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Unusual Normalites By Ishmael Beah Sparknotes

617 Words3 Pages

Hunter Davis
Mr.Werley
English lll
9 March 2023
Unusual Normalites
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As a young kid, Ishmael had a terrible life in sierra leone [5]. A war had started in his country, sierra leone, and at 12, he became an orphan because his family had passed away in the war. This led to Ishmael having to get adopted; Ishmael came to new york when he was 17, and he met his new mother; she was “standing there with a beaming smile”[5]
Ishmael had never had nice clothes before; while he and his new adoptive mom were shopping, he always dreamed of escaping the war and being a “normal kid” Ishmael, and his new mom went to a Chinese restaurant. In his fortune cookie, “you will get new clothes” [5] ishmael can now believe that dreams do come true, it just takes time and patience …show more content…

Beah describes the difficulty of readjusting to normal life and the struggle to find a sense of belonging and purpose.

Beah begins his essay by describing the surreal experience of returning to his village after the war. He writes, "Everything seemed so normal, and yet it was all so surreal." Beah had spent years as a child soldier, forced to commit acts of violence and witness unspeakable atrocities. Now, back in his home village, he struggled to reconcile his experiences with the everyday life around him.

One of the biggest challenges Beah faced was reconnecting with his family. He writes about the awkwardness and discomfort of trying to rebuild relationships that had been shattered by the war. He felt like a stranger in his own home and struggled to communicate with his parents and siblings. Beah writes, "I had grown accustomed to living a life without much communication, and now that I was back in a place where communication was necessary, I didn't know how to do

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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.

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Beah becomes a pile of clay into the army’s hands thanks to his plight in life; he lost his family, friends and village because of the war, strangers everywhere he goes mistrust him and he has no basic human needs like water to drink and food to eat. Beah is angry, vulnerable and exhausted. The first stage of vulnerably he feels is the lack of basic human needs. While roaming the county, there is very little food and water in abundance and this causes many problems for Beah and his friends.

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