Peter Lundin

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is a narrative of survival of a 12-year-old boy separated from his family and caught in the mess of the Sierra Leone civil war in the early 1990s. His story reveals his traumatizing and shocking experiences as a soldier driven by anger and revenge for the loss of his village and his culture, only later able to overcome everything that had happened and the things he’d done. Ishmael’s cultural connection to storytelling was ultimately what…

“A war is when the government tells the people who the enemy is, a revolution is when you figure it out for yourself.” This was not true in the case of 12 year old Ishmael Beah who not only had to figure out who the enemy was, but also had to escape the trials of danger that came along with being at both ends of an AK-47. No child at that young age would deliberately put themselves in a situation where kill or be killed was their daily life motto. I think the child soldiers were highly unaware…

was able to accomplish several amazing things as well as conquering many failures, making both into benefits for Russia. Catherine the Great was a German princess turned Russian Empress. She gained her throne through a coup d’état with her husband Peter III, ruling for 34 years until her death. Many believe Catherine the Great was a power hungry dictator, but Catherine ruled as an enlightened despot, this is shown with all the accomplishments she made to help Russia and not herself. Born on May…

Peter the Great used the Table of Ranks which placed superiority to those who were endowed and served in the military – not by birthright – with the highest civil rank being a chancellor. This improved Peter the Great’s control over how much power certain nobles had because they could not skip ranks and need to be promoted to advance. Louis XIV used the two main classes Nobles of the Robe and Nobles of the Sword. The Nobles of the Sword were those in the nobility by birthright – their…

These perceptions change as we pass from one group to another , as we do several times a day. Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann raise an important point. They say societies concepts of reality and its relationships have to be impressed forcefully on each individual of the new generation, even if impressing is done in an unpleasant way e.g circumcision…

Ishmael’s experiences of being traumatically separated from his childhood family, becoming a child soldier for his own survival, and his experience with re-socialization after being rescued by UNICEF is possibly quite similar to the traumatic stories of many of “about 250,000 children employed in armed factions worldwide” (Taylor 869). Sociology of the life course effectively assesses what happens to these children when they are separated from their familiar families and surroundings. I believe…

(A)People often associate having hopes and dreams with child's play; that only the young and naive would mess with something as foolish as that. (B)However, movies such as The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, and the documentary following three Acholi children in Northern Uganda, War Dance prove that not only children should have hopes and dreams, but everyone. (C) There are many different reasons of why we need hopes and dreams and goals in our lives,…

The book entitled “A Long Way Gone” written by Ishmael Beah shows the reader a lot about keys to survival. It is an autobiography about Ishmael’s life. Ishmael is the main character, a teenage boy who grew up amidst the Sierra Leonean war. He experiences horrible things that many of us in Canada could not begin to imagine, such as Ishmael’s many brushes with death as well as his experiences as a child soldier. This book can teach the reader a lot about what is required to survive in situations…

Innocence is the lack of corruption, it is purity. One of the things that come to mind when you think of innocence is children. Children are unaware of the horrors of the world and they are still pure in mind and spirit. As kids in America we were very lucky to be able to have our innocence for as long as we can. However, in countries like Sierra Leone they are not given a choice, they lose their innocence at a very young age. Children in Sierra Leone and other areas around the world can be…

Zenger Trial The Trial of John Peter Zenger was a momentous event that not only impacted the colonies and questioned the act of seditious libeling but also brought about the new notion of freedom of speech in the press. His courage and daring determination to challenge someone in such a imperative place of power was an inspiring moment to the people of the colonies and overseas in Great Britain. John Peter Zenger was a German Born, American Printer and Journalist who started the New York…