Sierra Mist

Children should never be victims of a war caused by man. Children of war experience horrendous situations which have the ability to scar them for life. In the Sierra Leonean Civil War, many children experience lack of food and shelter, the death of family and friends, as well as the loss of their innocence. In The Bite of the Mango, the main character, Mariatu Kamara is captured by the rebel forces fighting against the government in civil war, who maliciously cut off her hands. Mariatu learns…

(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…

During the war in Sierra Leone, both Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara experienced the war personally, giving first-hand accounts of all the incidents, however, Beah emphasized more on how the war affected the society and the entire country, while Kamara only described how the war had an effect on her life rather than the society as a whole. In A Long Way Gone, Beah emphasizes the chaos and destruction that the war brought upon not just his village but the entire society, in people's behaviours…

in the third person from the person who experienced the Sierra Leone war first hand for himself, it was a very well written and captivating novel. One of the main reasons A Long Way Gone was so fascinating was due to the reason that this was Ishmael Beah’s life as a young boy and the way he tells it is very intriguing.…

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 as little as 5 and have seen someone they know get their head blown off. It is something that can really affect a young child’s development. These…

inside 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…

A Long Way Gone (2007) is a true story of Ishmael Beah, who unwillingly is forced to become a child soldier when a civil war breaks out in Sierra Leone. The story starts with Beah only 12 years old, who is away to perform along with his brother and friends when rebels attack his village. During all this chaos, confusion and ambiguity of war, all of them are left to wander from village to village in search of food and shelter and along the way commit to acts they had never thought of doing so…

In the novel A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, we are given a glimpse into the life of a child that is trying to make his way in life during a time of war. While Beah does lose his family, home and childhood, he also loses his sense of safety and belonging. During the war, people from different villages continue to flee from the rebels that are constantly conquering villages, slaughtering the villagers like cattle. As the villages are broken down and conquered, boys are taken from their…

The non-fiction book I am reading is A Long Way Gone by Ishmales Beah. The quote I have chosen comes at an early part in the book when the author is explaining the physical and mental condition of the adult refugees that had come from war-torn areas. “The adults among these children from the war zones would be lost in their thoughts during conversations with the elders of my town. Apart from their fatigue and malnourishment, it was evident they had seen something that we would refuse to accept…