A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah: An Analysis

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Many people say that childhood is the most memorable part of a person’s life. Typically, childhood is an easy process and enjoyable with few real hardships. Not getting the right Christmas present, a difficult social life during school, and feuds between siblings are common bad times during a normal childhood. For some kids, however, picking the TV show they want isn’t their biggest issue. In some parts of the world, war and death are the first issues little children have to see every day. Some have grown up in wars, seeing soldiers kill innocent people. In two books, set in different time periods and wars, their messages are similar. In Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone, the book follows the main character named Ishmael, who is a twelve-year-old …show more content…
It takes away their innocence with constant fear and visual effects of war. Ishmael and Marji both have rather unhappy days as they grow older; a constant fear gnawing at their bodies. They both fear for their lives at one point or another. Every day, Ishmael would run and hide with his friends and did his best to keep them out of harm’s way.

“My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.”
(Beah, 126)

He knows that this is not at all normal for a child to go through. Sometimes, children don’t know anything but war; they think it is normal to be in a constant state of unease. Ishmael feels as if his heart is frozen, his heart metaphorically being the sunny days where he could play catch with his brother and listen to American rap music. Marji on the other hand, likes the sense of freedom. She feels that she is older than she really was and craves freedom from the headscarves, teachers, and parents. She just wants to be a rebellious teen in the middle of a war. At the end of the book, Marji finally gets her first taste of freedom when her parents send her off to Germany to be safer and to grow up there. Marji is scared, which is funny. Marji wants to grow up and is finally getting the chance to be on her own, so why would she be scared to leave without them? She is scared because they are sending her away, alone for the first time, and she is only fourteen. Any child would be scared to death if their parents sent them to a country without being able to speak the language. Even though Ishmael and Marji didn’t have a great childhood, they can still act like children
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