A Long Way Gone

At the age of 12 years old Ishmael Beah finds himself in the middle of a civil war with rebels called RUF ( Revolutionary United Front) and innocent civilians. Starting to how this all can about. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone, who declared independence in 1961. In 1974 Milton Margai became first prime minister and ruled the country under Sierra Leone People’s party (SLPP) until his death in 1964. His half-brother Sir Albert Margai took control until 1961, when…...

This story is a biography about a child soldier who has lost everything and everyone, Ishmael Beah was a twelve year old boy who becomes a soldier during a war in Sierra Leone which is a country in west Africa. Music, music was an important part of Ishmael’s life because it brought out a part him he never had known about himself. Music helped Ishmael in a lot of different ways. It helped him survive from bad situations and it…...

In 1991, Sierra Leone’s Civil War began. More than 50,000 people were killed, over a million had not been found. Numerous people had been raped, had their limbs cut off, and more (Human Rights Watch, 1999). Also, “...25 times as many people [had] been killed compared to that in Kosovo when the international community decided to act” (Shah, 2001). All countries are different. Every country goes through its own personal complications, some worse than others. A majority of people do…...

Society can be represented by an onion. There are many layers to both. In society, the center is an individual. It then moves on to family, community, nation, and finally, humankind. Each layer cannot exist without the layers underneath it, just like how an onion cannot be an onion without its many supporting layers. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah shows the layers of society through memories. Beah has experienced these layers through war, and explains each one in…...

“A Long Way Gone”, a memoir about a Sierra Leonean young boy who is a “child of war” has many themes in the novel but what is the most important? Relationship, I believe that this is the most important theme because without relationship, Ishmeal Beah, the author of “A long Way Gone” and a human rights activist would not have survived nor would he have recuperated from the war in Sierra Leone. Relationship with the lieutenant, Ishmeal looked up to…...

Violence has a major impact on teenagers and children in today’s society. In the novel A Long Way Gone; memoir by a boy soldier Ishmael Beah, displays how teenagers are exposed… Through the medias they are showed that the movie Rambo, which influences them to be violent and fight. Another way to seek violence is in real life when the boy soldiers are sent to fight the rebels. The violence that the young boys are exposed to caused them to…...