Sierra Mist

Both Mariatu and Ishmael go into the Sierra Leone war unknowing of the physical and psychological transformation that will be forced upon them. This transformation, their loss of innocence, rids them of their childhood and forces them to endure experiences inappropriate for children. Mariatu, whose story is told in The Bite of the Mango, is a young girl whose hands are cut off by rebel soldiers. After traveling a long way for medical attention, she undergoes surgery and later finds out that she…

Picture this: You’re only a fourteen-year-old juvenile and have already fought in numerous battles in an army in which you murdered tons of people and perpetrated many crimes. Meanwhile, you have also cried, bled, screamed, and almost died. You have now finally run away from all the horrors you executed and from the people trying to harm you, hoping that you’re free from all the threats. But only to find that you’re still a victim, but this time the government is the one out to get you. Several…

literal representation and think about the deeper meaning. For instance, Beah’s imagery portrays the state of chaos that Sierra Leone is in when Beah passes through an abandoned village that he encounters “I had passed…

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…

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…

Summary: In this story Ishmael Beah, a 12-year-old, is living through hard times. The African Civil war is going on and he tries to escape the rebels and the military. Unwillingly, he joins the military at age 13 on the front lines with 7-years-olds. He killed so many people throughout his military years. The African government sucked all the innocence from him. For 3 years he fought in military and at age 16 was sent to a rehabilitation center by the UNICEF. He struggles to understand…

Purpose. War. Peace. Family. The reasons why something is done or created with one’s intention or an objective. In the novel A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael experiences war in his country, Sierra Leone. Ishmael then becomes a child soldier. He experiences hardships during the war and is sent to a rehabilitation center. There he found his peace after the war. He still experienced post traumatic stress disorder, during the night, but he was able to have fun with his friends…

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…

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…

nine years old to when he is about fifteen years old. We see his struggles living life in a time where violence and death held a firm grip on Sierra Leone, and how he lost his entire childhood both running away from the war, and being a part of it as well. Before this novel, I had somewhat of a vague understanding of the civil war that had occurred in Sierra Leone. I watched certain movies that portrayed the Civil War in certain ways, such as Blood Diamonds. This book completely changed my view…