Essay On A Long Way Gone

A Long Way Gone is the story of a man who was formerly a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil war. The civil war lasted from March 23, 1991 until January 18, 2002. This civil war tore families in Sierra Leone apart, and A Long Way Gone is an amazing representation of what it was like to be there during this time.
In Chapter 12 of the memoir, Ishmael, the main character, and his friends from his village arrived in the fortified village of Yele after a gruesome experience just before they were shipped there. Ishmael describes some of the gore he was exposed to in the day-to-day life in the civil war. Before he gets on the boat Ishmael wrote, “When we got to the back of the line, there were four men lying on the ground, their uniforms soaked with blood. One of them lay on his
Ishmael and his friends were ushered out to the middle of the village to listen to the lieutenant speak. He mostly talked about how they are running out of soldiers and they need more people to fight and protect the village. The lieutenant was standing on several bricks and stated, “I am sorry to show you these gruesome bodies, especially with your children present. But then again, all of us here have seen death or even shaken hands with it.” He then pointed to two bodies bleeding out, “This man and this child decided to leave this morning even though I had told them it was dangerous. The man insisted that he didn't want to be a part of our war, so I gave him his wish and let him go. Look what happened”(Page 107). There was a choice to join or not to join but, if the choice not to join was picked, Ishmael and his friends would have to leave the village and be off on their own again. Alhaji, one of Ishmael’s friends from his former village said to Ishmael, “We had no choice. Leaving the village was as good as being dead”(Page