A Long Way Gone Summary

Words: 817
Pages: 4

At the beginning of the novel, Ishmael sees war like how any child would and it is completely foreign to him. He also has hobbies that are connectable, he likes music particularly American rappers. While many people are not able to connect to child soldiers because there lives are so far away from what most people experience, I initially felt extremely connected to the narrator. This novel provides insight to the global issue of child soldiers in Sierra Leone and the split that has occurred between the population torn apart by years of fighting. From this work I have learned that before you judge a person’s actions you must account for their circumstances and ask what you would do if it were you in their place.
Short summary:
When Ishmael Beah
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While they were gone, Ishmael's home town was attacked, people dispersed rapidly and Ishmael and his friends too were on the run. People were fearful of Ishmael and his friends because every village had seen first hand what even teenagers were capable of doing in order …show more content…
It is important that they are introduced to the reader as innocent children because it changes the way that the reader views them and their actions. Ishmael has experiences that I could never fully relate to, he has lost his entire family and has seen things that no man or child should ever have to witness. At the same time Ishmael is inspiring because he always seems to acknowledge that there is someone out there who has it worse. He shares his own stories, the stories of his close friends and finally other experiences of children around the globe. When people hear a statistic they do not truly understand what the statistics means. There are 250,000 child soldiers in the world today. And to some people that statistic means nothing. After reading Ishmael’s works, I think of 250,000 Ishmael’s in the world. This book has also exposed me to the larger problems in Sierra Leone and the continuing separation in society between youth. While the youth of Sierra Leone is the country’s future both sides have been brainwashed into believing that the other side is their