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The Theme Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

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Child soldiers have been a major issue in countries all over the world for a very long time. For example, Afghanistan is recruiting children to become a part of the Taliban, one of the largest terrorist groups in the country. A theme presented by Ishmael Beah in the book A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier is that when all is lost, there is always hope. He went through brutal drugs and a dark childhood while he was in a civil war but he still was able to push through it and find happiness. My theme plays a big role in the memoir of ALWG, even when Beah felt like there was nothing left for him to live for, and there was no hope. He eventually got out of his tough situation with drugs and war and found happiness. When Beah left Sierra …show more content…

He stated "My conception of New York City came from rap music. I envisioned it as a place where people shot each other on the street and got away with it"(Beah 193). After arriving at New York his conception completely changed and he realized not all hope was lost and that the world is not full of violence, and many people can be very kind. Growing up into a rough childhood like Beah did must have been very hard. He witnessed so much death and sadness that no one should ever have to go through in their entire lifetime, but sadly many children, not just him have to go through it. When these children grow up and live their lives they will never be able to completely shake off the effects of PTSD, but they can still find happiness and hope. Beah was able to find hope through music, and rehabilitation. He was exposed to violence and drugs at such a young age, which was all he really knew. That is why he was so mesmerized by New York City- it had everything Sierra Leone did not. In the book, Beah's friend says "Hey, you fellows have any tafe [marijuana] for us?"(Beah 137). This quote shows that children at their age should not be asking for drugs and suffering through withdrawals when they are without these drugs, but the hope is never lost because their lives can always get better. When Beah is taken to New York to meet children from all around the world he realizes that many kids from all over the world come from dark backgrounds and have all united in New York City hoping to find a better life. Beah says "Within minutes if talking to each other, we knew that the room was filled with young people who had a very difficult childhood"(Beah 196). Beah instantly connected with these kids on another level and it helped him realize that if other kids can overcome obstacles in life, than he can

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Book Report On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

716 Words | 3 Pages

War is destructive and tears apart the most important parts of life. Ishmael Beah was a boy in Sierra Leone when a civil war was taking place Ishmael wrote a book about his experiences titled A Long Way Gone. The book is about how Ishmael went from a boy to a soldier. Ishmael lived happily in a village when it was attacked by the rebels RUF he fled from village to village. Ishmael eventually ended up by the Army and joined them to fight the rebels.

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Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

464 Words | 2 Pages

The definition of 'home' is different for many people. Some people have no place to call home. To some, home is the place where family is at. To others, home is a state of mind, something completely resting on the beliefs or thoughts of the individual. The general idea of home is a place of safety and stability.

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The Role Of Music In A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

318 Words | 2 Pages

In Ishmael Beah’s personal memoir, A Long Way Gone, music courses through the story quite often. Music is first seen in Ishmael’s peaceful childhood. He and his friends enjoy singing and dancing along to music, in particular, Rap Music. As the story progresses, and the war becomes more prevalent in the young boys lives, rap continues to play a substantial role in their lives, just in a different way. At the end of Ishmael’s life story, there is yet another role that music plays.

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Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

942 Words | 4 Pages

There are many reasons English teachers should select material to teach important concepts. English is a much more loosely structured class than Calculus or Physics, so there is a great deal of controversy when choosing books for students. While some titles can hold topics that resemble taboos, the experiences of the protagonists in stories of violence, poverty, and extreme struggle can encourage growth of students as learners, thinkers, and human beings. Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High School English IV curriculum because it contains honest and detailed imagery, and because it sparks a reader’s awareness of tragedies that are being forced upon their peers across the globe.

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Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

405 Words | 2 Pages

Once these children experience the horrors of war, they can never be kids again. Those gruesome memories will haunt them for life. These child soldiers are just what the name says, children forced to become soldiers. Yet, somehow society comes to blame them, the victims of circumstance in a war

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A Long Way Gone Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier By Ishmael Beah

1045 Words | 5 Pages

However when Beah was selected to speak at the United Nations conference held in New York it was an undiscovered dream come to life. Being able to attend the conference gave Beah the chance to meet extraordinary adults and children. Beah’s trip to New York allowed him to share his story in hopes of prevent another child from joining the war. It also gave him the chance to change people’s perception of boy soldiers, “I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child”

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Ishmael Beah's Journey In A Long Way Gone

1086 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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Examples Of Loss Of Innocence In A Long Way Gone

1258 Words | 6 Pages

On Saturday, March 23 the Sierra Leone army came under attack from rebel forces from within the country called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a ruthless group of soldiers led by a former army Sierra Leone corporal, Foday Sankoh. They would do anything to gain control of the country including the enlistment of child soldiers, and they had the upper hand until the army followed their strategy and drafted children themselves (Fyfe and Davidson). Many of the child soldiers suffered a lot of physical and psychological trauma from the war including a young boy named Ishmael Beah. In A Long Way Gone, Beah’s recounting of his experiences in the war, portrays the loss of innocence and hope in child soldiers due to the effects of war.

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Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

773 Words | 4 Pages

Teen’s friends do this kind of thing all the time, so a reader could relate to the uncomfortable situation he just went through. Later on in the memoir, readers learn that Beah had created a stereotype for New York City in his head that was influenced by rap music he listens to. Beah arrives in New York City and describes to the readers what his first thought was: “My Conception of New York City came from rap music. I envisioned it as a place where people shot each other on the street and got away with it; no one walked on the streets, rather people drove in their sports cars looking for nightclubs and for violence” (193). Beah, by describing what he thought New York City was going to be like, goes to show that every person stereotypes something; Whether it be a group of people or a city.

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A Way Gone By Ishmael Beah Essay

354 Words | 2 Pages

“We must strive to be like the moon” p.16 Why does suffering happen to the innocent? Maybe without suffering in war there wouldn’t be any compassion and love in the world. Ishmael Beah a boy soldier who lost his childhood and everything he loved, fought with his conscience as the years went by as he killed his memoirs. This book is memoirs of boy soldiers and war.

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A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah: Song Analysis

1109 Words | 5 Pages

This is demonstrated in two ways: by Ishmael’s unique love of rap/hip hop music, and by Ishmael’s independence. First, one of Beah’s defining traits is his interest in western rap/hip hop music. He falls in love with this type of music after “[sitting] there mesmerized by the song, trying to understand what the black fellows were saying.” (Beah, 2007, p. 6). This trait makes Beah unique because not many Sierra Leoneans are exposed to this kind of music, and also because his music saves his life several times.

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Reflection On A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

498 Words | 2 Pages

The way Beah explained what happened to him, he did it in a sad way. My response to the writer is that I feel sorry for him. I cannot relate to him in any way since I have never been exposed to war and even been a soldier fighting in it. He was strong through the hardest part of his life; the actual war itself, rehabilitation, and ultimately escaping Freetown, Sierra Leone to eventually fly over to New York and start a new life. Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, replays a part of Beah’s life that will always be very vivid to him.

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Sonny's Blues Rhetorical Analysis

838 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator described the very stereotypical gang members in Harlem being “filled with rage” and “popping off needles every time they went to the head” (Baldwin 123). Lastly, the change in the author's tone was very evident. The readers could notice when the narrator was talking about life in Harlem or Sonny’s drug abuse because it had a very bitter and cold tone. However, when Sonny was talking about his music the tone was hopeful and positive. Baldwin wanted to show that music was the one thing helping with Sonny’s pain.

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Lil Bosie Thesis

120 Words | 1 Pages

In this song rapper Lil Boosie is conveying what it was like growing up in the inner city of Baton Rouge Louisiana. This song points to the strains of growing up in an unstable home full of drug use and domestic violence. Along with the implications of an unstable home life, this song sheds light on also growing up in a crime ridden, drug infested, and violent community. As a young man growing up in this community Lil Boosie had no positive male role models at home so he turned to the streets and in a sense became a product of his environment. Also encomposed in this song are the strains of losing your friends to gun violence and

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Environment In Sonny's Blues And The Lesson

963 Words | 4 Pages

In “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin, Sonny and his brother grew up in Harlem. The people in Harlem are suffering from poverty and drug addiction. Sonny’s environment

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