A Long Way Gone (Memoirs of a Boy Soldier) by Ishmael Beah was not very appealing at first, but I eventually fell for it. I thought of choosing King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild but I thought my fiction book was somewhat similar to it, thus, I wanted to opt for something different. When I first read the summary of A Long Way Gone, I was truly not quite interested, however, once I read the reviews, I began to change my mind. Its critics seemed astonished and devastated at the same time because the book delivered such a horrendous, but definitely a very true reality that we are not very aware of. I may have heard of child soldiers, but I knew very little, therefore, I chose to read it in hopes of becoming more aware and knowledgeable of
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In Sierra Leone of Africa, 1991, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) began to attack villages to gain control of land and overthrow the corrupt All People’s Congress (APC). Sierra Leone took on a civil war between ruthless rebels and the army. Within time, the RUF began to grow and the question of a village being attacked was when, not if. Ishmael’s village and the others surrounding them could not comprehend such matter until it happened. While Ishmael and his friends secretly traveled to another village for a talent show, their village was ransacked, attacked, and slaughtered. He had no idea about the whereabouts of his family; did they escape? or did they die? Soon, the villages surrounding his were targeted as well. Since then, Ishmael had to learn to survive with his friends, sometimes, by himself. Ishmael had to wander the forests and find food there or in other villages, he experienced starvation, homelessness, and so many indescribable catastrophes. One devastating event took place when one of his companions had died. Ishmael became “worried and kept calling out [his] friends’ names, so that they wouldn’t fall asleep. [He] was afraid that if any did, [they were] going to leave [him and his other companions]” (87). The small, young group of teenage boys couldn’t afford to lose one another in the midst of a terrifying war. Now, the boys had lost a brother and …show more content…
These children were even more hopeless than before, but, soon after, they were saved by the army. Ishmael and his surviving companions thought they were saved, but due to the strong, threatening RUF and because of the loss of soldiers, the boys were recruited to the army. At first, they did not know what to think of it, they were unsure, but, when the lieutenant gave a speech about the opportunity of vengeance for their families, the boys fulfilled their role. As a result, Ishmael became devoted to his duty: “The villages that we captured and turned into our bases as we went along and the forests that we slept in became my home. My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed” (126). Stab, murder, drugs, shoot, and kill was the life of Ishmael and the other recruits that were with him. This philosophy was their life! In fact, when Ishmael and some of his recruits were released from the army and sent to rehabilitation, they were outraged. All the child soldiers longed for violence and drugs, it took weeks, months for them to recover. Correspondingly, Ishmael recovered and even attended a conference at the UN in New York for Children Associated with the War (CAW). People
In Sierra Leone of Africa, 1991, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) began to attack villages to gain control of land and overthrow the corrupt All People’s Congress (APC). Sierra Leone took on a civil war between ruthless rebels and the army. Within time, the RUF began to grow and the question of a village being attacked was when, not if. Ishmael’s village and the others surrounding them could not comprehend such matter until it happened. While Ishmael and his friends secretly traveled to another village for a talent show, their village was ransacked, attacked, and slaughtered. He had no idea about the whereabouts of his family; did they escape? or did they die? Soon, the villages surrounding his were targeted as well. Since then, Ishmael had to learn to survive with his friends, sometimes, by himself. Ishmael had to wander the forests and find food there or in other villages, he experienced starvation, homelessness, and so many indescribable catastrophes. One devastating event took place when one of his companions had died. Ishmael became “worried and kept calling out [his] friends’ names, so that they wouldn’t fall asleep. [He] was afraid that if any did, [they were] going to leave [him and his other companions]” (87). The small, young group of teenage boys couldn’t afford to lose one another in the midst of a terrifying war. Now, the boys had lost a brother and …show more content…
These children were even more hopeless than before, but, soon after, they were saved by the army. Ishmael and his surviving companions thought they were saved, but due to the strong, threatening RUF and because of the loss of soldiers, the boys were recruited to the army. At first, they did not know what to think of it, they were unsure, but, when the lieutenant gave a speech about the opportunity of vengeance for their families, the boys fulfilled their role. As a result, Ishmael became devoted to his duty: “The villages that we captured and turned into our bases as we went along and the forests that we slept in became my home. My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed” (126). Stab, murder, drugs, shoot, and kill was the life of Ishmael and the other recruits that were with him. This philosophy was their life! In fact, when Ishmael and some of his recruits were released from the army and sent to rehabilitation, they were outraged. All the child soldiers longed for violence and drugs, it took weeks, months for them to recover. Correspondingly, Ishmael recovered and even attended a conference at the UN in New York for Children Associated with the War (CAW). People