Compare and contrast how the two texts communicate the impact of war and conflict on

children’s life. Make specific reference to the themes of loss of innocence, identity and search
for hope.

Make detailed reference to both texts in your answer.

Text 1 is an excerpt from the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) written by
Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. Text 1 talks about the Issue of Child Soldering and is a
first-person narrative stating adverse affects of child-soldering. Whereas, Text 2 is a video created
by UNICEF focusing on the life experiences Hiba Al Nabolsi, a 10 year old refugee from Syria,
who currently lives at a center in Macedonia and is a first person perspective story-telling video.

To begin with, the first text is an excerpt and focuses on the effect of Child soldering on child or
pre-adolescence individual. The first excerpt talks about the presence of child-soldering in military
forces and how many children are inducted in such manners. As stated in the text “with a squad
that consisted of many boys and a few adults” this would refer to the fact of how many children
have been brainwashed or forced into fighting for groups by these people and how this might affect
them as Individuals.

The first text goes on to state how Child soldering has a negative impact on these individuals. In
phrases such as “walked toward the dead bodies, giving each other high fives”. It is clearly
evident of how these individuals might have been brainwashed into believing that killing someone
is a great merit that has been achieved and focuses on how this practice might have had a negative
impact on these children. With phrases such as “brings back painful memories” it is very evident
that the past for these individuals was a very distressing one and how their mental/emotional state
had been affected adversely and how these Individuals might not ever recover from these
mental/emotional scars. Over here, Text 1 clearly focuses on the main theme that is “effect of war
and conflict on children” as stated by earlier examples. This is because growing up in conditions
directly affects their growth and welfare for a very long period of time.

Moving on further, the second source which is a video created by UNICEF focuses on the life
experiences of a girl and talks about the effect of war and conflict on this individual. The second
text talks about her personal experiences and how war changed her life completely. The second
source gives personal examples of the girl and brings the argument of effect to a very personal
level. In what can be seen as 0:01-0:07 the video instantly starts off with talking about personal a
personal experience of the girl and utilizes images of the Syrian refugee crisis to help the audience
visualize the scenario in a better way this also helps instantly appeal to the audience’s emotions.
Throughout the video the author appeals to emotions by stating personal life-experiences and tries
to show the audience what she has been through. The second text similarly has the same theme and
shows the effect of war and conflict on children

Although Text 1 focuses on the same theme and so does Text 2, both of them have certain
differences. Text 1 talks more of how the individual suffered during his time in the Child soldiered
military forces and tries to show the impact of what Child soldering had on his state of mind.
Whereas, Text 2 starts off with Personal life experiences and showcases the effect of War on the
certain individual too it ends with stating what should be done to protect these refugees and depicts
how refugee safety and protection is important. And although both the texts talk about the effect of
war the first text is an excerpt of someone who is been in a war and the second is a life experience
who is seen a war and both of these aspects are completely different.

To conclude, both the texts focus on the same central theme “impact of war and conflict on
children’s life” and focus on how war has changed their lives forever and is a part of who they are.
And although both these texts share these similarities they have their equal share of differences too.
For example, the first text focuses on the life of a Individual during fighting on one side of the war
whereas the other is the perspective of someone who is seen a war. These perspectives vary greatly
and the purpose they were made for is completely different too. Both of these texts do focus on the
impact of war but the first text focuses on the more adverse side of war and how war has changed
his life forever the second source leans more towards what could be done towards the people living
during a war.
Response 2

Text 1 is an excerpt from a book written by a teenager, about his old life, and what he had to
endure in order to survive. Text 2 is a video, along with the narration as a voice-over. The
narration is done by a child refugee from Syria who narrates about her struggle, and her new life.

Text 1 talks about the loss of innocence and identity through a personal point of view, similarly,
text 2 also talks about the loss of innocence and identity through the perspective of the girl. This
can be inferred from the act that both texts are in the first person, which means whatever they are
trying to convey, it is in their perspective. This creates a more emotional and personal setting that
uses pathos to appeal to the audience. The authors from both texts explain their point of view of
their journey. This can be seen from this line from the first text, “All around us, fresh blood leaked
from the bullet holes in their bodies”, and this line, from the second text, “We were smuggled here
from Greece”.

Text 1 uses descriptive language and a narrative tone to express the painful past of the former
child soldier, whereas, text 2 uses real-life examples and interviews to express the struggle of the
child refugee. This can be inferred from this line from the Text1, “. A piercing pain ran through
my spine” and this line from text 2, “Our clothes were wet, we were shivering from the cold”. The
video uses clips of interviews with the refugee and clips of the refugee in her new life.

The narrators from both texts talk about moving on to their new life, but each of their new lives is
expressed in a different way. Text 2 expresses the benefits of being in the refugee camp, and what
facilities the refugee camp can provide, whereas, Text 1, expresses the struggle still felt by the
former child soldier even after his new life has started. This can be seen through the line in text 1,
“, but staying awake also brought back painful memories”, and the line in text 2, “My future is
very bright”.

In conclusion, both texts explain the struggle and impact of war on children, and how the UNICEF
has been able to rescue these children, but text 1 shows the personal struggle of these children in
their new life, whereas text 2 doesn’t.