Long Way Gone: Discussion Questions
Long Way Gone Study Guide / Discussion Questions / Writing Assignment Suggestions
Please respond to these questions in RED font and put into your ALWG folder. Chapter Questions:
Chapter One:
● What did the old man in Kabati mean when he said, “We must strive to be like the moon”? Is this advice that could apply to you? Why or why not? It means you must always be good to others. Yes, it can apply to me because I wouldn’t want to be treated bad, Chapter Two:
● Beah moves around in time as he tells his story, flashing forward and backward. What is the effect of this technique? Do you appreciate it, or would you prefer that he stuck to strict chronology? Why or why not? The effect of flashing forward and back is to get a better understanding. I prefer it rather than chronological order. …show more content…
Chapter Three:
● Why did the rebels attack the towns so fiercely? What was their goal? Does it make sense to you? (p. 24) They attack to fiercely to intimidate and scare off the townspeople. Their goal is to recruit people for their rebel army. No, it does not make sense to me why they would just come and raid a town and take people. Chapter Four:
● In this chapter and the next, the boys steal food because they are starving. We usually consider this “acceptable” theft, but the boys stole from other people who didn’t have much food either. How do you judge what they did? It is problematic for the people who don’t have much food because, either way you look at it one of them is gonna have to struggle, It is unfortunate that they have to be in the war. Chapter Five:
● When the rebels overtake Beah and his brother and friends, they submit them to two selection processes. Why? What were the rebels selecting for? What did they see in
Beah and his brother, Junior. The rebels were looking to to recruit them. They were selecting for RUF. They see that Beah and Junior can be manipulated easily. Chapter Six:
● On page 37, Beah writes, “This was one of the consequences of the civil war. People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy.” Can you relate to this feeling? If so, when and why have you felt that every stranger is an enemy?
● Describe the role that music is playing in this story so far. No, I cannot relate to what the people in the war are feeling, since I have never been put in a situation like this. Chapter Seven:
● In this chapter, Beah identifies his age as twelve years old. What were you doing when you were twelve years old? You were probably in middle school. Imagine being on your own at that point in your life. When I was twelve I was eating, sleeping, and was in middle school. I never had to do what Beah had to do, I couldn’t even imagine doing it at twelve. Chapter Eight:
● Was Beah better off on his own or with the group of boys he found in this chapter?
Explain your answer. Beah was better off on his own, in a group you are more likely to get caught since, more people can get caught.
● Beah reminisces about his family while he is alone. He looks for medicinal leaves his grandfather showed him, for the soapy leaves he discovered during a summer with his grandmother, and thinks about the story of the wild pigs his grandmother told him. He remembers that his father used to say, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” Did these thoughts help Beah or make him more lonely and depressed? What makes you think so? They helped Beah, the words Beah’s family told him made him want to live more. Chapter Nine:
● Why did the man with the fishing hut help the boys after the villagers stole their shoes and their feet burned?
● How did the boys avoid death when the villagers on the coast found them? Is Beah developing a theme? What is it? The fisherman feels bad for them because of the wounds on their feet and help them. They avoided death by showing the chief of the village some dance moves they learned from the rap cassette. Chapter Ten:
● On page 70, Saidu, one of the boys says, “How many more times do we have to come to terms with death before we find safety?” He goes on to say, “Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even thought I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” The old saying is that that which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Are there some things that just kill us slowly instead of building our strength? Explain your answer. Yes there are things in life that slowly kill us, such as, close relatives deaths, feeling like you are about to die and accepting death over and over can really mess you
up.
● What is the usefulness and significance of a story like Bra Spider to the culture that tells and retells it? It is saying that one should not be greedy and impatient, the spiders plan backfired on him and he got none of the food.
● What is the significance of Beah’s namegiving ceremony? Why does he share that story at this point in the book? Beah cannot clearly remember his namegiving
ceremony, but he remembers at the end his grandmother telling him a story, Beah is trying to hang on to his humanity. Chapter Eleven:
● Why does Beah take his anger out on Gasemu? Does Gasemu deserve it at all? What is the significance of this shift in Beah’s demeanor? Beah thinks something important is at the village, and Gasemu is walking slow. Gasemu didn’t deserve it at all. If
Gasemu had not walked to the village so slowly Beah could have been one of the casualties that got shot or killed. Chapter Twelve:
● Who do you believe killed the man and the boy who decided to leave the village? Was it the rebels or the soldiers, in order to make a point? Explain your answer. I think the rebels killed them, to the rebels leaving the village means immediate death.
● What is the significance of Beah’s music being destroyed in this chapter? Beah’s music was a symbol of his childhood and the happier times and it got destroyed in front of his face.
● The boys were trained to be soldiers with this mantra: Visualize the enemy, the rebels who killed your parents, your family, and those who are responsible for everything that has happened to you. Why was this training so effective? Because the soldiers hate the rebels for killing their families and all their despair and sadness. Chapter Thirteen:
● Why did the army get the child soldiers hooked on drugs?
● Describe the transformation that happens to Beah on pages 118120.The army felt that boys would have less inhibition and more "courage" when going into battle. The kids would also be more dependant on the army once they are hooked.
Chapter Fourteen:
● Why did the army attack villages in its own country? Was their motive/strategy any different from the rebels? How?The government forces (army) attack villages in their own country in order to force villagers to join the army. Their actions seem no more justified than those of the rebels.
● The corporal always said (p. 124), “This gun is your source of power in these times. It will protect you and provide you all you need, if you know how to use it well.” Does this line remind you of aspects of American culture today? Is this statement true sometimes and under some circumstances? Explain. (This could also be a writing assignment.) Yes, because nowadays most people in the US are getting guns, and they think they need it to solve problems.
● Also from page 124: “We were always either at the front lines, watching a war movie, or doing drugs.” Why? Does this line have anything to teach us about American teenagers and their vulnerabilities? Because children absorb so much knowledge and
they listen to whatever adults tell them because their parents told them to respect their elders. ● Describe the contest Beah wins in order to be promoted to junior lieutenant. Try to describe the things that are motivating Beah at this point in the story. Beah kills a defenseless man to be promoted. The thing that is motivating him is his family, that’s all he want to see. Chapter Fifteen:
● On page 128, the soldiers start singing the Sierra Leone national anthem. The words
Beah reprints are “High we exalt thee, realm of the free, great is the love we have for thee…” Why does he include that line in his story? If most countries, despite evidence to the contrary, consider themselves free, what exactly does it mean to live as a free person in a free country? Does the U.S. meet that standard? A free person in a free country is where the people make their own rules, and someone where it is not strictly owned by the Goverment. I don’t think the U.S. meets that standard, we are not completely free, there always someone telling us what to do.
● Does it surprise you that Beah spends a relatively small portion of the book describing his time as a solider in the war? Why might he have decided to devote much more time to his life before and after his time in the army?
● Did you ever trickortreat for UNICEF? Does this documentation of their work affect how you think about collecting for them on Halloween?
● Adult men seem to have been available in Sierra Leone at the time Beah was recruited into the army. Why recruit middleschool age boys instead of adult men to fight?
● Describe the scene between the various groups of boys who are brought to the rehabilitation home. Would you consider these boys beyond hope of rehabilitation?
Would the U.S. juvenile justice system consider them beyond hope? It is surprising we don’t hear mrore about the war. Chapter Sixteen:
● Describe the children’s initial response to rehabilitation. Given the chance, would you work with children in this rehabilitative setting? Why or why not? They become violent, they abuse workers, break windows, and when Beah went to the hospital he broke a glass cup.
● Why did it make the child soldiers so angry when the staff repeatedly told them the things that happened weren’t their fault? Because, the boys still felt guilty for all of the things they have done in the past. Chapter Seventeen:
● Beah writes on page 153, “I had come to believe that people befriended only to exploit one another.” Does it make sense that he feels this way? What about the boys who were his friends before he joined the army?
● Music comes back as Beah goes through rehabilitation. What role does it play? Is its role different than earlier in the story? Explain your answer. It symbolizes a new start for Beah since he hasn’t seen them in a long time and reminds him of his happy past.
● What purpose do the flashbacks to wartime serve in this chapter and chapter sixteen?
(Think back to our earlier discussion of how Beah moves around in time as he tells his story.) He is trying to remember his childhood, but his memories of the war keep interfering. ● Why did Beah change his mind about Esther? Esther makes it seem like Beah needs to earn her trust.
● What is the significance, on pages 164165, of Beah’s first dream about his family?In this dream, Beah dreams of his family amidst the killing and devastation of war...... but they are unhurt. This dream is significant because for the first time he comes to understand that their murders were not his fault, Chapter Eighteen:
● Describe Beah’s transition from child soldier back to child as he describes it. Discuss the steps that Beah takes to recapture his humanity. Beah cannot go back to being a child, he has already lost his innocence in the war.
● Beah finally writes on page 169, “I believe children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” Do you agree? Think back to our discussion of the
American juvenile justice system. Does Beah’s comment apply? Why or why not? Yes, children are still developing and learning and if we can accept them, they will still think that they can be accepted.
● Beah meets his uncle in this chapter. Are you nervous for him or hopeful that Beah will finally move in with stable family members? I hope that he can move in with a stable family, because that is what he has been longing for. Chapter Nineteen:
● Why didn’t Beah date girls for very long once he moved in with his uncle, aunt, and cousins? (p. 184)Beah was still haunted by his childhood. He also had very limited experience around girls.
● Why didn’t Beah’s uncle believe he was going to the United States? Beah's world had been a violent world of boys and men. Attempting to interpret and connect with girls was beyond him at the time. Chapter Twenty:
● Describe Beah’s trip to New York City. What shaped his impressions? What influenced him during his time there?He finds the city is different than he expected, as he had envisioned people racing down the street in sports cars. Beah sees a world outside of violence and war a world that is very different from Sierra Leone. Chapter TwentyOne:
● The civil war reaches Freetown in this chapter. After the death of Beah’s uncle, he writes on page 209, “I have to try to get out, I thought, and if that doesn’t work, then it is back to the army.” Does this surprise you? Try to make sense of this statement.
● On page 212, Beah writes, “It sickened me to see that Sierra Leoneans asked money from those who had come from the war. They were benefiting from people who were running for their lives.” Can you think of other examples of people who should be supporting one another instead exploiting one another? Why does this happen? (This could also be a writing assignment.)
● The ending is abrupt. Beah isn’t out of danger yet, and he ends with a conundrum about a monkey? What’s the significance of the monkey story? How does it relate to the themes present in Beah’s story? Describe how you feel about the ending of the
book?
Please respond to these questions in RED font and put into your ALWG folder. Chapter Questions:
Chapter One:
● What did the old man in Kabati mean when he said, “We must strive to be like the moon”? Is this advice that could apply to you? Why or why not? It means you must always be good to others. Yes, it can apply to me because I wouldn’t want to be treated bad, Chapter Two:
● Beah moves around in time as he tells his story, flashing forward and backward. What is the effect of this technique? Do you appreciate it, or would you prefer that he stuck to strict chronology? Why or why not? The effect of flashing forward and back is to get a better understanding. I prefer it rather than chronological order. …show more content…
Chapter Three:
● Why did the rebels attack the towns so fiercely? What was their goal? Does it make sense to you? (p. 24) They attack to fiercely to intimidate and scare off the townspeople. Their goal is to recruit people for their rebel army. No, it does not make sense to me why they would just come and raid a town and take people. Chapter Four:
● In this chapter and the next, the boys steal food because they are starving. We usually consider this “acceptable” theft, but the boys stole from other people who didn’t have much food either. How do you judge what they did? It is problematic for the people who don’t have much food because, either way you look at it one of them is gonna have to struggle, It is unfortunate that they have to be in the war. Chapter Five:
● When the rebels overtake Beah and his brother and friends, they submit them to two selection processes. Why? What were the rebels selecting for? What did they see in
Beah and his brother, Junior. The rebels were looking to to recruit them. They were selecting for RUF. They see that Beah and Junior can be manipulated easily. Chapter Six:
● On page 37, Beah writes, “This was one of the consequences of the civil war. People stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy.” Can you relate to this feeling? If so, when and why have you felt that every stranger is an enemy?
● Describe the role that music is playing in this story so far. No, I cannot relate to what the people in the war are feeling, since I have never been put in a situation like this. Chapter Seven:
● In this chapter, Beah identifies his age as twelve years old. What were you doing when you were twelve years old? You were probably in middle school. Imagine being on your own at that point in your life. When I was twelve I was eating, sleeping, and was in middle school. I never had to do what Beah had to do, I couldn’t even imagine doing it at twelve. Chapter Eight:
● Was Beah better off on his own or with the group of boys he found in this chapter?
Explain your answer. Beah was better off on his own, in a group you are more likely to get caught since, more people can get caught.
● Beah reminisces about his family while he is alone. He looks for medicinal leaves his grandfather showed him, for the soapy leaves he discovered during a summer with his grandmother, and thinks about the story of the wild pigs his grandmother told him. He remembers that his father used to say, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” Did these thoughts help Beah or make him more lonely and depressed? What makes you think so? They helped Beah, the words Beah’s family told him made him want to live more. Chapter Nine:
● Why did the man with the fishing hut help the boys after the villagers stole their shoes and their feet burned?
● How did the boys avoid death when the villagers on the coast found them? Is Beah developing a theme? What is it? The fisherman feels bad for them because of the wounds on their feet and help them. They avoided death by showing the chief of the village some dance moves they learned from the rap cassette. Chapter Ten:
● On page 70, Saidu, one of the boys says, “How many more times do we have to come to terms with death before we find safety?” He goes on to say, “Every time people come at us with the intention of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even thought I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” The old saying is that that which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Are there some things that just kill us slowly instead of building our strength? Explain your answer. Yes there are things in life that slowly kill us, such as, close relatives deaths, feeling like you are about to die and accepting death over and over can really mess you
up.
● What is the usefulness and significance of a story like Bra Spider to the culture that tells and retells it? It is saying that one should not be greedy and impatient, the spiders plan backfired on him and he got none of the food.
● What is the significance of Beah’s namegiving ceremony? Why does he share that story at this point in the book? Beah cannot clearly remember his namegiving
ceremony, but he remembers at the end his grandmother telling him a story, Beah is trying to hang on to his humanity. Chapter Eleven:
● Why does Beah take his anger out on Gasemu? Does Gasemu deserve it at all? What is the significance of this shift in Beah’s demeanor? Beah thinks something important is at the village, and Gasemu is walking slow. Gasemu didn’t deserve it at all. If
Gasemu had not walked to the village so slowly Beah could have been one of the casualties that got shot or killed. Chapter Twelve:
● Who do you believe killed the man and the boy who decided to leave the village? Was it the rebels or the soldiers, in order to make a point? Explain your answer. I think the rebels killed them, to the rebels leaving the village means immediate death.
● What is the significance of Beah’s music being destroyed in this chapter? Beah’s music was a symbol of his childhood and the happier times and it got destroyed in front of his face.
● The boys were trained to be soldiers with this mantra: Visualize the enemy, the rebels who killed your parents, your family, and those who are responsible for everything that has happened to you. Why was this training so effective? Because the soldiers hate the rebels for killing their families and all their despair and sadness. Chapter Thirteen:
● Why did the army get the child soldiers hooked on drugs?
● Describe the transformation that happens to Beah on pages 118120.The army felt that boys would have less inhibition and more "courage" when going into battle. The kids would also be more dependant on the army once they are hooked.
Chapter Fourteen:
● Why did the army attack villages in its own country? Was their motive/strategy any different from the rebels? How?The government forces (army) attack villages in their own country in order to force villagers to join the army. Their actions seem no more justified than those of the rebels.
● The corporal always said (p. 124), “This gun is your source of power in these times. It will protect you and provide you all you need, if you know how to use it well.” Does this line remind you of aspects of American culture today? Is this statement true sometimes and under some circumstances? Explain. (This could also be a writing assignment.) Yes, because nowadays most people in the US are getting guns, and they think they need it to solve problems.
● Also from page 124: “We were always either at the front lines, watching a war movie, or doing drugs.” Why? Does this line have anything to teach us about American teenagers and their vulnerabilities? Because children absorb so much knowledge and
they listen to whatever adults tell them because their parents told them to respect their elders. ● Describe the contest Beah wins in order to be promoted to junior lieutenant. Try to describe the things that are motivating Beah at this point in the story. Beah kills a defenseless man to be promoted. The thing that is motivating him is his family, that’s all he want to see. Chapter Fifteen:
● On page 128, the soldiers start singing the Sierra Leone national anthem. The words
Beah reprints are “High we exalt thee, realm of the free, great is the love we have for thee…” Why does he include that line in his story? If most countries, despite evidence to the contrary, consider themselves free, what exactly does it mean to live as a free person in a free country? Does the U.S. meet that standard? A free person in a free country is where the people make their own rules, and someone where it is not strictly owned by the Goverment. I don’t think the U.S. meets that standard, we are not completely free, there always someone telling us what to do.
● Does it surprise you that Beah spends a relatively small portion of the book describing his time as a solider in the war? Why might he have decided to devote much more time to his life before and after his time in the army?
● Did you ever trickortreat for UNICEF? Does this documentation of their work affect how you think about collecting for them on Halloween?
● Adult men seem to have been available in Sierra Leone at the time Beah was recruited into the army. Why recruit middleschool age boys instead of adult men to fight?
● Describe the scene between the various groups of boys who are brought to the rehabilitation home. Would you consider these boys beyond hope of rehabilitation?
Would the U.S. juvenile justice system consider them beyond hope? It is surprising we don’t hear mrore about the war. Chapter Sixteen:
● Describe the children’s initial response to rehabilitation. Given the chance, would you work with children in this rehabilitative setting? Why or why not? They become violent, they abuse workers, break windows, and when Beah went to the hospital he broke a glass cup.
● Why did it make the child soldiers so angry when the staff repeatedly told them the things that happened weren’t their fault? Because, the boys still felt guilty for all of the things they have done in the past. Chapter Seventeen:
● Beah writes on page 153, “I had come to believe that people befriended only to exploit one another.” Does it make sense that he feels this way? What about the boys who were his friends before he joined the army?
● Music comes back as Beah goes through rehabilitation. What role does it play? Is its role different than earlier in the story? Explain your answer. It symbolizes a new start for Beah since he hasn’t seen them in a long time and reminds him of his happy past.
● What purpose do the flashbacks to wartime serve in this chapter and chapter sixteen?
(Think back to our earlier discussion of how Beah moves around in time as he tells his story.) He is trying to remember his childhood, but his memories of the war keep interfering. ● Why did Beah change his mind about Esther? Esther makes it seem like Beah needs to earn her trust.
● What is the significance, on pages 164165, of Beah’s first dream about his family?In this dream, Beah dreams of his family amidst the killing and devastation of war...... but they are unhurt. This dream is significant because for the first time he comes to understand that their murders were not his fault, Chapter Eighteen:
● Describe Beah’s transition from child soldier back to child as he describes it. Discuss the steps that Beah takes to recapture his humanity. Beah cannot go back to being a child, he has already lost his innocence in the war.
● Beah finally writes on page 169, “I believe children have the resilience to outlive their sufferings, if given a chance.” Do you agree? Think back to our discussion of the
American juvenile justice system. Does Beah’s comment apply? Why or why not? Yes, children are still developing and learning and if we can accept them, they will still think that they can be accepted.
● Beah meets his uncle in this chapter. Are you nervous for him or hopeful that Beah will finally move in with stable family members? I hope that he can move in with a stable family, because that is what he has been longing for. Chapter Nineteen:
● Why didn’t Beah date girls for very long once he moved in with his uncle, aunt, and cousins? (p. 184)Beah was still haunted by his childhood. He also had very limited experience around girls.
● Why didn’t Beah’s uncle believe he was going to the United States? Beah's world had been a violent world of boys and men. Attempting to interpret and connect with girls was beyond him at the time. Chapter Twenty:
● Describe Beah’s trip to New York City. What shaped his impressions? What influenced him during his time there?He finds the city is different than he expected, as he had envisioned people racing down the street in sports cars. Beah sees a world outside of violence and war a world that is very different from Sierra Leone. Chapter TwentyOne:
● The civil war reaches Freetown in this chapter. After the death of Beah’s uncle, he writes on page 209, “I have to try to get out, I thought, and if that doesn’t work, then it is back to the army.” Does this surprise you? Try to make sense of this statement.
● On page 212, Beah writes, “It sickened me to see that Sierra Leoneans asked money from those who had come from the war. They were benefiting from people who were running for their lives.” Can you think of other examples of people who should be supporting one another instead exploiting one another? Why does this happen? (This could also be a writing assignment.)
● The ending is abrupt. Beah isn’t out of danger yet, and he ends with a conundrum about a monkey? What’s the significance of the monkey story? How does it relate to the themes present in Beah’s story? Describe how you feel about the ending of the
book?