What Is The Role Of Ishmael Beah's Struggles In A Long Way Gone

Many people go through things they consider hard in their lives. For many teens today this can be breaking up with someone, breaking their phone, and fighting with their friends. But, for Ishmael Beah his struggles are harder than that. He has to go without his family, he ends up doing drugs, and has to kill people to survive. In “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, all these struggles are true for him and he has to find a way to live through them and learn how to survive without lots of food and water. In the first few chapters of the novel everything is perfect for him. But, then the attacks happen. Ishmael and his friends go back to their village and try to find their families. They can’t. During this time, many people were scared and were

In the end of the book they have to learn to be nice again when they are put in a home. The book says, “It was infuriating to be told what to do by civilians. Their voices, even when they called us for breakfast, enraged me so much that I would punch the wall, my locker, or anything that I was standing near.” (Beah 138). This is a man vs. man conflict and a man vs. self-conflict. It is a man vs. man conflict because he often fights the nurses and the people trying to help him. Another thing Ishmael struggles with is drug addiction. This was one of his most self struggles in life at the time. When he is taken in he starts going through drug with-drawl. The text says, “My hands begun to shake uncontrollably and my migraines had returned with a vengeance. It was as if a blacksmith had an anvil in my head. I would hear and feel the hammering of metal in my head, and these unbearable sharp sounds made my veins and muscles sore.” (Beah 140) Ishmael is going through the symptoms of drug with drawl. He wants drugs so badly and his head is pounding and his minds spinning. He is having a conflict with himself. Another self

For example, when you have Arachnophobia, you may end up burning the house down if there is a spider. Or if you have just been through a traumatic war and you are terrified you may be mean to people unintentionally. The text says, “We would chase them out of the dining hall and beat them up. One afternoon, after we had chases off the nurses and staff members, we placed a bucket over the cooks head and pushed him around the kitchen until he burned his hand…” (Beah 138) I can relate to this because I am terrified of needles , since when I was little I had blood dialysis a lot and I only remember being scared so I am now. It takes a lot of work to learn how to do something especially since you have been through something that has taught you otherwise. With Ishmael it takes him a long time to actually talk to someone outside of his squad. The nurse in the mini-hospital shows him kindness, love, and forgiveness. During this time the Second Congo war was going on. This war lasted from 1996-2003. If you were alone in the woods while a war was going on, you would be scared. Ishmael and his squad were trying to fight to stay alive and stay away from