A Long Way Gone Language Analysis
Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling High School English IV curriculum because of the real life connections to world events and complexity of ideas. Important to realize, Beah’s memoir reflects many current world events. He shows us war and killing from a different viewpoint. Beah introduced to us that they were forced and drugged to join the war and had no choice: “ Of course taking more of the white capsules, as I became addicted to them”(121). In other words, Beah became addicted to drugs and killing became easy to him when he was on drugs. When he was in this state of mind, he had much more energy and was enraged further by the rebels and could kill them without any thought on his mind. In a lot of current
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world events, many child soldiers are forced to kill and join the army. They have no decision and are brainwashed by war, Beah shows the reader that we have to look at other problems other than our own. Such as when the Lieutenant gathered all the men in the square: “If you do not want to fight or help, that is fine. But you will not have rations and will not stay in this village”(106). In this case, Beah was forced to fight in the war. If he did not participate in the war, he would have been kicked out of the village and would have been killed. If he stayed and fought he would have protection, food, shelter and basic needs met. In world events many child soldiers are forced to join the war or they are killed. Children in the Middle east are often recruited by terrorist organizations to help them fight their wars. They are tricked into thinking they are fighting for a good cause but in reality they are killing for evil. Equally important, Beah uses imagery and other figurative language that create meaning beyond literal interpretations.
Beah’s imagery demonstrates to us the falling state of Sierra Leone: “Dogs were feasting on the burnt remains of the Iman, above vultures circled, preparing to descend on the body as well”(46). To clarify, the Iman was a respected piece of the village but now the Iman is nothing. He was burnt and is now scavenger’s food. Beah shows us through imagery that Sierra Leone is like the Iman, being burnt down and becoming the Rebels food. A sophosicated college bound student needs to able to intrept Beah’s imagery and understand what he meant. Additionally, when Beah is in the forest he uses imagery to show us how he felt about the war. Beah wanted to run and flee from the war instead of fighting in it: “Enormous pigs came running at me, they chased me for about half a mile as I looked for a tree to climb”(53). Frequently, Beah ran away from the Rebels and the war instead of staying and fighting. Beah used imagery to show us that Sierra Leone wanted to run away from the war instead of fighting and protecting their land. A high school senior should be able to create meaning through Beah’s figurative language. To put it differently, Beah’s memoir A long Way Gone is appropriate for the English IV curriculum. Beah uses figurative language to create meaning beyond and shows us real life world
connections.
world events, many child soldiers are forced to kill and join the army. They have no decision and are brainwashed by war, Beah shows the reader that we have to look at other problems other than our own. Such as when the Lieutenant gathered all the men in the square: “If you do not want to fight or help, that is fine. But you will not have rations and will not stay in this village”(106). In this case, Beah was forced to fight in the war. If he did not participate in the war, he would have been kicked out of the village and would have been killed. If he stayed and fought he would have protection, food, shelter and basic needs met. In world events many child soldiers are forced to join the war or they are killed. Children in the Middle east are often recruited by terrorist organizations to help them fight their wars. They are tricked into thinking they are fighting for a good cause but in reality they are killing for evil. Equally important, Beah uses imagery and other figurative language that create meaning beyond literal interpretations.
Beah’s imagery demonstrates to us the falling state of Sierra Leone: “Dogs were feasting on the burnt remains of the Iman, above vultures circled, preparing to descend on the body as well”(46). To clarify, the Iman was a respected piece of the village but now the Iman is nothing. He was burnt and is now scavenger’s food. Beah shows us through imagery that Sierra Leone is like the Iman, being burnt down and becoming the Rebels food. A sophosicated college bound student needs to able to intrept Beah’s imagery and understand what he meant. Additionally, when Beah is in the forest he uses imagery to show us how he felt about the war. Beah wanted to run and flee from the war instead of fighting in it: “Enormous pigs came running at me, they chased me for about half a mile as I looked for a tree to climb”(53). Frequently, Beah ran away from the Rebels and the war instead of staying and fighting. Beah used imagery to show us that Sierra Leone wanted to run away from the war instead of fighting and protecting their land. A high school senior should be able to create meaning through Beah’s figurative language. To put it differently, Beah’s memoir A long Way Gone is appropriate for the English IV curriculum. Beah uses figurative language to create meaning beyond and shows us real life world
connections.