A Long Way Gone Survival Essay

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Trust and Survival In war, most actions are motivated by survival. In the graphic memoir “A Long Way Gone” written by Ishmael Beah, survival and trust cause people to do what they consider necessary. Throughout the book, the reality of survival and trust in war is constantly explored. In the duration of the war, Ishmael struggles to come into the presence of new people without being threatened and chooses to be alone to survive. This suggests that trust is a foreign idea that is replaced by the need for survival. Ishmael experienced many encounters in which he was on the brink of death because he was assumed to be an R.U. F soldier. For example, in chapter six, page 53, Ishmael and his companions were tied up and threaten to be drowned. This shows that trust was completely disregarded. People of the village showed no remorse as they shouted: “Drown the rebels”. An imbalance between trust and survival causes …show more content…

During the war, people struggle to differentiate their enemies from friends causing people to act on fear. Survival is paramount and trusting someone can lead to the deaths of an entire village. Beah wrote,”Many times during our journey were surrounded by muscular men with machetes who almost killed us before realizing we were children just running away from war.” (Page 72, Chapter 8). War causes people to be on edge and trust is no longer a connection but a reason that could end a person's life. The major theme in “A Long Way Gone” is survival and acting based on an emotional concept can cost atrocities. Most people who Ishmael came in contact with and himself, had a conflict between trust and survival. This conflict became an effect of the war in which many people suffered because they chose to live over a possible death. Beah retells his traumatic experience that gives countless situations where survival is picked over trust. In a world without war trust and survival can be

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