Symbolism In A Long Way Gone

The symbols in A Long Way Gone help the reader create connections to Beah’s life during the events of the book. These symbols illustrate his emotions and his view on life. Beah uses the symbol of his rap cassette to depict his childhood. In chapter one, we learn how Beah and his friends were introduced to rap music and how much it impacted them. “The four of us sat there mesmerized by the song … After that, we can to the quarters every other weekend to study that kind of music on television.” (Beah 6). Later on, when one of his friends returns from secondary school, he brings back cassette tapes and teaches them to dance. From their first introduction to the music, the boys are fascinated by it. This fascination is recalled with joy because the music brought their friends

“We had left home with only these cassettes and the clothes that we wore.”(Beah). During this time in the book, the boys had tried to go back home only to realize it was too dangerous. On their way, They passed through Beah’s grandma’s village which had been torn apart by the rebels. When they return Beah uses the cassettes to forget about the horrors they just saw. “I remember sitting on the verandah listening to “Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D & The Boyz … I closed my eyes, and the images from Kabati flashed in my mind. I tried to drive them out by evoking older memories of Kabati before the war.” (Beah). During this moment, he tries using the cassettes to think of happier times and push away the gruesome scene at Kabati. He uses the childhood memories associated with the music on the cassettes as a way to cope with the terrible things he experienced. Much later in the story, when Beah is forced to join the army, the cassettes are brought up to symbolize the death of his childhood. To get rid of the boy's past, the military sets a fire to all their clothes and