Ishmael Beah's Betrayal

Stabbing someone in the back is a relatively simple task, especially when they are too immature to know what hit them. The civil war in Sierra Leone, lasting from 1991 to 2002, was one of the most gruesome civil wars to date. Unfortunately, it is also overwhelmingly unknown to many American adolescents. This horrifying ordeal in Sierra Leone featured hundreds of children becoming mass murderers, whilst still in their pre-teen years. In hopes of becoming a feared rebel faction, the Revolutionary United Front begins pillaging towns throughout Sierra Leone; thus, turning their back on the peaceful residents and farmers across the country. Memoirs like, A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, and The Bite of the Mango, by Mariatu Kamara, give the world a first hand look at the hideous truths and hard-hitting of the nightmares that took place in their home country of Sierra Leone. At an unfathomably young age, Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara both suffer because of the sting of betrayal, but Ishmael’s betrayal is more damaging. Ishmael Beah is a victim of the civil war in Sierra Leone; he is also a proud soldier for the government during the civil dispute. Brainwashed by the evils of war, he comes to despise what he once loved, the people of his country. Family values and future aspirations

There are few ways in which a person can argue that Kamara is betrayed worse than Beah, because the reality is that Kamara never experiences being a child soldier and the traumatizing memories that comes with it, such as Beah did. He is scarred with these nightmares forever. Moreover, readers must not forget that Mariatu Kamara is receiving help during her entire journey, purely out of the goodness in people’s hearts; oppositely, Ishmael Beah only meets people actively pulling him into a deeper state of