this assignment is late..

Ishmael Beah the author of a Long Way Gone, was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. He moved to the U.S. in 1998 where in NYC he finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School. He then moved to become a 2004 graduate of Oberlin College. Before all these positive things came to him Ishmael had to struggle to survive everyday during the Sierra Leone War. This is a story of loss and redemption. He went from an orphan boy solider to an interactive difference to this world; going so far as to speak for the UN on many occasions. This is a story of rehabilitation. These children were drug addicted killing machines, but were able to re enter the world of civil society.
The themes of this story include the effects of war. Ishmael was forced to kill or be killed for a large portion of his life, living everyday in fear. When he was transferred to a rehabilitation home, all the boys from opposite sides of the war were forced to live in the same room. The boys even said they think they can’t put us in the same room and expect us not to still have our killing habits. They couldn’t change in one day; this is all they were used to.
Loss was something that came everyday to the children of the Sierra Leone War. There was not one person involved didn’t feel the loss at some point in their childhoods. They were forced to live by themselves and abandoned their homes after the enemy killed their families when their villages were invaded.
Every person at some point in his or her lives has over come an obstacle. These children have overcome so many obstacles during this war that is unimaginable to those of us who haven’t been through it. Amazingly most of these children have been able to move on with their lives and become normal citizens, some even of the U.S. Lucky enough there was help provided to them to provide safe havens and a person to talk to in order to recover.
This uplifting memoir includes excitement to a deep disappointment in a matter of paragraphs, constantly keeping the reader on their toes in order to get the point of the memoir across. This memoir will make you cry and laugh at the same time. It is moving novel in which you learn true appreciation for the roof above your head and the parents that tuck you in at night.
The voice in this memoir includes child as well as adult voices, occasionally flashing back to NYC to Ishmaels present life. The style of riding keeps you on your toes wondering constantly what the outcome will be and how he saw the war from an adults view. This book made me appreciative. I didn’t even know about the Sierra Leone War until I read this memoir. And it truly made me feel sorry for all these children and what they were forced to survive through. I am proud of every single one of them that got their lives back on track and continue to live their lives as better people in a new world.

A Long Way Gone

"Through our sunless lanes creeps poverty with her hungry eyes, and sin with his soddent face follows close behind her. Misery wakes us in the morning and shame sits with us at night"
--Oscar Wilde

A long Way Gone is a memoir of a young boy soilder, Ishmael, who exhibites all types of characteristics that of which include misery, shame, bravery, and fear. This quote applys to the life of a boy soldier in every aspect. There is no end to the negative feelings that flow through their bodies daily. They are with them when they lay their heads down to rest and the second their eyes open. Throughout this novel it is an ongoing struggle for his friends, family and himself especially to survive day to day tasks. To him everything is dim and depressing which is understandable during a time of war when he is very lonely. Now that he has been seperated from his brother and other friends, he no longer has the occasional smile from his older brother that kept his spirits up. His path seems never ending and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for him. they are extremly hungry, they even goes so far as to steal ears of corn from a little boy walking through a village. They are desperate, and shameful of their actions but realize that it is survival of the fittest and its what needs to be done. Poverty of these young boys have forced them to become numb to what is right and wrong. They have learned that what they belive is right is right, and what is wrong to them is wrong. There is no one to tell them that their opinions are wrong except the rebels. Ishmael is awakened every single morning by the memories of horrific war stories that haunt him. He is miserable, it never ends. I can only imagine what living in constant fear can do to oneself. Misery is by his side, day in and day out, and at night he surrounded by shame. Shame of leaving his family, Shame for stealing, Shame for not returning to their hometown to look for their family. This is a burden on his shoulders, along with the fact that he has seen many innocent lives taken and has not been able to do anything about it but run and be somewhat of a coward, afraid for his own life.