Themes Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

In “ A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael recalls moments in his life where he experienced servere pain, felt distress and depression. The book expresses many themes including: “war is terrible” and “there is always love and friendship”. Ishmael stuggled to gain back his childhood, which was now filled with war memories, in hopes of starting a new life away from the war. Ishmael thought to himself “This was one of the consequences of the civil war. People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy”(37). Ishmael was a 12-year old boy when his town was invaded by rebels. He experienced the daily obstacles of living life during a war. He lost the daily basics of life, including food

When Ishmael and others were going to Mattru Jong (a neighboring village) to participate in a friend's talent show, they had no idea that it would soon turn into a dangerous situation. When the rebels reached a nearby town, the boys experienced their first visions of war. At this point Ishmael began witnessing many gruesome things such as dead bodies, lots of blood, and the look of terror on peoples' faces. It was scarring for Ishmael and soon experienced that terrible effects of war. Not long after this he began to have nightmares- one experiencing his own death. Often when people go through traumatic events such as war, they have bad side effects that sometimes never go away. As the fighting reached Mattru Jong, Ishmael and his friends all escaped and began hiding from the rebels with the hope of reuniting with their families. They began to have hunger pains, but had no money for food and even resorted to stealing food from a little boy. Eventually they were captured by rebels and were forced to join a group with other refugees. This was terrifying for Ismael. An old man was tortured and later killed.

At first they act like animals. They threw things, broke things and dragged their mattresses outside so they could be more comfortable. They were all unhappy because they wanted their guns and drugs. It was hard for the boys to adjust back into a regular life. Ishmael began to have even more nightmares from lack of drugs. The first sign of progress he made was when the nurse, Esther, bought him a rap cassette that reminded him of his childhood. At first he was angry when she gave it to him, but slowly opened up about his past. She told him that his soldiering was not his fault. When she said this, it enraged him so much that he threw the cassette at her. She was always patient and caring towards him and never gave up on trying to help him. He trusted her more over time, revealing all his memories from war. He described a moment from his childhood “I told Esther about the shapes I used to see in the moon when I was much younger”(166). This showed that maybe with her help as a friend, he could gain back his childhood. They were looking for family members that the boys could stay with, and Ishmael remembered that he had an Uncle Tommy, whom he'd never met. When Tommy learned that Ishmael was in the rehabilitation center, he came to see him. He told Ishmael that he had a home for him and that he loves him. He said “After you are done here, you can come and live with me. You are my son. I don't have much, but