Sierra Leone

“A Long Way Gone” is an autobiography written by Ishmael Beah that composed of memoirs on his own life as a young boy who experienced the mental and physical battle of reluctantly becoming a soldier. Before a civil war broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991, Ishmael had a normal life with his family in his hometown of Mogbwemo. When the war led by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) transpired, Ishmael and his older brother, Junior, along with their friends, were traveling to Mattru Jong to…

wanting to go back to these times. The immaturity, the oblivion, and the genuine innocence-- yet there are some kids who can lose it all. As discussed in “Babes in Arms”, the young Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, was involved in the war in Sierra Leone and forced to see a dark side of humanity that impacted his life in several ways. A very important factor in a person’s youth that can really affect them is the presence of both parents, which Beah had been taken away from. Family members…

Situations of high pressure and little time call for quick action. In 1991, war erupted in Sierra Leone. Everyone was affected, even the children. There was no time to for them to evolve; thus, they tried to tackle the war before properly learning how to handle it. In each of their stories, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah and The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara, two children who experienced the war in Sierra Leone tell about the severe circumstances they were in along with the choices they…

Ishmael Beah was a component of the child recruited soldier. He was born on Nov 23, 1980, in Sierra Leone. Ishmael and his brother fall in love with hip hop at such a young age. To them, Hip Hop is just a music and they enjoying it, not knowing that Hip Hop will later be a lifesaver. In 1991, The civil war in Sierra Leone started; Ishmael, an innocent young boy, on the other hand has no clue of what a war looks like. He would never think that this war, particularly will transmute his life…

of you.” Ishmael Beah has his fair share of “yes” in his life, whether the yes was intentional or not. Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. At the age of twelve he experienced the Civil War that was taking place for the first time. The Civil War lasted from March of 1991 to January of 2002 (BBC News). During this time period the government decided to use the kids in Sierra Leone to help fight the war. During the war kids have been forced to grow up and go through some parts of the Hero’s…

prisoner was simply another rebel who was responsible for the death of my family, as I had come to truly believe” (Beah 124). In the Memoir “a long way gone” by Ishmael Beah, sees 12-year-old Ishmael trying to survive in the war stricken country of Sierra Leone. Ishmael is just an ordinary boy when the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) attacks his home of Mattru Jong, while he is away in a neighboring city. For the next year Ishmael runs away from the war desperate to find his family. He journeys…

During a devastating civil war between RUF (Revolutionary United Front) and the government, many people had suffered and had great loses. In the book A Long Way Gone, written by Ishmael Beah, it demonstrates what happened in Sierra Leone when his nightmare because a reality. In the war, the government and RUF would recruit young boys to help fight in this civil war. Ishmael, a 12 year old boy who was a young soldier himself, paints a picture of himself and the effects the war has caused him. He…

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…

Victims of War Children are the biggest victims of war, whether they are forced to become soldiers or whether they are wounded and maimed. Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, and Mariatu Kamara, author of The Bite of the Mango, both faced unspeakable horrors and loss and were equally victimized during the war. The two authors were subject to immense trauma; at an incredibly young age they went from enjoying their childhoods to witnessing death and being faced with extreme brutality and…

At first, Ishmael who is the main character, was a happy child living a normal life among his family in Sierra Leone. However, during the civil war with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), his family got murdered, and he had no other choice than becoming a child soldier addicted to drugs and capable of terrible acts of violence. Throughout the book, the categorization process appears clearly and lead to different type of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. In fact, at the beginning of…