Ishmael Beah has experienced extreme hardships ever since he was a little boy. Growing up in Sierra Leone during war causes Ishmael’s life to revolve around such. In the nonfiction book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldiers, Ishmael Beah shares personal accounts of what it was like growing up in a period of violence and separation. Ishmael and his family live in a small village called Mattru Jong. When Ishmael is twelve-years-old, his village is attacked by rebels.
A Long Way Gone is a memoir written with Ishmael Beah’s memories of the civil war that happened in his hometown, Sierra Leone. Beah’s determination for survival and use of descriptive imagery of the war gives us a chance to feel like we’re actually in the war with him. Ishmael Beah was only a twelve year old boy when the war came to his village. Because he lost his family in the war, Ishmael had to learn how to survive on his own along with some other boys. Together, they took care and watched out for each other in the wilderness while trying to find a safe place to hide from the rebels, the people attacking their country.
The Struggles During Wartime The sierra Leone child soldier survivor Ishmael Beah. He had to deal with the separation of his family at twelve-years old, exposure to guns, violence and starvation,but, the worst of all was when he had to become a killer. One of the many struggles Beah had to deal with when he was a little kid was the exposure to gun and violence.
"A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah, has permanently altered my understanding of "Civil War". Due to the way Ishmael Beah talked about his own near death experiences, children who read his book can now have knowledge of war, from a child's perspective. The absurd savagery Ishmael was exposed to, taught him lessons a child like myself should never have to learn. Reading this book has brought light of the many intentional and unintentional consequences of war. Ishmael had been born in Mogwemo, a poor segregated village, like most of the regions in Sierra Leone.
In the memoir A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier written by author and activist Ishmael Beah, Ishmael tell his story about his gruesome and regretful time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone where he lived his childhood along with his family. His family had consisted of his mom, dad, and two brothers. Growing up Ishmael had a normal childhood surrounded by family traditions, hearing stories told by his grandmother, and playing soccer almost daily with his friends. Unfortunately, when the war had hit his hometown, a village called Mogbwemo, he was separated from his family.
It is often said that one’s early years of upbringing in his or her family can shape the rest of that person’s life drastically. More often than not, people’s caretakers immensely influence and shape their beliefs, thoughts, and morals. Sometimes this can lead to issues such as a child growing up in an abusive household and then abusing his or her own family later on. In Ishmael Beah’s book, A Long Way Gone (2007), he tells the story of his childhood life during a war. In the early 1990’s, a civil war broke out in Sierra Leone.
Innocence Lost: Exploring the Lasting Physical and Psychological Impact on Child Soldiers “The war had given us new eyes to see the world, but they were eyes that would always haunt us”(Beah, 2008). Ishmael Beah’s book, A Long Way Gone, is a memoir of a boy soldier who talks about his first-hand experiences as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone. The book is a narrative that guides readers through the life of Ishmael Beah, from Beah’s childhood in a small village to the recruitment into government army and involvement in the war. Beah vividly describes the nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional stress he experiences even after being rescued and rehabilitated. Through Ishmael Beah’s story, Beah gives insight into the psychological
The book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is an exceptionally vigorous novel which thoroughly explains the life of a boy soldier by capturing the honest and painful truth of war. By being in the perspective of Ishmael and allowing for readers to get an insight of the war, Beah did an excellent job at emphasizing that war is a terrible activity, there is always hope, and when everything is gone, there is always love; which are concluded to be the main focuses of the book. This story of a young man should be read by many due to the fact that it shows how gruesome and realistic the effects of wars are while also concluding with a positive outcome. The main focuses of this book include how nothing positive results from
Ishmael Beah has experienced more violence than most ever will. The bone-chilling fact that he became a veteran in his adolescence shows this clearly. All of this is shown in his memoir, A Long Way Gone. The gruesomely-described violence in the novel causes many reactions in those who read of his suffering, myself included. Beah wrote this story about his life to show the world a hidden truth.
At the age of 13 till the age of 16 the author, Ishmael Beah, pulls himself through many terrible conflicts in Sierra Leone. The author uses conflict to show his readers the realism of his story. By using conflict in many different ways, it allows readers to gain an understanding of how Ishmael struggles changed his life for worse and for better. By using person vs person, person vs society, person vs self, and person vs nature conflict the author is opening doors allowing readers to get a full understanding of Ishmael 's challenges of a life in war. The most commonly seen conflict in ‘A Long Way Gone’ is person vs society.
In the memoir A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, Beah writes about his childhood to teen years being an unwilling child soldier in Sierra Leone and living through times of great tragedy and war. Ishmael was born in Sierra Leone in 1980 and he moved to the United States in 1998 where he finished high school at the United Nations International School in New York. Ishmael went to Oberlin College. He is also a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Watch Rights Division Advisory Committee. He has spoken in front of the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO), and many other NGO panels on how children are affected by war.
The major theme in the story A Long Way Gone is that with family and love a person can make it through anything. Overall Ishmael’s story is a very powerful, eye opening read; it informs people on a subject that some know little to nothing about, the civil war in Sierra Leone. Beah uses the theme of family and love, along with the use of symbolism and other literary devices, to inform a larger audience of the issues that he and others had to face while trying to survive in a war zone. A Long Way Gone, an autobiographical memoir, written by Ishmael Beah, takes place in Sierra Leone during the time of their civil war.
I value resilience because I seem to have been told that I have lot of it. Even in my worst tragedies I have come through and decided not to give up. This meant that I recovered from my eating disorder because I chose that I wanted to be around to see my son grow up, also when my mom passed away in the beginning of grade 12 I had to face the choice of dropping out to grieve or continue to get my diploma at the end of the year. Another choice related to resilience was my desire to find a man that was as kind and caring as my father was, so I found the strength to leave my sons father and get out of that abusive relationship. Now I have found all of this resilience to continue with life knowing that I am doing what I can, and that my past will
Resilience is the test of remaining strong and prosperous; It's the ability to overcome and learn from the hardships that inevitably forces you to face. The determination of a person's character quality exhibits their ability to recoup and succeed from their misfortunes. The last year was the year of multiple family loses and misfortunes that tested the resilience of my spirit and self-will. On May 2nd, 2016, my mom and I received a call that would change me as a person.
We all encounter situations that make us ask ourselves, “how am I ever going to make it through this?” The answer to the question is resilience. Having “an attitude that enables the individual to examine, enhance and utilize the strengths, characteristics and other resources available” (Harrington, 2012) is what enables us to make it through tough situations. For me, the toughest obstacle I have had to overcome is being thrown into my current position as a store manager.
