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Reconstruction In A Long Way Gone

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Throughout Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, themes of reconstruction of a lifestyle are explored as Beah learns to adapt to his current situations. The importance of reconstruction is displayed through Beah’s ability to rebuild his mindset and mannerisms over and over again after being placed into a new environment. This talent for being able to let go of the past and redefine himself is one of the key factors in Beah’s miraculous survival as those around him pass away. To start, one of Beah’s first major moments of adaptation to his surroundings presents itself when he first joins the Sierra Leone army. When he first arrives, Beah is nervous and finds himself unable to kill the rebels, despite his utter hatred for them. However, Beah’s fear of killing others is replaced by violence as his friends in the army are killed by rebels, and he …show more content…

This moment and line showcase Beah’s quick thinking process that allows him to reconstruct his mindset to one that can kill with ease. If Beah was unable to shoot and morph into the standards of his new environment, he would without a doubt be killed by rebels as he stands still unable to defend himself. Before joining the army, Beah wandered from village to village alone, only fighting when he felt he needed to for survival, and despite the army demanding an entirely different mental state where killing is normal, Beah adjusts accordingly when he needs to survive. Later on in the book, Beah is forced to reconstruct himself once again as he is placed in the rehabilitation center. Opposite to the front lines, the rehabilitation center demands that Beah avoids violence and focuses on embracing his youth. After successfully undergoing his rehab, unlike most boys he came to the center with, Beah reflects on his rehabilitation by saying, “I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child” (Beah,

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A Long Way Gone is Ishmael Beah’s memoir. It retracts all of the tragic events Ishmeal endured while the Sierra Leone civil war occurred. Ishmael was a child who lived an ordinary life until rebels infiltrated his village which left him and others with no choice, but to flee. He was then forced to become a child soldier. This book shows the physical and mental torture Beah had to go through while has was a child soldier.

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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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This can be seen when Beah says, “Suddenly, as if someone was shooting them inside my brain, all of the massacres I had seen since the day I was touched by the war began flashing in my head.” (Beah 119) Second, Beah became angry, infuriated even, with the war, and it only made his lust for revenge even stronger. With his anger, the fear that he had in the beginning had vanished, as seen when he says,

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As an exposure to guns and violence as a young child, Beah seems to still be haunted by his childhood. Not only because he had to decide between killing or being killed but, because, he had to become a killer to survive.

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An autobiography, of which Ishmael Beah unwillingly becomes a child solider due to a civil war that has arisen in Sierra Leone. Before the attacks had happen, Ishmael and his elder brother Junior had gone from home to perform Rap in Mattru Jong with their friends. Not long after their arrival, news of the rebels had come to their attention having raided their home town and no sign of their families being unscarred from the warfare. Ishmael, and his group of friends sought out to travel to each village seeking out their family. However trouble comes across due to the majority of RUF rebel attacks were caused by children around their age, many villagers had no trust for these kids.

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The fear people encounter gives the rebels with guns and weapons power. Beah explains the fear of guns when he writes, “I prayed that my friends and brother wouldn’t make any sudden moves or even try to scratch an itch. The back of my head was getting warm, as if expecting a bullet anytime” (32). Beahs’ fear for his life and of his families gives the rebel pointing the gun tremendous power over them because it makes the rebel superior at that moment. Beah writes about

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This is by drugs and brainwashing from his superiors, but also by missing his family and wanting revenge. Beah went into the army with bad intentions but found the truth in retrospect saying, “I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end...”(Beah 199). Beah loves his family so much that he will kill to avenge them. His love of family, even if this is not morally right, makes him want to stay alive and kill everyone that is relatively related to the deaths of his family. Even though killing people isn't the best way to go about revenge, it shows how far

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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…” “...

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Throughout the book, a twelve-year-old boy loses his family and himself. Beah was easily manipulated into becoming a child soldier, just like so many other children. In the article, “Child Soldiers,” it summarizes how easily children can be manipulated during states of emergency, “Children are particularly susceptible to manipulation and forced recruitment due to their physical and emotional immaturity.” Being a young child during the Sierra Leone war made it easier to recruit them. All child soldiers are victims of a single story; manipulated into killing innocent people because of their emotional state and left to be discriminated against, like Ishmael

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Beah describes one of his best friends being killed by an RPG directly in front of him, this grief, mixed with the drugs the men had given him, sends him flying into battle, where he shoots a man dead, and continues shooting anyone he sees until he is ordered to retreat. This follows with extremely common signs soldiers show in war, specifically night terrors, in

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In the country Beah lived in, Sierra Leone, there was a large war going on for diamonds. The Rebels (RUF) were vicious and destroyed everything in their path to get to their goal. Unfortunately, Beah was one of the many people that suffered in the war. He ran for so long to get away and find safety, just to be caught up in it. Ishmael Beah went from an innocent child to a violent soldier.

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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

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Ishmael Beah’s memoir, "A Long Way Gone," tells the story of a young soldier boy in Sierra Leone and explores topics of death and rebirth. The narrative is instrumental in demonstrating how the human being can be strong even amidst the adversities of life. His journey from a happy childhood to a war-torn existence and on to convalescence shows how loss can have far-reaching effects on the possibility of redemption. The dark moments that Beah refers to are described in great detail and evoke emotion, through which he aims to show that it takes courage to overcome such situations. Before the start of the civil war, Ishmael had his family close by as well as a lively community.

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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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Beah lost his family from genocide while he was away performing with his rap group. Eventually he was captured by the army and was brainwashed into thinking that anyone he kills can potentially avenge his family’s death. To tell someone who is just twelve years old or younger that killing others will make up for their family’s death is inhumane. The army had an extreme advantage

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