the happiness he had as a child and the joy he had even through his life was a burden. He lived in three worlds his dreams, and the experiences of his new life, which triggered memories from the past (Beah, 2008). Due to war hitting his town it caused him to become and orphan. In one night Ishmael went from being a happy little

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. Ishmael, accompanied by close friends, is traveling through Mattru Jong when he firsts hears of the rebels attacking his village Mogbwemo. Once they give up searching for

Many people go through things they consider hard in their lives. For many teens today this can be breaking up with someone, breaking their phone, and fighting with their friends. But, for Ishmael Beah his struggles are harder than that. He has to go without his family, he ends up doing drugs, and has to kill people to survive. In “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, all these struggles are true for him and he has to find a way to live through them and learn how to survive without lots of food and water

Title: A Long Way Gone Author: Ishmael Beah Page range: 16 Entry #1: “We must strive to be like the moon” In this quote Ishmael Beah, the narrator, is speaking from Khalilou’s house (Ishmael’s friend) in Mattru Jong. Ishmael and his brother Junior were just returning before the rebels attacked their town, Mogbwemo. This excerpt is significant because his grandmother explained that when the sun rises people are complaining about the heat, but when it starts raining or getting cold they want the sun

Reflection over A Long Way Gone A Long Way Gone is a memoir written by Ismael Beah. It describes Ismael’s time as a child soldier during the Civil War in Sierra Leone. This book explains in detail the obstacles Beah had encountered during this time. A Long Way Gone is filled with violence, tragedy, drugs, war and survival. It is a refreshing take on learning about the Civil War in Sierra Leone. This books holds firsthand information over the events that occurred. It provides evidence of the unwillingly

are told in the chapters in chronological order. Each chapter describes a part of Ishmael’s journey during the war. There is not a table of contents or index. The book starts out when Ishmael, his brother, Junior, and his friend Talloi go to Mattru Jong for a talent show. When they arrived there, the rebels attacked. During this time, Ishmael experienced what the war felt like for the first time. Ishmael

by Ishmael Beah on his life. This book was written to show how wars today are fought by children and how traumatizing it can be to a child. The book starts out with Ishmael living in Mogbwemo with his mother and brothers. He then moves to Mattru Jong to live with his father. The war hits when he is on a trip with his friends and his brother to see his grandmother. He then has to run away from the war leaving his family behind him. ishmael continues running from the war for most of his childhood

A Long Way Gone Response While reading A Long Way Gone, I noticed that family is an important subject throughout the book. In the beginning, Ishmael has a mother, father, older brother named Junior, and a younger brother. Ishmael and Junior were very close. When Junior would come home from school, he would bring Ishmael rap cassettes;they would memorize the lyrics and dance to the beat. Ishmael had a rough relationship with his father because of all the stepmothers who had destroyed it. Ishmael’s

A Long Way Gone’s main purpose is hope. This narrative shows the tragic experiences Ishmael Beah had to endure during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Ishmeals reframed these events through courage, faith, and belief. A Long Way Gone the story shows that hope is an integral component of survival which is portrayed by Ishmael successfully escaping and enduring the horrific war. A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah’s memoir. It retracts all of the tragic events Ishmeal endured while the Sierra Leone civil war

In the novel, “A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael Beah suffers from PTSD due to the exposure to war at such a young age and the rehabilitation process. Ishmael was exposed to guns, drugs and other types of violent acts due to the war at the age of 12. As time went by, Ishmael lost his family and slowly his friends too. Ishmael was traumatized from all the violence he experienced due to the war approaching his village. He had been forced by the Sierra Leone Armed Forces to serve as a child soldier during

A Long Way Gone Book Review A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a very powerful memoir that shows his experiences as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. His writings show how he went from a regular child living day to day to a violent, bloodthirsty soldier trying to survive. I enjoyed this book because Beah’s writing is honest and blunt, and he’s not afraid to describe the horrible violence and trauma he and his comrades endured as young soldiers. Despite the harsh reality of the

ALWG Imagery Feeling weary and distraught, Ishmael Beah, in his memoir A Long Way Gone, struggles to deal with the newly unprincipled, barbarous country of Sierra Leone, which causes him to feel despondent; this is depicted through natural imagery. To emphasize, Beah speaks about his last visit to Kamator and what he witnessed: “Dogs were feasting on the burnt remains if the imam. One dog had his arm and the other his leg. Above, vultures circled” (46). Here, the imam’s deceased body represents