Ishmael Beah

The name-changes of Abraham and Sarah by God are not the only ones found in Genesis as Jacob becomes Israel not just once but twice. Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebekah making him the grandson of Abraham and Sarah. He even had a twin brother named Esau. Even though most parents say they do not have a favorite child, it was known that Esau was Isaac’s favorite, and Jacob was Rebekah’s favorite. This caused some jealousy towards Esau as Jacob wanted the approval and blessing from his father…

The next encounter Abraham had with God was in Genesis 15, in which God placed significant emphasis on the seed and the land. As Abraham had no son, he at first thought that his trusty servant, Eliezer, should become his son by adoption, and his heir. But God informed Abraham that his servant should not be his son and heir, but that he is going to have a son of his own flesh and blood and by faith Abraham believed God and it was counted unto righteousness (15:6). The author of the text, Moses,…

One would think that young children would not take part in the warfare, but think again. Ishmael Beah, the author and the main character of the novel, A Long Way Gone, is a child soldier during a civil war in Sierra Leone. This memoir recalls the journey of Ishmael’s life during the war and the struggles he has faced since then. The death of his family made him want to go against the rebels, but to survive he had to kill blameless civilians. In return, he was forever damaged with terrible…

Job #1: In the beginning of the novel, Ishmael was a skinny, twelve year old African American boy that wore baggy jeans, long-sleeved shirts, and three pairs of socks that he pulled down and folded, which puffed up his sneakers (7). As the novel progressed, Ishmael became very scrawny with dirty, shabby clothes. Ishmael became extremely thin because he was not able to eat regularly. In the novel, Ishmael’s hunger ends up taking over in chapter 5, Ishmael and his friends chased after a little boy…

monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament” (Beah 218) Ishmael said, thinking of his memories as a soldier. This quote is something that he has learned from being a soldier. In the memoir A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael was a normal kid living in Mattru Jong. The RUF rebels attacked his village and he was separated for his family. Ishmael spent long months of fleeing from the rebels and looking for his family. He had made some new…

Literary Analysis Ishmael Beah’s childhood was sensationally different than his old accustomed ways. He not only experienced a unmerciful war, his family and friends perished. At only twelve years of age and going through this, Ishmael goes through serious trauma. In his own memoir A Long Way Gone, Ishmael explains what happened during his experiences in the war and he raises awareness to the topic of child soldiers. The book goes into great depth of how every factor, choice, and death shaped…

In A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the key motifs: survival, perseverance, and family support the theme, challenges can be faced by using perseverance and maintaining hope. Survival is one motif because Ishmael, the main character, is motivated to survive as he witnesses many horrific events. “All the captives stood at gunpoint watching as the rebels proceeded to interrogate the old man” (Beah, 2007, p.g. 32). Ishmael constantly ran away from the rebels to hide. He had to escape the rebels and…

forced to kill your parents to survive. This is what happens to Ishmael Beah and thousands of other children in A Long Way Gone. Ishmael is forced to kill hundreds of innocent people while on drugs. The three most important themes in A Long Way Gone are loss of innocence, the damages of war, and family. Ishmael loses his innocence when war comes to his village. The author states, “Blood was coming out of her ears.” (Beah 12). Ishmael has never seen such gruesome scenes before. As time goes on,…

“A long way gone” by Ishmael Beah Alone and afraid he grips his machete tightly as he knows the attackers are going to jump out at any second. Fearful of what is going to happen next, he stays still anxiously waiting. Beah hears a branch snap in half, the leaves on the forest floor start crunching as the object comes closer and closer. The infant monkey surprisingly appears but it is too late, as Ishmael had already swung his machete, killing the monkey. Beah asks himself what he had just done.…

to their villages with arms or legs cut off. Ishmael Beah wrote a book called “A Long Way Gone” which is a memoir about his memories from the war because he was forced to be a boy soldier. The civil war in Sierra Leone was a very cruel war that took place from 1991 to 2002. The R.U.F. was a rebel group from the war and they would capture little boys, train them to kill people, and drug them to not feel sympathy and make them have a lot of energy. Ishmael is a victim from the R.U.F because they…