Figurative Language In A Long Way Gone

Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High School English IV curriculum because the conflicts in Sierra Leone are still relevant in today’s society, and the figurative language and symbolism reveal the human resilience to survive. These are important ideas to an English IV student because learning from the past can assure we will not repeat these mistakes in the future, and learning about someone who went through very difficult circumstances and still prevailed helps prepare us for the harsh real world. Most importantly, the conflicts in Sierra Leone are still universal problems in today’s society. One night while Beah lays in bed and reflects on the days meeting with Esther, he begins to have flash backs of the first time he slit

Here, as Beah is coming off withdraws from his drug addiction, and is receiving help from Esther, memories of the violent war begins creeping back into his mind. He begins to realize how awful the things he had done to survive were and he cannot sleep without having nightmares of them. This internal conflict is still very much relevant today. Especially those who deal with post traumatic stress, mostly from being in a war of some sort or a troubled childhood. Furthermore, as Beah is sharing his war stories with Esther, she explains to him the acts he committed were not his fault, and Beah thinks, “Even though I had heard that phrase from every staff member – and frankly I had always hated it – I began that day to believe it. It was the genuine tone in Esther’s voice that made the phrase begin to sink into my mind and heart” (165). Obviously, the time Beah is spending with Esther is helping him a lot, and is allowing him to open up more about his past. A