A Long Way Gone Language Analysis

"We went from children who were afraid of gunshots to now children who were gunshots… Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water" (Barnett, 2012). Ishmael Beah, the main character and writer of the novel A Long Way Gone is a clear example of the loss of innocence that war causes. During the Sierra Leone’s civil war, Beah is recruited as a child soldier and eventually turned into a cold-blooded killer with no sign of naivety in his body. At a tender age, Beah is trained to kill, mutilate and terrify dozens of people, which causes him to be bared to a flood of disturbing scenes; transform into a murderer; loose all sense of emotion; and in time, lose his innocence. In the novel A Long Way Gone, the reader can view the multiple events

Ishmael Beah is described as a pre-teen, with a love of rap and hip-hop music. He finishes as a drug-addicted killing machine, out avenging the death of his entire family. Before being rescued by a United Nations Program, and eventually fleeing to New York for rehabilitation, it is a tragic and harrowing tale that gives substance to the term ‘Boy Soldier’, that isn’t really understood in most cases. Ishmael gives a gentle portrayal of his life, before the war reached his small village and forever changed his life. Abruptly he becomes fugitive fleeing for his life and eventually into a corrupted teen.

“I have been rehabilitated now, so don’t be afraid of me. I am not a soldier anymore; I am a child” (Beah 199). Ishmael Beah had a long road to rehabilitate but he was able to rehabilitate because he had vital forces shaping him. In Ishmael Beah’s memoir, a long way gone, Ishmael was a child soldier in Sierra Leone. He wrote a memoir sharing his experiences of being a child soldier and of him rehabilitation. During 1991 to 2002 there was a vicious civil war going on in the western African country of Sierra Leone between the RUF rebels and the government forces. Ishmael Beah was a young 10-year-old boy who lived in a small village, he liked rap music and dancing hip hop with his friends. Ishmael was never affected by the war until one day when

In the memoir of Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Beah states that his life’s journey has been a huge obstacle, but has learned to overcome that struggle by venting while the two contradictory sides continue their battling. Beah accomplishes his goal of explaining to the reader his point of view through the use of rhetorical questions, scenic narration, and parallelism. Ishmael Beah’s apparent purpose is to share personal accounts of his life with his fellow country men, in a country where war affects people to a level beyond the imagination. He is able to apply his purpose using a grotesque and bitter tone. Beah approaches his audience of ordinary people in this manner in order to vent his feelings about war by

Ishmael Beah is described as a pre-teen, with a love of rap and hip-hop music. He finishes as a drug-addicted killing machine, out avenging the death of his entire family. Before being rescued by a United Nations Program, and eventually fleeing to New York for rehabilitation, it is a tragic and harrowing tale that gives substance to the term ‘Boy Soldier’, that isn’t really understood in most cases. Ishmael gives a gentle portrayal of his life, before the war reached his small village and forever changed his life. Abruptly he becomes fugitive fleeing for his life and eventually into a corrupted teen.

In a report published by UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) it states that there are around 300,000 child soldiers, participating in over 30 different conflicts worldwide. Of these 300,000, 120,000 are serving in different countries in Africa. One of the countries where this issue has been extremely prevalent is Sierra Leone, where child soldiers made up a significant part of the armed forces during its 11-year civil war, with 10,000 out of about 50,000 soldiers being children. Accounts of child soldiers in Sierra Leone have been made, with both the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and the movie Ezra telling the story of a Sierra Leonean child soldier. Even though both the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and the movie Ezra by Newton Aduaka are important works, A Long Way Gone is more important to help people think critically and understand important aspects of the world around them.

There may be as many as 300,000 child soldiers, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s, in more than fifty conflicts around the world. Ishmael Beah used to be one of these child soldiers  , Ishmael Beah is a child who lived most of his childhood in the war   . He is one of the first to tell his story in his own words according to  http://www.alongwaygone.com/index.html and his memoir “A Long Way Gone”. The war had made ishmael have perseverance  in the long run , inference that he was brainwashed by the war and that ishmael was a very hopeful child always wishing for better days.

In a Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah describes his life as a child soldier in the Sierra Leone Army and how it impacted his childhood. Ishmael’s small village was taken over and he was forced to join the army at the age of 12.

Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the aspects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation with war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as young boy and the many issues he faces while living in

Imagine as a twelve-year-old what life is like, all the fun to have and the carelessness with little to no responsibilities. Now imagine, being twelve and being manipulated into fighting wars that can never truly be escaped. Ishmael Beah in A Long Way Gone is one of these kids. He is manipulated into hating the Rebels by the Sierra Leone army and brainwashed to kill all of them. A man named Umar Haque is doing a similar thing to kids, in which he is radicalizing them to commit terrorist attacks for ISIS. Beah’s portrayal of how he is manipulated into war by the Lieutenant helps shed light on what the school children, Umar Haque attempts to radicalize, are enduring because both Beah and the schoolboys are manipulated into becoming child soldiers.

Child soldiers are average kids taken from the normal lives and trained to be useful to the military. Currently, there are approximately 200,000 child soldiers in Sierra Leone. The film Blood Diamond, directed by Edward Zwick, portrays the life of a child soldier accurately as all one needs to do is read Ishmael Beah's autobiographical essay “The Making and Unmaking of a child Soldier” to see that the events are based on a horrific account of the process. The film’s opening screen shows a little African boy in Sierra Leone, Dia Vandy, walking from school with his father, Solomon. They talk about how much Dia loves school and his favorite subject is math.

(Vindevogel et al.,2011). , interview a boy Lira, that was abducted and was a child soldier at the age of 11. He told the story of how he became a child soldier, he explained how they would beat you with a hundred stick so that you would become “strong hearted”. (556) Afterwards, you would be considered a soldier, Lira was forced to kill about twenty people. He explained “There was a girl I came with from the same village and they forced me to kill her. It was difficult for me to reject, because if you reject they will kill you. So you do that to safeguard yourself ( Lira 557 )”.

Child soldiers is an ongoing issue worldwide. I was completely aware of this injustice however, I was not cognizant of the extent of this matter or where it was taking place. Before listening to Nicholas’s presentation I was mindful of the detrimental impacts war has on families, land, workers, and children. Some of these impacts may include the destruction of homes, loss of child or PTSD, depression and other mental illnesses that affect the way children think. In spite of this, I did not have a thorough knowledge of the severity of this situation.

“When I was seven I had an answer to this question that made sense to me….if I was the hunter, I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament” (Beah 218). A Long Way Gone is a memoir of a child soldier who is the author himself Ishmael Beah. Beah around the ages of twelve to thirteen grew up in Sierra Leone during its civil war. During his story, Beah talks in a tone that is straight to the point, however many devices help the reader imagine his loss of innocence. Beah uses a series of flashbacks, symbols and motifs to illustrate his loss to his readers.

Take, for example, Ngor Mayol. He now works in a grocery store in Georgia.” The text then goes on to state many pleasing factors about Mayol, regarding how he has a crisp clean record, has a friendly demeanor, and is the one to attract friends often. With prosperous rehabilitation, brainwashed child soldiers go from being a potentially dangerous threat’s to notably sensational citizens in the community. Hence the claim made by those who support the prosecution of child soldiers is not valid. Subsequently, the prosecution of child soldiers should not go into effect.