ipl-logo

Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

1404 Words6 Pages

How do people comprehend war when everything they know has seemed to vanish, before they can image? A Long Way Gone is heartbreaking memoir written by Ishmael Beah. The book takes place in Sierra Leone during the time of the civil war. The war was fought over economic profit, rather than political and social pandemonium, even though it was claimed that the war was fought over civil and social reasons. There were 2 sides to this war, the RUF and the Government. The RUF was an organized rebel army; they fought the war to gain control of the country’s diamond mines. While the Government fought the war to defend the country, as well as to stop the petulant outbreaks and chaos the rebels were causing throughout the land. Many people were inflicted by this war. Families were destroyed. Children were forced to join the army for protection and to avoid starvation. No one was safe; everything …show more content…

Ishmael who was once a peaceful, innocent little boy, was transformed into a man killing machine like most children. The civil war in Sierra Leone had malformed many people’s lives, personality, and faith, bringing them to extreme measures. Families were torn apart by the war, everything had changed. Homes that used to once carry families and joyful memories were no longer there, everything was demolished. Like Ishmael many children were manipulated to join the war to avenge the deaths of their families, making the war more chaotic that it should have been. Looking back on the book it is safe to say that the main conflict of the war seems to be because of revenge; either the RUF of Government wanted to seem less powerful than the other. This book teaches us as readers that revenge is never the answer to life, it causes more harm than it’s

Show More
Related
564 Words | 3 Pages

A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah’s memoir. It retracts all of the tragic events Ishmeal endured while the Sierra Leone civil war occurred. Ishmael was a child who lived an ordinary life until rebels infiltrated his village which left him and others with no choice, but to flee. He was then forced to become a child soldier. This book shows the physical and mental torture Beah had to go through while has was a child soldier.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

Within Ishmael Beah’s book A Long Way Gone we see the sierra leone civil war take over and consume a young boy’s life. During Ishmael’s life his settings change rapidly because of the war, this causes him to change with his surroundings. Throughout the book the 3 reoccurring themes has to be family, death and food.

Read More
632 Words | 3 Pages

A Long Way Gone is an autobiography written by Ishmael Beah, the book details his childhood throughout the Sierra Leon civil war. The book shows how you can turn an innocent child into a killing machine. We see both sides of the warring party do this with them drugging the children, turning them against the enemy with propaganda and threatening them with death. These are the factors that made a quarter of all the soldiers within this war under the age of eighteen.

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

A Long Way Gone is a memoir written with Ishmael Beah’s memories of the civil war that happened in his hometown, Sierra Leone. Beah’s determination for survival and use of descriptive imagery of the war gives us a chance to feel like we’re actually in the war with him. Ishmael Beah was only a twelve year old boy when the war came to his village. Because he lost his family in the war, Ishmael had to learn how to survive on his own along with some other boys. Together, they took care and watched out for each other in the wilderness while trying to find a safe place to hide from the rebels, the people attacking their country.

Read More
642 Words | 3 Pages

Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High school English IV curriculum because of Beah’s knowledge that reveals real life events that have occurred in Sierra Leone. Also, the memoir makes the reader grateful for the life he or she has today. For instance, Beah illiterates that the rebels have no sympathy for innocent lives and did not care if they lived or died. Specifically, when the rebels captured Beah and his friends and threatened to kill innocent people in front of them; “We are going to initiate all of you by killing these people in front of you”(34).

Read More
426 Words | 2 Pages

A Long Way Gone is a memoir of a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, who struggles to keep his humanity. Ishmael Beah, the author, achieved success once he went off to speak at the United Nations conference and when he realized that he could not go back to the war. Beah achieved success when he went off to New York and spoke at the United Nations conference. As Beah sat around the conference listening to all the other children that represented their country, Beah sat proudly “behind the Sierra Leone name plaque..

Read More
1706 Words | 7 Pages

The Story of an Innocent Murderer Imagine your life being turned upside down. One minute, everything is business as usual: you go to work and school and you are surrounded by friends and family. The next minute, everything becomes chaotic and hopeless: you cannot find your family and death surrounds you. Ishmael Beah’s life turned upside down as an innocent child when a war began between the government of Sierra Leona and rebels who wanted to overthrow the government. Beah is captured by the government and is brainwashed using drugs into becoming a ruthless child soldier, focused on avenging the deaths of his family by rebel hands.

Read More
1834 Words | 8 Pages

This transformation from a playful child mind to savagery showcases humanity being detrimental to child soldiers. Lastly, Ishmael Beah’s post-war struggles of reintegrating into society showcase the permanent effects of the traumatic experiences he encountered, and that his innocence has vanished for good. During the last part of his memoir, Beah discusses the border, “I avoided eye contact, afraid that they might see in my eyes that I had once been a soldier in the war that I was now leaving behind” (Beah 219). This encapsulates the emotional turmoil that Ishamael must now go through as a result of his harsh experiences as a child soldier. Despite his newfound freedom, he still finds it difficult to grapple with the recent feelings of displacement in society, knowing that deep down he is a massively different person than he was prior.

Read More
1110 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1572 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More
840 Words | 4 Pages

War is a devastating site to witness for anyone, but imagine being child in the middle of a civil war having to decide whether to kill or be killed. A twelve year old boy named Ishmael Beah, along with many other children, faced this challenge during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He later wrote about his journey in his memoir A Long Way Gone. Ishmael’s story consists of a conflict between the government and rebels.

Read More
354 Words | 2 Pages

The memoirs of this book try to convey and inform you about real problems in the world and that we need to step in. My honest opinion about A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah is that this book was amazing, I loved it because it 's like a testimony I think Ishmael Beah wrote this not just to inform you but to get over his pain from his past but sometimes you can’t get over your past sometimes the scars aren’t just on you body but in your head too. Everyone suffers but not like Ishmael did for years he suffered and he had to kill. In ways I can connect to the suffering but not to the war part this book no matter who you are you might able to connect to this book in some way it tell the truth about life. I think people in the war might like the book, mostly males ages 17-21, privileged societies that can hear what 's really going on in

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

When Beah was at the conferences far away from war, he felt like his life finally had meaning again. Beah’s “A Long Way Gone” tells an important story of unwilling boy soldier, Ishmael Beah during a civil war in Sierra Leone. He finally becomes the person he feared, a killing machine capable of cruel and horrible things. This is an important book because during the tough times of the civil war Ishmael was taken to a rehabilitation center where he did struggle to understand his past or even imagine a future.

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

Green Lights by Aloe Blacc: This is relevant to “No More Dead Dogs” because in the beginning Wallace Wallace is the school celebrity. Everyone loves him because he scored the winning touchdown in the county championship the year before. He lucked out and caught the ball that flew out his ex-bestfriend’s helmet when he was in the end zone, with three seconds to go. All of the young children look up to him and everyone likes him, so his life is great except for one thing.

Read More

More about Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

Related Topics

Open Document