Week three, part one

1) A Long Way gone by Ishmael Beah is filled with the shocking and gory stories of the ways of the rebels during the Sierra Leone revolution. Being a young boy at twelve years old, Ishmael sees what much more then anyone should ever see in their whole life time. Going through towns with his brother and two friends in place of his missing family, there are countless wounded refugees everywhere. As the rebels slowly settle down the towns finally seem like a place that could actually be called a town, and look as one too. Several days go by before the chaotic rebel attacks come back into Ishmael's town causing him to flee once again to a town far away. Through all of the shouting, running, and gunshots Ishmael finds himself alone running through the woods. Going through days alone in the woods, Ishmael finally runs into his friends. They all decide to go their separate ways, seeing as a young group of boys too closely resembled the rebels. Hopping from town to town, Ishmael learns a lot about himself including his strengths, weaknesses, and his general thought flow. After many weeks pass, he finds himself once again with a group of boys around his age but now it is more safe to travel in groups. As the more time Ishmael spends going through towns and learning more about himself, and what others are going through he's maturing very fast, even though he has literally been going through one of the worst situations a young boy could ever go through, or even an adult for that matter.



2) Ishmael Beah is an author of his memoir of being an ex-child soldier during the Sierra Leone revolution in 1991. Before he was even 14, he lost hos parents and two brothers and was forced into being a child solider. Fighting for almost three years before he was finally saved, Ishmael "killed more men then could be counted" seeing what children should never have to see during any part of their life. Living his life in the war zone for those years, he eventually moved to New York City in 1998, where he went into a foster program to regain the mother figure that he lost. Now being a successful graduate of Oberlin College, he tells the gruesome tale from his childhood.