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Ishmael Beah Narrative Report

777 Words4 Pages

Gabe Tonucci
8/20/2015

“These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past”(Beah 20). After a month of living in the relative safety of New York City, Ishmael Beah haunted by the events that he witnessed and took part in during the war. No one in New York could possibly understand what he had to go through, leaving all these thoughts trapped inside of his head. Not helping his situation is the fact that every night he tosses and turns from having nightmares we witnessed the RUF preform and the horrible things he did himself. He is a young man divided against himself, as his country had been divided against itself - in both cases, due to the rebels' violent actions. “One of the unsettling things about my journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn't sure when or where it was going to end. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I felt that I was starting over and over again”(Beah 69). As a victim of the war and all the violence it has brought with it,Beah suffers …show more content…

So when the lieutenant gave orders, I shot as many as I could, but I didn't feel any better”(Beah 122). Beah sums up his method and motivation for becoming an effective killer in the Sierra Leone civil war. He channels all his pain, misery, anguish, and suffering into every single one of the rounds that leaves the barrel of his Ak-47 and kills a rebel. Even as he uses this method to rip threw his enemies,he realizes that even if he killed the entire rebel army he will never be able to bring his family and friends back from the dead. But with this method there comes a price, he begins to become dehumanized and starts to rely on the drugs to give him the extra boost to kill the rebels, slowly turning him towards madness and uncontrollable

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The book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a memoir about himself involved in war as a child. War began happening in Ishmael’s hometown in Sierra Leone, which was Mogbwemo, so everyone broke apart and he lost his family, except for his brother. He had to start running away from the war to stay alive, so he went with some of his friends and his brother into different provinces of Sierra Leone. They went from village to village looking for food, shelter and safety. Ishmael was caught many times by the army and he thought he was stuck with them forever, but he escaped many different ways.

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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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This led to Beah and his family separating and doing anything to survive. Beah experienced many terrifvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vfdv dfv df v fdv dfv fdv dfv dfmv mdf vmdf vm dfvmfvdfvdfvying moments during the civil war in Sierra Leone and he helps us see what happens to him

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In the memoir, “A long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, his initial perspective on his life and war has dramatically changed in the development of the book. “ It was a beautiful summer day, the sun wasn’t too hot, and the walk didn’t feel long either, we chatted about all kinds of things, mocked and chased each other.” (Beah 7). Ishmael 's initial point of view on the world was the same as any other kid who had never been involved in war or killings. He loved rap music and hanging out with his friends and family, just like most teenage boys.

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175 Words | 1 Pages

Ishmael Beah is only twelve years­old when his village in Mattru Jong is attacked in January of 1993. He happened to be on his way to another village to perform a show with his brother, Junior and a few of his other friends at the time. That’s when his entire life is turned around. He has to travel from place to place, running from rebels (Revolutionary United Front), struggling to survive, losing his brother in the process. Eventually, he is alone and meets another group of boys that he recognized from his secondary school back in Mattru Jong.

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888 Words | 4 Pages

He no longer feels as if he has control of his future. Right now he is compelled to do anything possible to survive. Like most children Ishmael is afraid to run away, he decides to join the army. When Ishmael first started off in the war as a solider he felt traumatized, disgusted, and horrified by his experiences. On page 100 Ishmael encounters several dead bodies, it was such a traumatizing experience for him; he felt like he was going to throw up.

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536 Words | 3 Pages

I have recently read A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, a well written story about his transformation from a young boy to a child soldier. He was taken when he was just a little boy, still enjoying his childhood and forced to fight and murder people. This isn’t the only transformation that I have seen when reading this amazing story. I see his transformation from a child to a soldier and a soldier to a civilized adult, something he struggles with a lot. In this essay, I will be telling you about the transformations I seen while I was reading this novel.

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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

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Memories “Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose”(Arnold). In the book a long way gone a boy named Ishmael beah tells his story. In this novel Ishmael’s village is eventually raided and he becomes on his own. Through being on his own he thinks of the past and memories of a better life. These memories that he thinks of can hinder him and help him along the way through his journey.

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War and its affinities have various emotional effects on different individuals, whether facing adversity within the war or when experiencing the psychological aftermath. Some people cave under the pressure when put in a situation where there is minimal hope or optimism. Two characters that experience

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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.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

”(Beah, 112). The corporal uses the rebels as a way to control the children 's emotions and use them for himself. He makes Ishmael’s desire start to transition towards creating destruction. Later, Ishmael and his friend’s enter into the battlefield. During this time, Ishmael kills his first victim and his desire completely turns into killing sprees.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

The human condition is full of paradoxes and double meanings. We can commit the most shocking and terrible acts, but we can complete the most virtuous and honorable feats. Ishmael Beah describes the appalling and violent behavior he and other children exhibited toward the human life during his time in the Sierra Leonean civil war in his memoir, A Long Way Gone. Beah also details the forgiveness and kindness of complete strangers that helped him become the man that fate meant him to be. Homo sapiens are complex creatures brimming with irony and surprises.

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The True Weight of War “The Things They Carried,” by Tim O’Brien, brings to light the psychological impact of what soldiers go through during times of war. We learn that the effects of traumatic events weigh heavier on the minds of men than all of the provisions and equipment they shouldered. Wartime truly tests the human body and and mind, to the point where some men return home completely destroyed. Some soldiers have been driven to the point of mentally altering reality in order to survive day to day. An indefinite number of men became numb to the deaths of their comrades, and yet secretly desired to die and bring a conclusion to their misery.

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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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