ipl-logo

Examples Of War In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

816 Words4 Pages

War is a terrifying occurrence to be a part of but for most people, it is not part of their daily lives, and only know of it from history books and movies; But in Some countries, war is a part of people's daily lives. In his nonfiction memoir, Ishmael Beah develops his purpose to educate people on how war is not as cool as it seems through the use of being numb to emotion and drugs. Numbness to emotion is prominent in the novel. Ishmael has become a child soldier for the government and is now getting ready to kill a prisoner they captured. Ishmael writes, “The corporal gave the signal with a pistol shot and [he] [grabs] the man's head and slit his throat…” “... [he] [drops] him on the ground and [wipes] [his] bayonet on him” (125). He is numb …show more content…

Ishmael woke up in the middle of the night firing his gun when the lieutenant and corporal “threw water on [his] face and gave [him] a few more of the white capsules” (120). Ishmael has had nightmares before but this is the first time it has happened when he’s a soldier. The white capsules are speed or the proper name for them is methamphetamine. These drugs were given to child soldiers to keep them alert and awake. This causes addiction to speed which is terrible for kids. These drugs given to kids are to keep them awake when they are fighting or in Ishmael's case to keep him awake so another outburst does not happen. The drugs given to the soldier allow them to stay awake but it also comes with a numbness to pain. When Ishmael got shot in the foot, he “was too drugged to really feel the pain” at that moment, and then the next day he woke up feeling “as if [he] had had nails hammered into the bones of [his] foot” (157). Drugs play a huge role in how the child soldiers fought. Without pain, it's easy to fight in a war. After all, if someone is shot or injured they can keep fighting because they cannot feel the pain. Fights would come easy this way but even if one side won using these tactics the soldiers that may have been injured but kept fighting would not be available to fight the next day and the wound they had could have gotten worse. Drugs were useful in winning fights but after the soldier is not a soldier anymore they may have terrible withdrawal symptoms and the soldier will be hurt more in the long run, whether after being a soldier or just the next

Show More
Related
1585 Words | 7 Pages

When he was twelve, Beah was separated from his family when the rebels attacked his village. Beah’s journey to escape the rebel forces led him through areas where he witnessed the horrors of war and it led him to war as a child soldier. Life as a child soldier left a deep impact on Ishmael Beah. Although, he recovered physically and mentally as children often do, Beah’s writing shows his difficulty in expressing his emotions.

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

Ultimately, there is a disconnect from reality when the addiction takes hold. Without the drugs, as in Benin Home, Ishmael becomes aggressive and the boys resort to raiding the hospital to quell their hunger. When the drugs begin to wear off, Ishmael's headaches return - as do images of slaughter. Violent movies, like the drugs, help to create a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere for the boy soldiers. They would often go on attacks in the middle of films like Rambo or Commando, sometimes acting out techniques seen in the movies on the battlefield, and then pick up where they left off when returning to base.

Read More
299 Words | 2 Pages

Since the invention of guns, they have brought chaos, war, and fear to the world. Guns give people power, and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, gives great examples of this. In the reading, children and villages are afraid of ongoing war and fear armed rebels terrorizing villages.

Read More
657 Words | 3 Pages

In the book “A Long Way Gone” Ishmael has to overcome his fears and desperation especially when he ends up in villages that dislike little kids because of the assumption that they are rebel soldiers. Sometimes he comes face to face with death like the time when some of the villagers who were suffering the civil war, capture Ishmael and his new accompanied friends they were saying ”We told him we were students and this was a big misunderstanding. The crowds shouted, drown the rebels”(Beah 38). When the village guards found a rap cassette in Ishmael's pocket they played the music and it pleased the chief and so they were excused from execution and as a result they were offered to also stay in the village for how long they wanted. This part in the story paves a path from Ishmael to talk and although that was one of his major obstacles pertaining to his life he succeeded and faced adversity by pleading that they were not rebels but

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

By sharing his own experiences, Beah is able to show his audience the consequences of war with an incredibly impactful way; one that can only be delivered through personal experience. One example of this is when Ishmael talks about slitting a man’s throat, during his time as a soldier: “His Adam’s apple made way for the sharp knife, and I turned the bayonet on its zigzag edge as I brought it out. His eyes rolled up and they looked me straight in the eye before they suddenly stopped in a frightened glance, as if caught by surprise” (Beah 125). This passage shows how brainwashing has affected the life of Ishmael, as it did to hundreds of child soldiers, and how ruthlessness became a part of their lifestyle. In America, the average fifteen year old’s biggest problems are grades or school work, but in these areas of war and devastation, childhoods are being ripped away and kids have to worry about killing and

Read More
764 Words | 4 Pages

Most soldiers were used to the idea of taking drugs that at a point that is all they craved to stay “sane”. Drugs helped with the main idea of pain and emotion while in battle. Child soldiers are abused with drugs to cope which should be banned internationally. Children experience drug abuse, life threatening situations and

Read More
775 Words | 4 Pages

You see this in the novel when he touches on a little bit of life after the UNICEF saved him. “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories”( Beah 19). Through this quote you are able to see just how painful and dramatizing his kid soldier experience was that he could go to sleep but he didn 't want to stay awake. Another way you see this in the novel is when Ishmael is talking to Esther and looking at the sky and the moon. “ when i was a child, my grandmother olds me that the sky speaks to those who look and listen to it….that night i wanted the sky to talk to me”(Beah 166).

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

His story offers a powerful example of the importance of resilience and hopes in overcoming hurdles in one's situation. Ishamel’s bravery as a child soldier also brings attention to the damaging impacts of war on children and the need for more empathy and understanding for those affected by it. This is important for the story because, in the end, Beah's resilience serves as an inspiration to everyone who has faced adversity by showing that even the most difficult obstacles can be overcome with the proper mindset and

Read More
866 Words | 4 Pages

These drugs give said character an unhealthy way of life, like low signs of emotion, which is very bad for him. The misuse of drugs, as shown in the evidence, can cause insomnia, which is unhealthy in plenty of different ways and something no child should ever have to experience. Such as lack of sleep, concentration, memory loss, and many more side effects that can negatively affect a child's brain progression process, causing disruption to their way of life. Because of the drug exposure child soldiers go through, it is a highly opinionated topic to ban the participation of children in

Read More
1110 Words | 5 Pages

Ishmael has a flashback of his life in the war. In his dream he encounters a body wrapped in white bed sheets, and as he unwraps it he realizes it is his own face he is looking at. He then awakens, sweating and on the ground. He says, “I was afraid to fall asleep, but staying awake also brought back painful memories” (Beah 19). Even being in a different country cannot take away the hell that Ishmael has been through.

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

This army that he is in becomes totally addicted and brainwashed, they do lots of drugs and believe the only way to avenge their family's deaths is kill the other side. These drugs they used were marijuana, cocaine and “brown brown”, which all “helped them” have the courage they needed to fight in war. Ishmael was a soldier for a while before he was then given to UNICEF, or United Nations Children's Fund, which then brought him to a rehabilitation center. Ishmael has lots of troubles when it comes to recognizing and accepting his past, or being able to conceptualize what the future might look like. He meets a nurse Etser at this rehabilitation center, which allows him to open paths, accept and forgive what he has done within the past, and have a better understanding of his

Read More
243 Words | 1 Pages

War can change people by taking children innocents away. They make children grow up fast and introduce them to something normal people would not be able to take at young ages. It changes how people think. It can change a boy mind to friends and normal things to survival. And that exactly what happens to Ishmael Beah in his book

Read More
1035 Words | 5 Pages

Later, UNICEF came and decided to take Ishmael out of the war and put him in a rehabilitation center. In this part of the novel, the reader can see how his desire for killing has controlled him completely. By fighting and killing rebel members in the rehabilitation center and beating up the guards to force them into doing what the children wants to do, the reader can see that the war has changed their ways of life and thoughts. The army was able to change Ishmael 's desires and from that, he became a deadly

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

In the book, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael becomes a child soldier at the age of 12 for the governmental team the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, in order to fight the Revolutionary United Front. Ishmael goes from being a regular kid who liked to spend time with his friends

Read More
1040 Words | 5 Pages

Drugs played a big part in making all these child soldiers feel like men. Ishmael had taken on soldierly jobs and needed the energy to stay awake and be alert whenever he was needed. They were provided cocaine, brown brown, and white pills to boost their energy and make them feel more powerful and fearless. The first time Ishmael took them at the same time, his body began to perspire and have a

Read More

More about Examples Of War In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

Related Topics

Open Document