Journeys to Safety and Healing
The books The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone are both used to illustrate the theme of journeys. The Bite of the Mango is narrated by a young girl named Mariatu Kamara who has grown up in a small town called Magborou all her life. But, when she is twelve the civil war that is raging in her country reaches her town and her hands are cut off by the rebel forces. After her encounter with the rebels, she walks through the brush for many days. She finally reaches safety and receives help and rehabilitation in the country's capital Freetown. In the proceeding years as she learns to cope with her handicap she is sent to Paris to be fitted for prosthetic hands and then eventually Kamara gets to go to Canada where …show more content…
In A Long Way Gone Beah’s village got attacked and after traveling from village to village running away from the rebels with his brother and a group of their friends he gets separated from them and starts a journey on his own. In the book ishmael recalls his time running from danger saying, “I walked for two days straight without sleeping…. I felt as if someone was after me, often my shadows would scare me and caused me to run for miles. Everything felt awkwardly brutal…. I knew I was hungry but I didn't have the appetite to eat or strength to find food.”(Beah 49). This quote shows how Beah is pushing through and is determined to keep moving away from the rebel forces so he can find safety. Comparatively, Kamara describes in her memoir, The Bite of the Mango, her journey to safety after being mutilated by the rebel forces. She says, “With a determination I didn't know I had I plunged into the dark bush. The moonlight couldn't penetrate the canopy formed by the trees so I tripped over rocks and long twisty weeds. But every time I lost my footing I got right back up.”(Kamara, McClelland 46). Just like Beah, Kamara is determined to find safety and get help with her wounds. Everytime she falls down she gets right back up and is resilient in her quest to
The books The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone are both used to illustrate the theme of journeys. The Bite of the Mango is narrated by a young girl named Mariatu Kamara who has grown up in a small town called Magborou all her life. But, when she is twelve the civil war that is raging in her country reaches her town and her hands are cut off by the rebel forces. After her encounter with the rebels, she walks through the brush for many days. She finally reaches safety and receives help and rehabilitation in the country's capital Freetown. In the proceeding years as she learns to cope with her handicap she is sent to Paris to be fitted for prosthetic hands and then eventually Kamara gets to go to Canada where …show more content…
In A Long Way Gone Beah’s village got attacked and after traveling from village to village running away from the rebels with his brother and a group of their friends he gets separated from them and starts a journey on his own. In the book ishmael recalls his time running from danger saying, “I walked for two days straight without sleeping…. I felt as if someone was after me, often my shadows would scare me and caused me to run for miles. Everything felt awkwardly brutal…. I knew I was hungry but I didn't have the appetite to eat or strength to find food.”(Beah 49). This quote shows how Beah is pushing through and is determined to keep moving away from the rebel forces so he can find safety. Comparatively, Kamara describes in her memoir, The Bite of the Mango, her journey to safety after being mutilated by the rebel forces. She says, “With a determination I didn't know I had I plunged into the dark bush. The moonlight couldn't penetrate the canopy formed by the trees so I tripped over rocks and long twisty weeds. But every time I lost my footing I got right back up.”(Kamara, McClelland 46). Just like Beah, Kamara is determined to find safety and get help with her wounds. Everytime she falls down she gets right back up and is resilient in her quest to