AmandaMarie  +  504497 Wed, 23 Apr 08 09:55 PM Amanda Allen                                                                                                                           Allen 1Composition 2 Gina FournierMarch 20, 2008                                What does a war really look like through the eyes of a child soldier?                         It wasn’t until late 1993, when nothing but blood, flesh and tears took over the country  of Sierra Leone. Everything had been destroyed in a blink of an eye….that included human lives. Ishmael Beah retold his brutalizing story as a child soldier worldwide, he wanted people to become aware of a cause. He wanted the dehumanization of the war on children’s life to come to an end.  “A long Way Gone”, inspires individuals to never take anything in life for granted, live to the fullest  because you will never know when you will be shaking hands with death. This story is none the less a disturbing , devastating real life event. Throughout this story Beah was put to face   death every day. He was fighting for over 2 years in the war as a child and killing became part of an everyday activity. It was to kill, or be killed.            Beah was born on November 23, 1980 in Sierra Leone.  Growing up his brother and friends started a rap group , listening and recited versus of rap music for entertainment. Their mother lived 3 miles away  with Beah’s youngest brother Ibrahim.  Ishmael and Junior his older brother lived with their father and step mother.  The mother had paid for schooling for Ibrahim, and was working to put junior and Ishmael back in school.  So in their time at home they worked around the house and rapped.  Beah always enjoyed visiting  his grandmother, she would always say things out of the ordinary but seemed to always make sense to him. One quote she recited to him constantly among his visits was, “ 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                                                                                                                                                 Allen 2die. “            At times the book can be very difficult to read, but Beah’s honesty of how he was transformed from a carefree boy who loved hip-hop to a murderer who cared only about staying alive, puts readers to face the reality of what he really went through. The Civil War that out broke all came too fast.  No one knew what to do or where to go , the rebels were everywhere.Due to the faith  that Beah had, he managed to never run out on himself, and pull it all togetherthrough the dreadful time to become a well known author. Beah woke up each and every day wondering where his life was going  and to survive the war was his goal.  Beah never wanted to rethink what happened during his life when people would ask  him about it, all he really would say was “ It was nothing but children traumatized, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children became the soldiers of choice.” Today as he tries to live his life as a freed soldier, he lives knowing he had been given a second life, and tries to live it to the best he can.            Many  publishers agreed Beah’s story to be remarkable.  “Beah’s autobiography is unique. Perhaps the first time that a child soldier has been able to give literary voice to of  the most distressing phenomena of the late 20th century: The rise of the pubescent warrior killer” ( The New York Times) . The Publishers Weekly that “ it was a very absorbing story… told in clear, accessible language by a young writer with a gifted literary voice. This memoir seems destined to become a classic firsthand account of war and (on going) plight of child soldiers in conflicts worldwide.”When Beah and his older brother Junior left the city one day to visit the childhood friends, they would of never thought it would have been there last day as a child. He never imagined that rebels were going to rob him of family , a  home and his childhood.  No one                                                                                                                                      Allen 3expected this to happen but that day Beah was  never to see his family again. Thankfully Junior was the last of the family he had.  The Rebels went from town to town burning villages, killing every person that wasn’t a rebel, this included baby’s.  It wasn’t just and easy death it was a long, painful death these people suffered. No one understood why it was them that would have to suffer in life. Quite piticulary there was no absolute reason for this war. Throughout the war Beah lost Junior  and some friends he managed to make along his way to survival.  This never stopped Beah from continuing each day. Beah wandered a land unrecognizable by violence. When the rebels captured people they mad family members, such as a son and mother have  intercourse, they  chopped new born baby’s in half and nothing stopped them from opening a pregnant women and killing the unborn child. They never showed any sympathy or remorse. The rebels kept on with their killing spree. Beah was captured two times by the rebels and was able to escape with a few other boys by the rebels distraction. Eventually Beah was captured by the government army at the age of 13.  Beah was nothing but a gentle hearted boy that somehow  found he was capable of  really violent crimes.  “ The Villages that they captured turned into their bases, the forest they slept in became their homes. The squad became his family and his gun was his provider and protecter .” ( A long Way Gone Page 126)Eventually after fighting throughout the war , coming face to face with death everyday , he was removed from the war at 16 by the UNICEF. He eventually was put into a rehabilitation center where it took a long time to overcome his tragic past.              At the rehabilitation center Beah was told each day by staff members “ what happen was never your fault”. He often got mad about this , as time passed he started to believe it.  Truly it wasn’t Beah’s fault what he did was everything he needed to do to survive. Beah started giving speeches at the rehabilitation center in front of reporters.  The rehabilitation center was able to                                                                                                                                      Allen 4locate Beah’s uncle the only one left out of the family, and was taken in to live with them for awhile. The owner of the rehabilitation center approached Beah and asked him to Fly to New York  to give presentations Beah soon accepted the offer and was on his way to America. When arriving in the United States Beah’s reaction to where he lived to what he was experiencing was nothing like he ever has before. Soon Beah was adopted by and American family and lives in New York City and at the age of 26 he retold his tragic experiences.            Beah never understood why he was the chosen one within his family. Why he was the one that survived? Why after everything he wasn’t left back in Sierra Leone still fighting in the army. There was never and exact answer to any of these questions. Until he written his book no one ever knew the full story of his life. Still to him he sees it as an awful dream.             A long Way Gone  was one of the most inspiring true life stories I’ve read. The book is very well recommended. At first I wasn’t able to read a complete page but then I thought to my self, “this is all real, that could have been you”.  Readers come aware of how life was really like for Beah as a child. War through the eyes a child is traumatizing. As much as he never wanted to remember everything that happened it will always be with him.  He overcame death  several times and managed to never run out on his faith.  “As he moves on from his childhood days the more he begins to forgive himself for becoming a killer”. ( Beah , ( 2000)When Good Comes From Bad) This story is a rare childhood of someone who endured hell and actually survived and was willing to reencounter all of this. He was nothing but a strong person mentally and physically and will never take his life for granted because back in his country everyone has seen death or experienced it.                                                                 WORKS CITED Beah, Ishmael ( 2007 ). A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Sarah Crichton BooksUNICEF, Youth Leadership profiles. Retrieved February 15, 2007Beah, Ishmael ( 2000) When Good Comes From Bad, Nuclear Age Peace FoundationGlobal Young Leadership Conference 2007   AmandaMarie Joined on Wed, Apr 23 2008 New Member 02