Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

You can hear the fire sizzling and the screams of people burning in their village the rebels just set on fire. In the text “A Long Way Gone” Ishmael had to experience these dilemmas as a young boy. He was compelled to watch villages burn and he eventually had to be a part of it. He became a young child soldier and he became one of the monsters that did this to other villages. He eventually learns his wrongdoing and he rehabilitates. Ishmael’s novel gives the notion that “humans are capable of true evil and equally capable of regaining humanity and triumph over whatever life brings”. Ishmael Beah was a young boy who was carefree, he liked to rap, dance, and learn. At his time of childhood, there was a war raging across the land of Sierra Leone. The war eventually found its way to his village. He was forced to run away from multiple villages on his way to find freedom from the war. He endured many hardships along the way, but he couldn't escape his fate that forced his life to advance with the military. Through multiple brainwashing techniques the military changed him into a war hungry animal.

Ishmael had violent tendencies and killed an abundance of people and burned villages. For example “...I grabbed the man's head and slit his throat in one fluid motion.(Beah 125)” Ishmael used to fear even seeing a dead body and suddenly he's killing for amusement in an exhibition match. Additionally “The idea of death didn't cross my mind at all and killing had become as easy as drinking water (Beah 122).” Ishmael had become so ruthless and evil that killing didn't affect him in the slightest, he just killed and kept going. In all Ishmael lost his humanity and it affected his mental state and his physical