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Ishmael is 12 year old boy that grew up in Sierra Leone. He loved rap music and dancing while hanging out with his friends. Beah was happy, innocent, and a strong boy that went through a lot but still managed to find the light in the end.

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the book "a long way gone" is about Ishamael going through a traumatic experience at 13 and goes through his experience but growth to be better and moved from his village for a better education, its important because it also shows his regain to heal and becoming a voice for others who have been through something similar.

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Ishmael was forced into war at the age of 13 and expresses the emotions and thoughts in "A long way gone." He is also known for the books "Little Family"
"Radiance of Tomorrow"

A Long Way Gone was nominated for a Quill Award in the Best Debut Author category for 2007.

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memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishamael Beah

Naomi Bostick & Bria Dunn

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Esther was the nurse at the rehab center who although came in towards the end of the story played a crucial part in his recovery. Though he was violent and reserved in the beginning she gave him nothing but kindness and patience knowing that he already had been through a lot. She gave him a safe space and even helped rediscover his love for rap music. In the end Ishmael began to trust her and because of Esther he slowly became healthier.

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“The sun peacefully sailed through the white clouds, birds sang from treetops, the trees danced to the quiet wind."

This was used to describe how that certain day felt. Since war began it was nothing but chaos, however to him the way the sun, birds, and tress looked felt like a normal day which seemed weird. (pg.10)

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“ There was a bullet hole in his forehead, and underneath the stoop lay the bodies of two men whose genitals, limbs, and hands had been chopped off by a machete that was on the ground next to their piled body parts. I vomited and immediately felt feverish, but we had to continue." The author uses imagery to explain all the things he saw and felt during the war at such a young age and how it effected him. (pg.27)

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“On the ground I felt as if my eyes were growing to big for their sockets” This is an exaggeration coming from Beah to explain that he was so shocked of what he saw that his eyes were growing really big. (pg.95)

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A bayonet is a noun that is described as a knife, dagger, or blade that's attached at a muzzle end of a shoulder arm and used in hand-to-hand combat. “The boy fell, and when he got up, he pulled a bayonet and jumped on the table towards Alhaji" (Pg.133)

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" We must strive to be like the moon" This is comparing people to the moon and how they should act. His grandmother talks about how when the sun is out people always complain saying its to hot, however no one ever complains about the moon. That when the moon comes out everyone's happy, children are playing and having fun. Therefore to be like the moon is to bring happiness and comfort to the community.(pg.16)

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A noun that is the act of when something or someone is being released or set free. “I had heard from the adults that this was a revolutionary war, a liberation of the people from corrupt government." (pg. 14)

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When war began, he was separated from his family and was forced to face the life of war with a couple of his other friends, but without the comfort of his family. This was the start of a long and hard journey that he and everyone around him went through.

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the point of view from Ishmael goes through his feelings and the type of mindset he goes through while thinking about music, his family, and expresses his emotions in his journey. it shapes how we can almost feel what he goes through and emotions, it helps get a image of what he feels

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the main theme of " a long way gone" is a young boy losing his innocence and childhood but later on in the story shows his journey of healing and trauma that he faced.

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At 13 years old he joined the war. In the beginning he was scared and didn't know how to shoot or even hold a gun. After a day of training he was forced to just get out there and kill the next day. Everyday he slowly began to loose his childhood and innocence to war and for the next 2 years all he knew was violence and to kill.

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When he finally figured out where his family was just before he arrived at the town it was attacked by the rebels. Upon hearing that no one escaped and finding out his family died brought an even bigger toll on him. He didn't have any other family that he knew of to take care of him. During his journey of the war he had these memories with his family to keep him going hoping they would meet again soon. When he found out about their death he was devastated and now those memories were filled with sadness instead of hope to see them again.

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Towards the end of his rehab, The center ended up finding his uncle and gave him the choice of Ishmael living with him. At first Beah was reluctant being that he never met his uncle but slowly he began to trust him and his presents. Day by day he would try and get his life back and try and do normal things to be happy like going to school.

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When Ishmael started rehab he had a lot of withdrawals with drugs and violence. Everyday him and the rest of his group would constantly fight and want to kill because for no reason because that's what they always known for 2 years. They weren't happy unless they had violence. Many people tried to help them, with a lot of people giving up on them and what they went through. Esther was the only one who didn't and worked with him to help him to a better life.

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Benin home was a big role to Beah, rehab has a crucial part of his healing journey and connection of innocence. Though he faced trauma and struggled to face it, Nurse Esther helped throughout the time of his recovery. Benin helped regain his humanity

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His village Mogbwemo had an big impact because it shows his childhood before he lost it, a real moment that he can have a good memory before things got affected.

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Jubilation is a noun used as an expression of joy. " Their Jubilation and clapping can be heard far down the river" (pg.72)

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A pivotal moment in " A long way Gone" is when Ishmael joined the war at 13 years old. Beah was forced into war at such Becoming a solider was the turning point to when he started to really loose his innocence. He constantly would have to fight and kill for nonstop for 2 years, which changed the trajectory of his life. Since he joined the war he often forgot what it was like to be a kid playing with his friends. 2 years of hardly being able to have fun with his friends doing normal kid stuff like playing soccer, of becoming addicted to drugs, killing people daily, and being fed so much violence really started to become the new normal of his life. What once was a life of happiness became a life of fear and feeling unsafe, which later became a unhealthy lifestyle that he later relied on for happiness.

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an important setting in "A long way gone" would be Sierra Leone. Beah was forced into war at the age of 13, which is the turning point of him losing his innocence by being exposed to drugs, violence, and guns. The 3 years has a impact on him to this day and who he is today, Sierra Leone changed Beah because he was used to the hard core drugs & violence because he lost his innocence.

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War is the main event that was going on all throughout this book. Even towards the end of the book when he was going through rehab and it wasn't about him physically being in the war, it was still always going on. This war became a cannon event for much more that happens not only in Ishmael life but to the community. The war effected happiness and safety through all towns because you never knew what day might have been your last.

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Traveling during war they boys came across many town and some having these gatherings. Like trying to say even in the mix of all this war and violence we are still here creating happiness and hope. One day his group arrived at a village and he stated "we were shocked by how noisy it was in the middle of war" (pg.83) Then proceeded to talk about how much everyone was dancing, playing games, and having fun. Despite the chaos of war the culture and communities of how life was before were still being creating in these towns.