Analysis: A Long Way Gone

“Over the last ten years, two million children have been killed in conflict. Over one million have been orphaned, over six million have been seriously injured or permanently disabled and over ten million have been left with serious psychological trauma.” (Shah) Even though many do not believe in luck, or consider it to be occasional, Ishmael Beah, author and main character of A Long Way Gone, demonstrates how luck can be a part of someone’s daily life. Life for a child soldier, can be overwhelming, full of risks and dangers, and even a living hell. In most cases, these children die, end up as orphans, or simply live the rest of their lives with PTSD from war. Though, Ishmael’s case was different from all of the other boy’s. For example, if
As mentioned before, not all child soldiers manage to rescue and go back to their normal lives after war. Facing PTSD can become a living hell without people around you to help you and guide you. Beah was lucky enough to get saved and taken to Benin Home, but his actual recovery can only be credited a certain person in his life. “It was the genuine tone in Esther’s voice that made the phrase finally begin to sink into my mind and heart. That didn’t make me immune from the guilt that I felt for what I had done. Nonetheless, it lightened my burdensome memories and gave me strength to think about things. The more I spoke about my experiences to Esther, the more I began to cringe at the gruesome details, even though I didn’t let her know that.” (Beah, pg. 200) After Ishmael’s arrival at Benin Home, he is shown as a violent, restrained and emotionless ex child soldier. And, it is only thanks to Esther, that he is able to retrieve self confidence and love in his life again. Ever since he was touched by war, he became a different person; not only due to the fact of killing people, but to how even his deepest thoughts changed. This is something that can not be changed overnight. Though, Ishmael was lucky enough to have someone in
Not long after parting from his hometown, problems started to appear in his life. As any other boy in his same situation, he suffered the loss of his loved ones due to war. “If we hadn’t stopped to rest on that hill, if we hadn’t run into Gasemu, I would have seen my family, I thought.” (Beah, pg.119) This shows how Ishmael Beah was just another ordinary child soldier, who suffered the loss of his family and simply had to deal with it. No luck accompanied him this time; what was done was done. Furthermore, Ishmael goes through the hardest life changing scenario any kid could go through in the middle of a war. “We must have been walking for days, I do not really remember, when suddenly two men put us at gunpoint and motioned, with their guns, for us to come closer…Gunshots erupted nearby, and the soldiers began to move, taking the six of us with them.” (Beah, pg. 124) Getting recruited by the Sierra Leonean army was yet another proof that, Beah wasn’t a special case after all. If Ishmael were as lucky as believed, he wouldn’t have faced these