Jackson Boutin                                                                                                                     12/5/13
805                                                                                                                                    Blog post

A  Long Way Gone

 

  

             The book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah is a jaw dropping and heartbreaking story of a child's journey through a civil war that took place in Sierra.  There are over a million child soldiers in Africa.  The author, Ishmael Beah, was a child soldier.  At the age of twelve, he left his village, and ran away from the attacking rebels.  Ishmael and his comrades walked unrecognized holding AK-47's in search for food and shelter.  While they struggled through their journey, they protected themselves.  Often in the book, I would find myself resisting the text because of all the gruesome deaths and the drugs that Ishmael had seen and experienced.  I think the author explained these parts in such a manner that showed how terrible it was to be a soldier in a war.  Furthermore, by providing these dark examples, he hoped to stop the horrors he had endured so that no other child in the world would ever have to encounter.

            

           When Ishmael arrived in New York from Sierra, he settled down, and met his future foster mother who was a writer.  Afterwards, Ishmael realized that he must tell his extraordinary but violent involvement surrounding the war so no other child would ever go down the same path he was exposed to.  He chose to author a book about his childhood and what he experienced on his journey with his brother and friends.  He wrote about how child soldiers had different parts of their limbs cut off while in combat.  He reported that the fights were bloodied and death was everywhere.  From reading the gruesome details of the conflict, Ishmael, naturally, caused some readers to resist the text.   However, this also showed why he wrote a book about his life, particularly, what he saw and wondered during the war.

 

             Another example of why the author included disturbing and upsetting details of the war were in order to scare the reader.  For instance, when Ishmael and his companions are brainwashed to believe that every rebels death is going to avenge his own families slaughter.  Also, he becomes addicted to cocaine, Marijuana, and "Brown, Brown" which gave him and his comrades the power to fight.  Eventually, he becomes what he most feared, a killing machine. 

 

           All in all "A Long Way Gone." by Ishmael Beah is a great and true story about what he had to endure in the civil war in Sierra.  I often find my self resisting the text because of the disgusting scary images Ishmael has weaved in my mind.  The Author included these disturbing things to make sure that kids won't go through the same things he had to go through.  Also to scare the reader so that they can make sure they protect their community.  After reading this book, I have realized that child soldiers are a bad. Imagine a kid as old as 7 holding a gun and killing people to survive.  There are more wars like this one in other countries in fact there are several other wars going on in the world that have child soldiers. We must stop this and make sure that no one may experience war. Let's stop all wars.