Analysis Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone
Children recently are entering the military. All children, when they emerge from the military come out with different perspectives on life. The effects that the children have will be many as they grow within the military, and that they will for sure have life changing events happen to them. “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah and the article “Child Soldiers of Sierra Leone” are great resources that tell all about the effect they go through while in the military. The unfortunate perspective of having children in the military, is that they will be and can be programmed to do whatever adults manipulated them to do. In the article it says, “They use to give us, the S.B.U, those small guns because if they gave us some kind of heavy
artillery we would not be able to carry them.” The children would be carrying light and less powered guns instead of heavy and powerful weapons into battle. Also in the book “A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael says that the corporal told him “This gun is your source of power in these times. It will protect you and provide you all needs, if you know how to use it well.” What the corporal means by saying this is that, it a good sense of protection and to rely on the gun to survive in war. The effect that could give the children are that they have nothing to rely on to survive besides violence and a weapon. This could give the children the urge that no one is there to protect them besides a weapon. In the article is says “Apart from the infamous ritual ‘amputation’ of hands and summary executions, child soldiers sometimes cut open the bellies of pregnant women just to see what sex the child was.” Secondly, In the book, Ishmael says, “ We were supposed to slice their hands on corporals command. The person whose prisoner died quickest would win the contest.” No child ever, should not go through with cutting people. Especially children cutting pregnant women. That could kill the baby and or kill her. Also they should go through cutting prisoners throats and watch them bleed out and cry right in front of them. These kids later on in life could have flash backs of these horrific memories and be sacred there whole life. And many could encounter post traumatic stress syndrome. These memories could scare them for life. Many children for years and been fighting and going through these events for a long time.
In the article it states, “Thousands of children were involved in the decade-long conflict.” These children have been going through this stuff for a decade, who knows doing what. In the book, it says, “I took turns at the guarding post around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown, cocaine mixed with gunpowder.” For a decade, children, thousands of children, have been doing drugs. From pills that ishmael took in the beginning, too marijuana, all they way too cocaine mixed with gunpowder. All these chemicals are going threw out there body for decades. Later on in life, these drugs are going to catch up to them and hurt their body and slow these function in the bodies down. There immune system and their brain might get damaged so much, that when they get sick nothing will stop the sickness from spreading. Than possibly getting more sick and being disabled. Thirdly, in the article, it says, “At age twelve, he took part in tactical ambushes.” At age twelve, he was already doing ambushes on the enemy, or doing surprise attacks on them. In the book, it says, “I didn’t feel a thing for him, didn’t think that much about what I was doing. I just waited for the corporal’s order. The prisoner was simply another rebel who was responsible for the death of my family, as I had come to truly believe.” Ishmael didn’t care what he was doing to the guy. All he knew that he had a reason
for doing it because it was another rebel who killed his mom. The effects of these are bad memories and scary dreams. The ambushes could give him flashbacks and memories of the face he ambushed and how scared they were. And him growing up could be bad because if someone did something to him or family, his first reaction might be to go harm them. The effects of these could be really bad and appalling. Children who enter the military come out with different perspectives on life. The effects that children go through are shocking and should not happen to them, especially at such young ages. The unfortunate perspective of having children in the military, is that they will be and can be programmed to do whatever adults manipulated them to do.