A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah: An Analysis

Gunshots roaring, the world covered by blood and death, all alone. Wondering if loved ones are still alive, in starvation, or being tortured. Wondering if the same fate will befall the frail adolescent body of yours. Imagine being drafted for the military at the age of thirteen and going off to war. This is an unfortunate reality for many children in certain countries. Child soldiering has become a way of war. This horrendous practice of exploiting children is caused by the need to economically benefit one’s country by appropriating the efficiency of being able to condition children from an early age. The effects include post traumatic disorder, mental health issues, medical issues, the list goes on, and much about this experience can be observed in the book, “A Long Way Gone,” by Ishmael Beah. A child soldier is a person under eighteen years old serving in arms. There are two types of recruitment, voluntary and forceful. Voluntary recruitment is when children volunteer themselves up to serve in an armed group. Forceful recruitment, done in immensely cruel ways like abduction and torture. There are many reasons for child recruitment, one main one being that it simply cost less, it’s less of a hole in the economy. Sadly, the term, “more bang for your buck,” applies here. Children …show more content…
“Death, blood, guns, war,” are almost never put into the same sentence as that word. However in some countries, children are key components in making conditioned killing machines. Used because their minds are more manipulatable, and they are simply less costly. The effects of this are appalling, their futures taken away, psychological and mental health problems occur. In a real life example, “A long way gone,” by Ishmael Beah, he experience the emptiness that the word “hope” brings him, to escape the life of drugs and the high that is killing for him. Take a moment to take this in and think about how you might handle going to war as a