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The subject focus of A Long Way Gone is the impact of war on children, showing how Ishmael Beah was forced into being a child soldier and how he struggled with trauma, survival, and healing.

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A central message of A Long Way Gone is the loss of innocence in growing up that Ishmael experienced. This theme throughout the story was developed by showing the immense amount of traumatic losses Ishmael went through. The intense conditions of his environment in Sierra Leone as there was constant violence and war was highlighted in his point of view to show readers the profound loss of innocnece he encountered while coming of age.

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Ishmael uses strong imagery throughout the story to emphasizes the atrocities and gore that is war. He describes his life during this time using his five senses in his writing to prevail his feelings at the time and the to showcase the severity of the violence.

Example quote: "blood running down her dress and dripping behind her, making a trail."

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A Long Way Gone takes place during the Sierra Leone civil war (1991–2002), a conflict fueled by the fight over diamond-rich areas and political corruption. Traditional Sierra Leonean culture valued family, community, storytelling, and music, but the war disrupted these values as children were torn from their homes and forced to become soldiers. Ishmael Beah’s memoir shows the clash between these cultural traditions and the brutal realities of war, while also emphasizing resilience and healing.

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Define: A body of troops stationed in a particular location

part of speech: Noun

sentence use: "The rebels attacked the government garrison, hoping to seize control of the town and its supplies."

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The author of "a long way gone" is Ishmael Beah and he was born November 23rd 1980, in Sierra Leone. He was a boy soldier who had to flee his village due to attacking rebels at 12 years old and then fought in the war affecting his country for 2 years. After moving to the United States in 1998, he finished high school in New York and later graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in Political Science. eah became a human rights advocate, writer, and public speaker. His memoir A Long Way Gone (2007) gained international attention for its raw, honest portrayal of the horrors of war and child soldiering.

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A long way gone is written in first person by the protagonist

and author Ishmael Beah. This memoir is about Ishmael experiences with the war and how it has shaped him as a person.

Moxie

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A 12 year old boy with a passion for rap travels with his brother Junior and their friends to perform in another village when all of a sudden the RUF attacks his home village making his relatives scattered. He is then left with his friends trying to survive the war. Ishmael meets people and groups that change his life forever.

Moxie

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A commanding officer Ishmael met when in the Sierra Leone armed forces. They both connected over Shakespeare which made a bond between the two but was then later broken due to Jabati selecting Ishmael to be taken by UNICEF.

Moxie

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Most of this book is Ishmael Baeh’s life from 1993 to 1998 and what he had to go through at only 12 years old.

Moxie

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Inside of Sierra Leone:

Freetown:

The coastal capital city, where Beah eventually finds refuge at a UNICEF rehabilitation center.

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Location Outside of Sierra Leone:

New York City:

In the later part of the memoir, Beah travels to the United States to speak at the United Nations.

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The most significant moment in the book is when Ishmael gets recruited to join the army and turns into a child soldier which ultimately changes Ishmael and shows how war affected him and how his childhood and innocence was lost.

Moxie

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Attack on Mogbwemo:

The story begins in Beah's hometown, Mogbwemo, when the RUFS invade and have a violent attack on the Ishmael's community.

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Recruitment Into the Army

When Ishmael is recruited by the government army, he and other boys are given guns, training, and drugs that numb their fear and push them into violence. This turning point shows how war strips children of their innocence and reshapes them into soldiers, stealing their humanity in the process.

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Ishmael’s Rehabilitation at the UNICEF Center

After being rescued by UNICEF, Ishmael is sent to a rehabilitation center in Freetown, where he struggles with violence, trauma, and drug withdrawal. With the patient care of staff and a nurse named Esther, he slowly begins to heal and regain his sense of identity, showing that recovery and hope are possible even after war.

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Define: A starchy, edible root vegetable widely consumed in tropical regions, also known as manioc or yuca

Part of speech: Noun

Sentence of use: "The boys were hungry, and the search for food, especially cassava, dominated their days."

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The metaphors in A long Way Gone describe how Ishmael feels and describe his transformation from innocent to a child soldier by comparing him and his experiences to other things and concepts.

example quote: "My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector."

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The tone Ishmael uses in the course of the story changes. This has a strong impact on the feelings the readers will have as the war gets worse and worse until eventually spreading to wherever Ishmael was no matter what. The contrast of his innocent and naive tone in the beginning to his more aggressive and lifeless tone later on impacts the story by reflecting the change the war has on him.

example quote: "We wanted ‘the civilians,’ as we referred to the staff members, to respect us as soldiers who were capable of severely harming them."

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Throughout the story irony is used. Ishmael includes a lot of cruel irony to increase the emotions of the readers. He particularly uses situational irony where the outcome is the opposite of what's expected. The use of this is on purpose and impactful because it makes the readers feel the extreme loss of hope that Ishmael had and shows that when good things were thought to come it continued to get worse for him.

Example quote: "...there were no indications that our childhood was threatened, much less that we would be robbed of it."

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Define: The process of returning a person to their country of origin

Part of speech: Noun

Sentence use: "When the day of my repatriation finally came, I was hesitant to leave the only sense of stability I had known in a long time."