A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

A 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

The first most important moment in “A long way home” is when ishmael was alone in the jungle with

The civil war that happened in the years 1991-2002 made a big impact on every man, woman and child in Sierra Leone. The author Ishmael Beah goes into exceptional detail in the book A Long Way Gone about his journey making it out of the Sierra Leone civil war. Ishmael was only at the age twelve when the war came to his village. From this point on, his life was changed forever.

Yafet Mebrahtu P.4 The author of A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah. This book is about his life in Sierra Leone during the civil war. He tells how he suffered from hunger and fear,eventually this lead him to becoming a killer and joining a group of people that kill anyone on sight called the rebels. The rebels are killers that burn villages,kill anyone in sight and recruit child soldiers.

In the memoir, A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael faced the tragic start of war in his home place, Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone on January of 1993. At just the age of twelve his village had been wrecked by rebels who had been going to other villages as well. It was just a normal happy day before everything had occurred. When the news spread, Ishmael, his brother, Junior, and friend, Talliou were at a rap performance. They left in search for money and any family, but everything was gone.

A Long Way Gone is a true story about the civil war in Sierra Leone that lasted from March 23, 1991, to January 18, 2002. The main character, Ishmael Beah is only 12 years old at the start of the book and he talks about his experiences in a town called Mogbwemo. He lives

A Long Way Gone is about a 12 year old boy soldier who struggles to overcome the Sierra Leone Civil War and get his normal life back after he enlists into the army because his village was starting to get attacked by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and that was the only way someone could survive. Due to being a child soldier, he was exposed to many bad situations for kids his age. One of those situations were drugs. When he was age 16, a group of men by the organization of UNICEF rescued some boys, whom one of them was Ishmael. Ishmael and the rest were taken to a rehabilitation center where they ended up causing a lot of trouble to the staff.

Ishmael felt that he should be fighting in the war because that was all that he had known after fighting for two years. This quote shows that he truly felt lost without the military. “My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed. The extent of my thoughts didn't go much beyond that. We had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity.

When a boy gets lost at a grocery store, he will usually start looking around for his mother. If he does not find his mother, he will run through the aisles and yell his mother’s name. He will eventually think he has lost his her forever and start crying. Not until his mother shows up and there he is happy—as if nothing ever happened. They go home to their house and their joyous family and live a happy life.

Loss, anger, violence “I imagined capturing several rebels at once, locking them inside a house, sprinkling gasoline on it, and tossing a match” (Beah 113). In Sierra Leone’s civil war, families were torn apart, entire generations lost, these events caused strife in the hearts of the survivors, who searched for revenge. In the memoir A Long Way Gone, a young boy named Ishmael Beah, has his life turned inside out as he tries to survive the civil war in his country. In the country Sierra Leone, Ismael Beah has decided to travel to a nearby town to perform in a talent show when he gets news of a rebel attack on his home. His brother Junior, friends Gibrilla, Talloi, Khalilou and Kaloko and him try to get back, but it is too dangerous to go back

The War A Long Way Gone is the true story of Ishmael Beah who becomes an unwilling boy soldier during a civil war in Sierra Leone. When he is twelve years old, Beah's village is attacked while he is away performing in a rap group with friends. Their day-to-day existence is a struggle of survival, and the boys find themselves committing acts they would never have believed themselves capable of, such as stealing food from children. Eventually, Ishmael is conscripted as a soldier by the army and he becomes the very thing he feared: a killing machine capable of horrible violence.

Not 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.

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. A Long Way Gone, an autobiographical memoir, written by Ishmael Beah, takes place in Sierra Leone during the time of their civil war.

At 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.

Additional 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.