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Brief Summary Of The Book 'A Long Way Gone'

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Estefany Ibarra Honors English 4 8 March 2024 Decisions May Cause Risk Risky decisions are a fundamental part of an individual's journey throughout life. Our decisions challenge us in many ways, but often lead us to growth. A Long Way Gone is a narrative book about a boy who writes about his life while he was recruited to the armed forces in 1993. Ishmael Beah wrote about his experiences and the trauma he went through while fighting in the Civil War in Sierra Leone. Under the Same Moon is a sentimental story that defines the love between a mother and her son, who are divided by a border. In this film, you see nine-year-old Carlito’s struggles and the decisions that put him at risk. In times of crisis, decisions to resolve conflict may put …show more content…

Throughout the book, Beah makes many decisions and takes risks while trying to stay alive as he goes through the traumatic war experience. In chapter one, as the rebels arrive at Mattru Jong, Beah's hometown, Talloi says to his friends, “’ We must go back and see if we can find our families before it is too late,’ Junior and [Beah] nodded in agreement” (Beah 10). Beah and his friends have decided to return to Mattru Jong without thinking it through. None of the boys hesitated in going to search for their families; the thought of their lives being at risk never crossed their minds; they just wanted to be united with their loved ones. They all made this perilous decision, considering they had no clue if the rebels would still be at the village. Time passed, and Beah continued to look for his family as he and his friends walked for days, going from village to village, hoping to get further from war. With the war going on, no one trusted each other; people were terrified of 12-year-old kids because they knew many of them worked with the rebels. Beah and his friends were approaching a village when they got jabbed and tied up by a village Fisherman. The day after, when the village chief agreed to let Beah and his friends go, none spoke about the situation because they …show more content…

This film supports the theme that decisions to revolve around conflict may put an individual's safety at risk in times of crisis, especially when the greater good is the priority. Throughout the film, Carlitos makes risky decisions that will make it difficult for him to be reunited with his mother. After four years of Carlitos waiting for his mother's return, Carlitos starts a difficult and long journey crossing the border from Mexico to the United States to find his mother (Riggen). Carlos decided to leave to look for his mother after the death of his grandmother, who was his caregiver. It was a massive risk that Carlitos went through to cross the border; he got smuggled through the border by being put inside the seat of a car. Carlitos meets a stranger who agrees to buy him a ticket to Los Angeles, California, if he pays back the money. Unfortunately, Carlitos lost the ticket money, and the man needed that money to buy drugs. The man was highly desperate for drugs. He spoke to a human trafficker and agreed to exchange Carlitos for $100 (Riggen). Luckily, a woman from the neighborhood saw the exchange happen and saved Carlitos. Carlitos put himself at high risk due to his trying to find his mother, and he believed he could count on any adult to help him without knowing what someone might be capable of. Towards the film's middle, Carlitos starts working with other illegal

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Though he successfully crosses the border without being caught, the students’ car is towed. When trying to find the students again, he lies to a man about paying him $100 to help him. The man gets mad when he finds that Carlitos is lying, and tries to

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As well as necessities, the boys are in search to find their families. Along their journey of avoiding contact with the rebels, Junior is permanently separated from Ishmael and Ishmael’s friends die of bad physical and mental health. When the boys finally are about to arrive at the village where their families are, a group of rebels set the village on fire and the village burns before the boys’ eyes. This leaves the kids to have no further hope or purpose to continue on their journey to escape

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If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die” (page 54). Even though he faced depression and loneliness in the forest for a month, it was this lesson that motivated him to find a way out and stay alive because he believes that regardless the terrible things that had happen to him, there is still some good left in his destiny as long as he’s alive. Because of the loneliness of isolation from people, Beah was willing to spend everyday protecting himself from wild animals and looking for a way out even when he know that there’s a war happening outside the forest. The idea of isolation was too much for a 12 year old to

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To begin with, Carlitos shows courage by taking risks and traveling to Los Angeles. He is aware of what will happen if he is caught by Immigration Control, however, his love for his mother overrides his fears. One instance in which he showed courage was when the ‘Coyotes’ hid him in a van and took him across the Mexican border into the U.S. However, the vehicle was taken to an impound yard because of the

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This information was seen by Esther, who used it to gain Beah’s trust and help him along the journey to recovery. She did this firstly by distracting him from negative thoughts as shown by his reintroduction to the music during a

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After Beah’s village is raided, he is forced to live outside of civilization and treks through the forest. He recalls something his father used to tell him, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day… If there is nothing good left in the destiny or a person, he or she will die” (54). Beah admits that these words from his father drove his spirit to keep trekking on. The words of his family made him able to persevere through a hellish forest and stay alive.

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Murderer. When you think about this word, the first thing that pops into your mind wouldn’t be a child, but for many around the world, this is the case. Over 300,000 children fight in wars around the world, slaughtering person after person without mercy. Ishmael Beah’s a long way gone is about the author’s first-hand experience of the 10 – year civil war in Sierra Leone, in which he was turned into one of these brutal, savage killers and then later rehabilitated. In the beginning of the book, young Ishmael, who is about 12 years old at the time, travels to a city called Mattru Jong with his brother, Junior, to participate in a talent show, where they learn that their village was attacked by a rebel group.

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The book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is an exceptionally vigorous novel which thoroughly explains the life of a boy soldier by capturing the honest and painful truth of war. By being in the perspective of Ishmael and allowing for readers to get an insight of the war, Beah did an excellent job at emphasizing that war is a terrible activity, there is always hope, and when everything is gone, there is always love; which are concluded to be the main focuses of the book. This story of a young man should be read by many due to the fact that it shows how gruesome and realistic the effects of wars are while also concluding with a positive outcome. The main focuses of this book include how nothing positive results from

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Beah tells the events of his past in his memoir, A Long Way Gone, by recalling multiple stories and myths that

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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.

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Despite the apparent genders of Mariatu Kamara being a girl and Ishmael Beah being a boy, they both have seen the same inhumane ways that the rebels inflicted death upon innocent villagers. One of the many horrible sights that Beah describes in A Long Way Gone is, “On other paths of the village were the half-burnt remains of those who had fought fiercely to free themselves, only to die outside” (Beah 94). Painful deaths like this one were explicitly described in both novels. From The Bite of the Mango, Kamara exclaims how people fought the same exact fates of death or punishment to remind them of the rebel’s tyranny. For instance, Kamara declared, “I felt I could almost deal with the horror of what the rebels had done to me.

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Under the Same Moon (2007) directed by Patricia Riggen is centered around a nine-old-boy, Carlitos, who is trying to find his mother, Rosario, who is in Los Angeles, California. Rosario illegally immigrated to the United States in hopes of a better life for herself and her son. She left Carlitos with her grandmother in Mexico in hopes that he would be safer there and could eventually come over with her. However, after her grandmother dies Carlitos, who wants to escape his tyrannical aunt and uncle, finds two transporters that illegally take him across the border. After he makes it across Carlitos is separated from the transporters and is eventually helped by Enrique who takes him to Los Angeles where they search for the payphone that Rosario used to call Carlitos at 10 a.m every Sunday.

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A Long Way Gone is nonfiction story and true story of a boy named Ishmael Beah who is also the author himself. It is about how he becomes a boy soldier during a civil war in Sierra Leone. When he was 12 years old, his village was attacked while he is away performing in a rap group with friends; which at the time he and his friends thought was cool because it came from America. With the confusion, violence, and uncertainty of the war, Ishmael, his brother, and his friends wander to all different villages to find food and shelter. They soon begin to struggle to survive, and the boys find themselves committing acts they would never thought of doing, such as stealing food from children.

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It is through her point of view where we notice how easily drugs are available to her and how susceptible teenagers are to addiction. Finally, a unique and different perspective is shown through Javier Rodriquez played by Benicio Del Toro. Depicted as a “good cop” in Mexico, Javier is actively fighting against criminals, drug traffickers/smugglers and the reality of corruption in the Mexican military. Between the 3 we view the film at the political level of the drug war, the social level, and law enforcement level, respectively. Soderbergh uses different colors to distinguish between the several storylines.

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(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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