Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

How accurate is the novel “A Long Way Gone” to a historian studying child soldiers in Sierra Leone’s Civil War? It is the 1990’s; a marauding factional militia called “Revolutionary United Front” are engaged in a noxious fight for control against a feeble and poorly funded government army. Sierra Leone is gradually devolving into a macabre mess of blood and carnage; a far cry from the tropical oasis of yesteryear. Hordes of civilians are callously massacred; entire towns are wiped from the map and corruption belies every action. Upon finding salvation in the USA, Ishmael Beah has chosen to write a candid memoir that explores the atrocities he was forced to perpetrate. By printing this text, he effectively allows readers to delve inside the

Ishmael Beah’s novel provides the historian with highly explicit illustrations of child soldier initiated violence. In a general sense, forcing children to commit war crimes was done for educational purposes. It was thought by factional and military leaders that juveniles would immediately become more accustom to death if they spilt the blood of a defenceless man. Beah explains how he “practiced killing the prisoners the way the Lieutenant had done it”. He asserts that “the person whose prisoner died the quickest would win the contest”. He concludes; stating he “slit the throat in one fluid motion”. Apparently the man’s “Adam’s Apple made way for the sharp knife” [1] Ishmael Beah also reveals his sadistic mindset during this time; he says that “my gun is my provider and protector, and my rule is to kill or be killed” [2] Though believable, a historian evaluating this information must decipher whether the allegations are fundamentally accurate. Did such things occur regularly? Or was this an isolated

To morph into a successful warrior, children are instructed to consume illicit substances. A commander’s objective is to embolden his recruits and vanquish them of innocence through drug use. Once addicted, naïve minds become dependent and can be controlled. The power dynamic between soldier and commander therefore becomes supremely one-sided. Beah states that he is coerced into ingesting “white tablets” by a soldier. “The Corporal said it will boost your energy” is the alleged information and “a secretive smile” [4] forms across the soldier’s face. At a later stage in the novel, Beah heralds the lethal concoction of drugs that he frequently consumes; he would simultaneously “smoke marijuana, sniff “brown-brown” (cocaine mixed with gunpowder) and take the white capsules” [5] Because of these drugs, Beah declares that he “felt a numbness to everything but had so much energy that he couldn’t sleep for weeks” [6] In the novel, Illicit drug use is blatant and framed as a conventional pastime. The drugs themselves appear widely accessible and they are often thrust upon fledgling soldiers. Did child soldiers in Sierra Leone abuse drugs at an unprecedented level? Were they coerced by their superiors? In December 1999, Kenyan based newspaper “African News” dispatched journalist Linda De Hoyos to comment on the bloodshed. Two female childcare workers who give support to