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Trauma In A Long Way Gone

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ALWG Research Essay In A Long Way Gone the main character Ishmael is forced to be recruited as a child soldier. He was drugged up and put through traumatic events. This leads to him being rehabilitated, and now sharing his story. Ishmael is explaining his past to try and abolish child soldiers. He was drug addicted, and experienced multiple violations of human rights. Ishmael, like other soldiers, experiences hallucinations and the nightmares still can haunt him. Being a child soldier leaves a huge scar on a person. During the war when they ran out of soldiers, child soldiers were often put into the field as a last resort. Children are exposed to many violent and disturbing scenes. Children are put into dangerous situations that can effect …show more content…

There was a study run on 141 former child soldiers both boys and girls. All the kids experienced some sort of scarring event. The results of the test concluded that “... 55 percent of the former child soldiers had levels of PTSD that warranted mental health interventions, compared to 20 percent of the other children. “ (“Emory study of former child soldiers yields new data to guide mental health interventions). Generally kids that do not experience any violence have less mental health issues. Child soldiers are put through more trauma therefore they have a higher percent of kids with mental health issues. All child soldiers go through something shocking, so they have a higher risk of PTSD depending on the severity of the event. To finish off child soldiers should be abolished, for it causes more PTSD in …show more content…

In the memoir, A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah’s friend, Saidu, was talking about his life at home. He conveyed that the child soldiers stormed into his house raped his sisters, and took all their belongings. Ishmael illustrates that “After the rebels had raped the sisters over and over, they bundled the family’s property and made the father and mother carry it.” (Beah 80). Usually people do not get sexually harassed often. The rebels took over their property and evicted the family. The child soldiers also unwillingly sexually assaulted the sisters. While being screamed at to stop, the rebels just disregarded the yelling parents. No one should get violated the way the family was. In summary child soldiers must be abolished, for it is

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