He holds onto childhood memories and is able to nearly recover his sense of wonder for example, he and his companions rejoice when they first see the ocean. Though the attacks on his village and subsequent villages he seeks haven in sever Beah from normal childhood activities, he at first maintains his innocence. The violence and terror is rendered through the eyes of a child and Beah writes plainly and without judgment about his experiences. Obviously, since Beah became a child soldier, his tale would incorporate the resulting loss of innocence. Cutting off his emotions kept him alive, but examining those feelings after the war gave him a new life. Only through therapy is he able to trust others begin to tell his story. After years of subverting his emotions, he is unable or unwilling to speak about what happened because Beah long gave up hope for a real life. They accept this as reality - fueled by drugs and violent films - and operate on the assumption that they kill or be killed.When Beah arrives at Benin Home, he finds it hard to access his true feelings about the loss and the violence he has experienced. Beah acknowledges it is unlikely that he and his fellow soldiers confront those actually responsible for their families' deaths, but the temptation to believe is strong. The officers manipulate the boys into thinking they are exacting revenge on the people who killed their families. When Beah becomes a soldier, he is trained to tap into his rage in order to kill rebels. For months, Beah stays alive by overcoming hunger, violence and isolation. His goal is to live through one more day, and he can't afford to stop and think about the atrocities around him. When they die or become separated from one another, Beah does not have time to mourn.
Even though he welcomes the company, he remains emotionally distant from his newfound friends. After the RUF attacks Mattru Jong, Beah lets go of his prior attachments to family and friends, joining up with boys who, like him, are on the run. He learns quickly that in order to survive, he must suppress his true emotions. From the moment he fled the violence at Mattru Jong, the focus of Beah's life became surviving day to day. The first and most prominent theme is survival. These themes play a major role in defining his emotions, thoughts and reactions towards the events that unfold around him. Throughout the novel A Long Way Gone we see many themes arise and reoccur during Ishmael Beah’s ‘adventure’ of sorts. Obstacles Ishmael must overcome in leaving his country include escaping the rebels, lack of money, finding a way out, nightmares, migraines, leaving his friends and the guilt attached to being the only member of his family to survive. Since the remainder of the people are not needed, they are marched to the river where they say they are going to kill them all.ĥ)the Revolutionary United Front attack villages in their own country because the countries politics were corrupted, mismanagement of the country, and electoral violence that led to a weak civil society, the collapse of the education system, and, by 1991, an entire generation of dissatisfied youth, members of which were attracted to the rebellious message of the Revolutionary United Front.ġ0)In the end, Ishmael decides to leave Sierra Leone because there is nothing left for him (his family is gone) and because his country is not a safe place. This time, Junior is chosen, but Ishmael is not. However, the rebels then suddenly change their minds and announce a new selection. Ishmael realizes that this will break their connection. Junior isn’t chosen, he can only looks down at the ground and avoids Ishmael’s eyes. First, they choose Khalilou and then Ishmael. He rarely speaks with his father because he is never home and always working.ĩ)Laura Simms aids Ishmael by sending him money, and later adopting him.ġ0)The officer in charge of training the child soldiers is corporal Gadhafi under lieutenant Jabati.ġ)The rebels next announce that they are going to select some people from among them to be recruited into their army. His father cannot afford it.ħ)Ishmael has a very distant relationship with his father.
He is thirteen when recruited to the army.Ĥ) Ishmael's two brothers names are Junior and Ibrahim.Ħ)Ishmael does not go to school because of financial issue's. However he gets older as the novel progresses. 3) At the being of the novel Ismael Beah is ten years old.
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