Emily Tran

English 9H p.3

3/4/17

Literary Response A Long Way Gone

Over 50,00 lives had been lost during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Hundreds of

thousands of civilians were displaced, and thousands more were left as amputees. Ishmael

Beah was one of the lucky survivors of the war, although it came at a price. We, the readers,

follow Beah as he goes through internal and external struggles to survive the war during the

memoir, A Long Way Gone. Throughout the book we see Beahs morals and character

change.

In the beginning of the book, Beah tells us how the rumors and stories the wounded

civilians passing through his village told seemed unreal. Beah ignored their advice to leave his

village, and carried on with his life, unaware that the war would soon affect him as well. There

were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a

faraway and different land. (Beah, pg. 5) Beah is so naive that he cant imagine that the war is

taking place in his own country. This shows how unsure and confused he is with everything

happening around him.

The more we see Beah however, the more we see how much the war has affected and

changed him. When he eventually is recruited into the army, he is told things about the rebels

such as They have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is

why we must kill every single one of them. (Beah, pg. 108) The main reason Beah joined was

for his family. Beahs family was killed by the rebels just moments before he was about to see

them again. This fueled Beahs hatred for the rebels, and the army in turn made him feel even

more resentment. Right at this moment is when we see Beahs character and morals start to

change.
 When Beah is removed from the army by UNICEF, he originally starts to protest. He

causes multiple problems in the rehabilitation facility. However he starts to learn how to heal and

get over the past. For instance, when he travels and makes a speech to the UN, he says I

joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but Ive come to learn that if I

am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want

revenge, then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end. (Beah, pg. 199) At

this point Beah has realized what he has done is wrong and how the death of his family forced

him to become a killer. This shows how much Beah has truly grown to be able to talk about his

experiences and analyze them to see how it may affect other people.

All in all, throughout the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, we see the main

character, Beah change and develop. As obstacles and problems are thrown at him he adapts

and changes in order to survive. In the first few chapters we see Beah reluctant to listen to the

various passersby telling warnings to Beah and his family to leave his village. When Beah is

recruited by the government army, we see himself close himself off to everyone. Losing his

family made him feel vulnerable, and the army fed off that vulnerability, feeding his hunger for

revenge. Later when he is taken to the rehabilitation center, he, at first, begins to protest it, but

when he spends more time at the center, he beings to forgive himself. All of these events

changed Beah, and helped make him become who he is today.