A Long Way Gone Analysis

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” wrote Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from Birmingham Jail. Ishmael Beah, author of the book A Long Way Gone speaks from experience. He was plagued with a war in his home country, taking away his childhood and family. This injustice caused him to have to fight in the war and resort to drugs to take away his mental and physical pain. Similarly, in One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, Delphine and her sisters struggle with the injustice that is not knowing their mother at the ages of eleven, nine, and seven, and the injustice of being black during a time period when people are segregated because of their color. Their father hesitantly flies them across the United States to see their mother that they haven’t met before, and who has secrets of her own. In both books, the children are forced to grow up faster than they should and take care of themselves and others, and since they are children it is more difficult to deal with the situations that are hard even for a grown person. When a person is forced to start a new life because of an injustice, they are going to be nervous; but over time when they meet people, they will gain confidence to speak out.

The two stories were alike in the fact that both authors lost their parents at a very young age. Since they lost their parents at a young age, they were both raised by their grandparents. Both stories also begin with a safe arrival to a new country. Both also said the journey to the new country was a two month long trip. And lastly, the the refugees and the pilgrims traveled to a completely different continents and had to adapt to new cultures. These are all the similarities between the two stories.

There are various things that make up a piece of literature. For example: choice of diction, modes of discourse, and figurative language. Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano were great examples of authors that used these elements of literature. There are similarities and differences in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson and From Africa to America. Though Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano shared similarities in experiences, they had different writing personalities, purposes, attitudes, tones, and relations with their communities.

The similarity and connection existing between the two stories is the point of view in the two essays. The stories are both written in the first person perspective and that

Another similarity between these two stories is that both of the characters have husbands who take

Even though both writers have different styles of writing they have many similarities in the tone and theme. Both writers have a central theme that is trying to offer an insight into the human psyche. Hulga was disconnected from society and felt that she was

In Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah encourages the opinion that everyone is responsible for his/her own actions in all cases. Beah proves this opinion to be true through death, thievery, and violence.

In the book, A Long Way Gone, there is an array of different tones. The author uses them to shine light on the central theme and main idea of the story. The tone is important because it emphasizes the emotion of the text and the story being told. The author, Ishmael Beah, who is also the main character in the book has had a rough life. He grew up in the city of Mattru Jong, which is in the country of Sierra Leone. War had swept over the land changing everything and everyone. Beah was forced into being a child soldier at the age of twelve. By looking at the book, A Long Way Gone, one can see that Beah was put through things that no person should go through and it has shaped his entire world, with death, loss, and pain.

She feels that the Britishers showed their power everywhere and did not do anything that benefitted the Antiguans. For example, a library which was very near and dear to the author was not well-maintained by colonialists. She mentions in her book that there is a sign that says, “REPAIRS ARE PENDING” (Kincaid 9), and how there has been nothing done to repair the building. As the government was very corrupt, they were caring for themselves. Kincaid also mentions that due to racial segregation, she was very stressed and mentally weak. She describes how the natives should be treated equally without any racial discrimination and desires to be a tourist. She mentions, “Every native would like to find a way out… every native would like a tour”(Kincaid 18). This quote explains on how the natives will never get the feeling of being free, how they will never sense the feeling of luxury, and how they will always be in poverty. Jamaica Kincaid reveals that she lacks an actual culture to live up to. She always says that the English ruined it for her. As Hirsh and Schweitzer wrote, “Kincaid lacks a real homeland”. Kincaid also writes about the reason she changed her name, was wanting to express her cultural identity. In an interview with Hirsh and Schweitzer, she said that she renamed herself “Jamaica Kincaid”, because it suggested her West Indian

The settings in the two stories are similar in the way that they both take place in a small town with a sense of poverty. The adults are portrayed as authoritative and the narrators feel trapped.

There are many similarities as to how the authors taught the theme. One similarity is that their lives were difficult. Henry was a slave who didn’t even know his own birthday, and Wilma had a crippled leg and couldn’t walk. Another similarity is that they are both African American. Since they are African American, Henry was a slave and Wilma was segregated. Now let’s learn about some differences.

There are many books, written by numerous authors, containing similar themes and elements. Two such stories fitting that description are Angela’s Ashes and The Street. The former takes place in Ireland and is written by Frank McCourt; the latter is set in New York and is written by Ann Petry. The characters seem like they would not have much, if anything, in common. Frank McCourt’s main character is a child, born into a large, impoverished family; Petry’s is a single mother trying to get by. Additionally, their geographical locations and the cultures in each place vary greatly. However, their stories are similar in the fact that both characters have relating struggles. The primary theme of each of their stories is close to identical. Both

Now take another African country, Sierra Leone, for instance. RUF with the assistance of NPFL mediated in Sierra Leone in an effort to take over the Joseph Momoh government. Once again, children were needed to fight the battles of these adults and with the innocent smiles of these children the adults felt no shame in robbing them of their childhood. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a personal account of Beah's time as a child soldier throughout the civil war in Sierra Leone. In his novel, he described gun shots piercing through the bodies of innocents and specifically says, “It was a girl, and her eyes were still open, with an interrupted innocent smile on

11) Q: Is it surprising that Beah spends a relatively small portion of the book describing his time as a soldier in the war? Why might he have decided to devote much more time to his life before and after his time in the army?

Thesis: Death is the main theme of both short stories and both authors portrayed this dark and dreary idea as a game the characters are playing.