A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah Essay

Many people in life become lost, but so little are as far off the road as the young Ishmael Beah. In Ishmael Beah’s autobiography titled A Long Way Gone; Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, he is caught in the middle of a civil war that destroys everything he knows and holds dear. To capture his audience, Beah starts his novel with a strong, telling, title. Beah’s title refers directly to how far young Ishmael has been forced off his path both mentally and physically. This title foreshadows the emotional depth of the novel and allows the reader to connect the experiences of Ishmael to a roadway of life. Beah’s title signifies Ishmael’s mental state becoming worse throughout his novel. Ishmael is introduced as a fun-loving child. Ishmael says that he “started a rap and dance group” when he was eight (Beah 6). This normal childhood shows the reader that Ishmael was not a danger-seeking child. In chapter 12, Ishmael joins the army. The soldier giving him equipment states “you are afraid of looking a man in the eye and afraid of holding a gun” (Beah 109). Beah implied from this excerpt that Ishmael was not looking for this war. He did not want to go and fight against the rebels, instead, he was afraid of the concept of picking up a gun. Beah gives a baseline of where Ishmael’s head was at the beginning of the story to show how far he had progressed in the novel. In chapter 5, Ishmael shows signs of mental distance from his childhood. Beah states that Ishmael “chased a little boy who was
He traveled many miles across the country of Sierra Leone and was mentally tested and deprived of true joy. Beah beautifully foreshadowed how long gone Ishmael would be from his former self in his memorable title of his autobiography. The title fully emulates how Ishmael would progress through the novel, without leaving any room for imagination. Beah’s title fits perfectly with his adventurous memoirs and horror stories of his lost