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Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

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“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” is a moving war story about the author, Ishmael Beah, and his life growing up in the african country. Sierra Leone is the setting during the civil war which spanned from March of 1991 to January of 2002. Ishmael provides a stance against child soldiers, and has stuck with that view ever since he was rehabilitated. This book presents strong first hand encounters and vivid war stories. This helps prove the argument that child soldiering is a cruel act, and by using rehabilitation, victims would be able to return to regular life. Ishmael’s story starts with his love for rap music, which he discovered from his dad’s job. He left for a talent show with his brother Junior, and Talloi. Ishmael’s group arrived at Mattru Jong, and the day after, school was canceled because their hometown of Mogbwemo was attacked. They returned and left because there was no hope left. They stayed in Mattru Jong until the rebels attacked. After running for hours and only stopping to rest, They tried to go back and gather resources, but almost died because of it. Because of the lack of food, Ishmael’s group returned to Mattru Jong and were caught. They were about to be killed, but government troops drew rebels away, so Ishmael and the other kids lined up with him could escape. After a few days of hiding, he found Junior and Talloi, and they decided to go somewhere away from the rebels. Over time, the 3 of …show more content…

He wrote this book not only to spread awareness of child soldiering, but to show what the impact it has on kids at a young age. There are many highlights from the book which prove the impact of child soldiering. These highlights go hand in hand with side effects of child soldiering, which are the effect on mental health, disruption of communities, collapse of families, impact on the life of the individual, and the road to recovery after the

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The biography, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, tells the story of a thirteen year old boy who spends his childhood being compelled to fight in the civil war in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah tries to avoid fighting for the rebels by running from town to town with his friends as the rebels advanced. Finally, his luck runs out and Ishmael Baeh is forced to serve in the civil war for the rebels. The story goes on to describe his horrific childhood as a soldier in Sierra Leone and his eventual rescue by Unicef and rehabilitation center. In this passage, Ishmael Beah created a mental image that allows us to visualize how disturbing and how unreal living in wartone Sierra Leone during the early 1980’s.

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In the quickness of the attack, everyone panics in an attempt to flee the area in order to find safety. In this process, however, Ishmael is separated from his parents and tries to stay together with his older brother, Junior, and his friends. The group of boys wander from village to village in search of basic necessities of life including food, water, and shelter.

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325 Words | 2 Pages

The book that I finish reading is a called A long way gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah. The setting take place in Sierra Leone, Africa. The characters from the story are Ismael a boy who is brave and a fighter trying to survive. Next is Alhaji a young man whom best friends with Ishmael both of them were a part of the army fighting the rebels and he is strong, cold in battle, and trying find hid childhood. Lastly is uncle Tommy he is a father to him and loves him so much.

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1413 Words | 6 Pages

Ishmael Beah feared becoming a child soldier again when Sierra Leone’s government was overthrown by the rebels, he gets haunted by the memories of the past and what has happened throughout his life back in Sierra Leone. Back when he was a child soldier in Sierra Leone all he did in his free time was take in drugs and watched war movies which got him use to the blood and violence that he experienced while he was part of the war. He committed crimes that nobody would normally do, like torturing others in cruel ways, but he was brainwashed and didn’t know anything else besides war. He was trained to kill and that’s all there was to it for his life back then. But that changed once he got rehabilitated and was able to live among normal civilians.

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501 Words | 3 Pages

During his time in the army Ishmael becomes addicted to drugs (marijuana, cocaine and other pills). One day a UNICEF truck comes to his normal life, but Ishmael and many others have withdrawals from drugs. During his rehabilitation he is reminded of his love for rap music. With help of rap and a nurse named Esther, Ishmael is be fully rehabilitated. He then goes to live with his Uncle Tommy in Sierra Leone.

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1187 Words | 5 Pages

Whenever I speak at the United Nations, UNICEF, or elsewhere to raise awareness of the continual and rampant recruitment of children in wars around the world, I come to realize that I still do not fully understand how I could possibly have survived the civil war in my country, Sierra Leone. I need to put in a quote. The book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is an extremely powerful memoir written by Ishmael Beah. It tells the true story of his own experiences as a child soldier during the huge civil war in Sierra Leone. It is seen as a heartbreaking but still eye-opening account of the true horrors of war and the true resilience of the human spirit.

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579 Words | 3 Pages

8) He then becomes stranded due to the fact that rebels came and he could not make it back to his village for his family. “Every morning in Mattru Jong we would go down to the wharf for news from home.” (Beah, pg. 15) Ishmael and Junior’s bond deepens despite the tragedy of not being able to see their family. They try to protect each other to the best of their ability.

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731 Words | 3 Pages

Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, summarizes his experiences as a child soldier. He supports this by using descriptive word choice, which creates this mostly dark tone throughout the book. His purpose was to assert that being involved with the war as a child was difficult, and that children can lose their innocence from the war, in order to get the readers to see the war from a child’s point of view. He establishes a that dark tone with his readers of the book, with people of all ages.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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1251 Words | 6 Pages

Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and the other boys of Sierra Leone that were enlisted to fight in the country’s civil war had their lives changed forever. The boys in the village of Yele that were recruited by the army aspired to be vengeful spirits, killing the soldiers of the rebel army that had killed their families and was the cause of their misfortune. Lieutenant Jabati and his men helped the boys to realize their suppressed rage and gave them the training that they needed to fight the rebels. Lieutenant Jabati was a figure of authority for the boys in a time of turmoil and he, along with the more senior soldiers under his command, pushed the boy soldiers to their limit, but he was not harsh with his encouragement. It must be said though, that if the boys were not recruited by the Lieutenant

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1011 Words | 5 Pages

This essay is aimed at people that read on of the books of Ishmael or are willing to read a book of him, with this essay they will understand the writings of him better because they know more about his personal life. The challenges I got during this essay was the research about Ishmael because there wasn’t much information available of him from after he left Sierra Leone. I solved these problems by searching for newspaper

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832 Words | 4 Pages

Nic Gonet Mrs. Knebel Enriched Senior Comp. 18 December 2014 A Long Way Gone Final Paper In the memoir, “A Long Way Gone,” the author, Ishmael Beah, reflects on many very detailed war scenes that he experienced during the time of Sierra Leone’s civil war. Many of these scenes are heartless and possess things that you think no man could ever possibly live with himself after acting upon.

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654 Words | 3 Pages

When Ishmael was in the forest, he thought about how his grandfather, Junior, and him would take walks on the paths around the coffee grounds. During the visits, their grandfather would give them a special medicine that supposedly made you smarter. Ishmael would take it before every test. Every single time that Ishmael’s memories of his family come up, it brings him strength and the perseverance to find them. In one village, Ishmael ran into some boys that he knew.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

But once they do, that person will have access to an entirely different method of self-expression. A method that can a source of joy and even as therapeutic alternative for psychological problems; much like what Ishmael had done during his time at the rehab center. Even before the war, it can be witnessed early in the book that just by simply writing song lyrics together “They were transfixed by the music and returned as often as possible to watch rap on the big television” (A Long Way Gone Chapter 1 Summary, 2017); thanks to the this, Ishmael and his friends were able to build a strong bond, whilst making unforgettable

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946 Words | 4 Pages

(1991-2002) Ishmael’s story solely focused on the years he was affected by the war. (1992-1997) The tale begins when with Beah, his brother, and a couple of his friends, heading to another village to put on a performance and while away, they catch wind that their village had been attacked by the RUF (Revolutionary United Front). The boys' having no home to go back to, wander from village to village looking for shelter and safety.

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