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. The same applies to the children of Sierra Leone, where they were separated from their families—however, these children will never end up finding their families, they will never have a happy life again, and will never remember how it felt to be loved or cared for by someone. The 1991 Sierra Leonean civil war split children from their families and forced them to survive on their own—without any supervision. Many children were either captured by the rebels or were forced to join the military and fight the rebels. Nearly all “strong” children forced to endure many painful situations and commit immoral acts. All children who were not recruited were killed because they were too “weak”.
The 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.
For example in “Faziabad Harvest 1980,” Staples shows this situation when the mother dies, and her kids become orphans, “watching our mother die.” (114) first their father left then their mother die so they become orphans, These children lost their parents in the war and they are in the a young age they didn’t have that experience in the life yet, which will make their life in a risk . According to M. Siddieq Noorzoy ,Emeritus Professor of Economics at University of Alberta, “During the 1980s, as part of the Soviet campaign to drive out the rural population, children were specifically targeted. Soviet forces kidnapped an estimated 50,000 Afghan children from villages, orphanages, and city streets in an effort to indoctrinate them in Communist ideology and use them to form militias.” In the war children suffered from different pains, but losing your parents is the hardest one in the life , even if they are in the war, having your parents with you could helped to across and guide you in this
In Ishmael Beah’s personal memoir, A Long Way Gone, music courses through the story quite often. Music is first seen in Ishmael’s peaceful childhood. He and his friends enjoy singing and dancing along to music, in particular, Rap Music. As the story progresses, and the war becomes more prevalent in the young boys lives, rap continues to play a substantial role in their lives, just in a different way. At the end of Ishmael’s life story, there is yet another role that music plays.
John Green once said, “For me the hero’s journey is not the voyage from weakness to strength. The true hero’s journey is the voyage from strength to weakness.” Ishmael Beah went from feeling like he was on top of the world to feeling like he didn’t belong in this crazy world. Beah follows Campbell’s idea of the hero's journey. It appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development.
Change Comes When It Is Least Expected In his memoir “A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael Beah describes both his indirect and direct experiences with war. He first explains that the war seemed as though it had been some place far off, and that it was when refugee began passing through was what it apparent that it was happening in their own country. The author describes the condition of the refugees as, “Apart from their fatigue and malnourishment, it was evident they had seen something … that we would refuse to accept if they told us all of it” (Beah, 2007, p. 1).
Many others experience severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar, dissociation and psycisomatic illnesses (McIntyre and McKeich, 2009). These illnesses are still seen in the generations of the stolen children. Children that were removed from their families show a higher rate of emotional distress and poor physical health, which affected the rest of their
This literary piece “The Making and Unmaking of a child soldier” by Ishmael Beah, unravels aspects of the world often looked over. The book opens an eye on how child soldiers are used as spawn for civil wars for ruthless warlords over drug empires in Sierra Leone. Children are forced to become soldiers to serve for military and save their country, Sierra Leone. Child soldiers are also forced to work and there are many different jobs which are given to child soldiers.
When you picture war, what do you see? Is it people with tanks and Ak-47s fighting each other? Maybe adults in camo fighting in the desert? Or perhaps even an image from your Call of Duty video game pops into your head. But what most people don’t imagine is children, ages 9-15, fighting each other and dying at the hands of guns and other weapons.
How would you feel if you were recruited as a soldier during war? Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world. The importance of this is portrayed in Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone. The author believes that innocent kids should not be selected to fight as soldiers, lose their innocence killing people, witnessing violent scenes and suffer because of war.
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.
Thousands and thousands, of children in the Middle East and Africa, are being used as soldiers where it is needed. These children kill others and do things that no other child should have to do. People wonder if child soldiers should be given amnesty or not. The issue of child soldiers came to worldwide attention when Ishmael Beah published his book A Long Way Gone, which was based on what happened while he was a child soldier. A child soldier is someone under the age of eighteen and who is used in wars.
“The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars’’ is an article by Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times on the subject of child soldiers. All over Africa militias are fighting each other for control over certain areas. These militias have deployed four foot tall killing machine that terrorize, loot, and destroy village after village these weapons: child soldiers. Mozambicans have learned that children were the perfect weapon since they were easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and most important in endless supply. There are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide experts say that the nature of the conflict changes especially in Africa.
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.
Assignment page Video Where many children all over the world merrily and freely live under the protection of the law, for others, this is a distant reality, they live in a world where they’re battling poverty, stripped of their childhood and basic human rights are expunged, they’re the innocent victims of conflict, and war is made to seem their one and only duty, not to mention that these are children no more than 10 years of age. They are put into a situation where it’s to kill or be killed. The United Nations defines a child soldier as, “Any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity.” Since the past 15 years, child soldiers are being used in almost every region of the world. Unlike most children, who go to school, they’re abducted from their families and forced into becoming a child soldier, where living conditions are beyond imaginable.
Have you ever imagined growing up on a life of drugs, war, crime, and seeing things that many adults won’t dare to ever see? In many countries around the world, this is what many children have to deal with. There is an occurring issue of people across Africa and parts of Asia using children as soldiers in war. They act and take upon the roles of real combatants, causing the people of the public to act in different ways. It’s been well documented that these children have used guns and war tactics, and committed various illegal and illicit acts of violence.