A Long Way Gone

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A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a story of hope, courage, luck, and the injustice of our world. Ishmael’s story is only the tip of the iceberg for the injustice kids all around the world are facing. A Long Way Gone shows how love, luck, and determination is the key to survival. Love is a key to survival. Beah meets a nurse named Esther (Beah 153). Esther is the first person to ask Ishmael his name since he was a child soldier (Beah 153). As a soldier Ishmael was called “Green Snake” because of his ability to climb up into trees and take shots and hit people (Beah 144). Asking what Ishmael’s name is and making him say it was a way of claiming his identity and this was the first time we see Esther show love. Esther made Ishmael talk to her and gave him rap music back and, even though Ishmael …show more content…
Ishmael was the only child there who was apart of the war. When he had to use the elevator and was confused on how to use it while everyone else knew how to use it was a moment that reminded the reader of where Ishmael came from (Beah 187). Even though Ishmael was living in the city with his uncle, he was still Ishmael from Mattru Jong and that was who he was. Physically he was a long way gone, but deep within him was the young, carefree boy who played soccer and performed and danced to rap music with his friends, but he was determined to go forward. He was determined to help make a change and help other people in the middle of war zones, especially children who were brainwashed into fighting. Determination got Ishmael through all of the horrid things he had to witness and take part in.
The keys to survival are love, luck, and determination. Ishmael is one of many child soldier in the world. This book is a reminder of them and their story. It is also a reminder of how strong the human will can be. Life can change in a second, but people can make it through and it is possible to survive most every

A Long Way Gone Analysis

unalike stories have the same themes? The story “Through The Tunnel” has a relation to “A Long Way Gone” other than it's a story, they both contain the same themes. The two stories contain the same themes, just with a different opinion on those themes. “A Long Way Gone” is a memoir of survival, “Through The Tunnel” is a story about a boy on a beach. The themes in relation are Acceptance, Goals, Hope. In “A Long Way Gone” the main character Ishmael, is to face up too many challenges. Ishmael braves all…

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A Long Way Gone Symbolism

Suffering from oppression is something no one should deal with. “A Long Way Gone” is a novel that shows how multiple symbols can be used for people to achieve the correct freedom everyone deserves. In his literary work, “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier”, Ishmael Beah uses symbols to underscore the main theme of freedom and oppression. Main symbols as the hierarchy of needs underscore oppression in the novel. Ishmael's symbolic gun becomes attached to him as a certainty of freedom. Triumph…

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Long Way Gone Quotes

“Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child soldiers are forced to violent expression to the hatreds or adults” - Olara Otunnu “A long way gone” was written by ishmael beah and published in 2007. Ishmael is a normal person with a normal life that is until the rebels attack his town but he was in the next town over and they heard about the attack after a while of hiding from the rebels and losing his brother and his friends he gets lost in the forest and eventually he gets…

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Essay on long way gone

Mrs. Jacobs World Lit P4 11 December 2013 A Long Way Gone Everyone is like the moon, has two sides, dark and bright, and despite the atrocious acts of darkness the child soldiers has shown, but everyone shall get another chance to change. In Ishmeal Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, Ishmeal finds a way to reconcile with his community. As he has participated in the war, Beah faces the challenges of being an innocent child after being a child solider successfully with the help of UNICEF staff…

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Violence In A Long Way Gone

Violence is considered one of the greatest sins humans can inflict on each other. ‘A Long Way Gone’, written by Ishmael Beah, describes the tragedy of child soldiers fighting in African struggles for power. Beah goes into every minute detail of the everyday occurrences that happen to child soldiers like him. Violence can change a person’s life; both the mental and physical aspects of a person can be degraded and changed. The nature of violence is cold and unforgiving, and any simple mistake can be…

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Themes In A Long Way Gone

In the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael reflects, “When I was young, my father used to say, ‘If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.’ I thought about these words during my journey, and they kept me moving even when I didn’t know where I was going. Those words became the vehicle that drove my spirit forward and made it stay alive,” (Beah, 2007, pg. 54). The underlying…

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Stereotypes In A Long Way Gone

In the memoir, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he recounts his experience during the war in Sierra Leone where he is forced into becoming a child soldier. When Beah is recruited as a child soldier for the government’s army, the lieutenant brainwashes him into thinking that…

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A Long Way Gone Summary

While they were gone, Ishmael's home town was attacked, people dispersed rapidly and Ishmael and his friends too were on the run. People were fearful of Ishmael and his friends because every village had seen first hand what even teenagers were capable of doing in order…

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A Long Way Gone Themes

The theme of A Long Way Gone is war. This is the most Dominant theme, considering that the book was written because of a civil war in africa. The theme seems to develop very slowly as the pace of the book is very slow and almost boring at the beginning, but as the story develops and the theme becomes more lucid and clear, the pace of the book takes off. There are a few smaller themes in the memoir that play into war such as death, “Too much blood has been spilled where you are going. Even the good…

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Forgiveness In A Long Way Gone

Sierra Leonean war was particularly inhumane, in which the rebels, fighting against the government, took Mariatu’s hands from her as told in The Bite of the Mango. The rebels were the same people who murdered Ishmael’s family, the author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Once they were touched by the war, they were never the same. Although Mariatu and Ishmael’s experiences of the war varied, they learned the same lesson. Ishmael Beah, as a boy, had a different experience than Mariatu…

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