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Revenge is the idea of personally giving punishment for a wrongful action. Usually it takes the form of “an eye for an eye”, meaning that the offender should be punished by an act of equal value. Throughout the memoir “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, we get to see his experiences with revenge what his actions caused. It shows that getting revenge is never the answer to your problems as it is unsatisfying , dangerous, and ultimately leads to even more suffering in the long run. When Ishmael was recruited by the military in Yele, he was given the opportunity to get revenge on the rebels who had taken everything from him by taking part in the fight against them. The officers knew that he and most of the other recruits had that same mindset, …show more content…
Not all of these villages were rebel controlled either, some of them were just normal villages caught in the crossfire. He actually has a flashback at the a dance about when his squad raided a village while they were holding their own dance. He then remembers the blood on the dance floor and leaves soon after. In the wake of his military career, all he had accomplished was to kill others, and destroy villages and families, just as had happened to him. Ishmael’s search for revenge ended when he was taken out of the front lines of the war by UNICEF and put into rehabilitation. He eventually healed and began to forgive himself and others for the violence of the war, and summarizes his view on revenge perfectly: “I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge, in that process I will kill another person whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge and revenge will never come to an end...” (210). Because he had seen first hand, that revenge wasn’t worth it, was dangerous, and ultimately lead to nothing but
Throughout the book the audience has seen Ishmael go through adventure and sorrow. In the novel Ishmael is forced to go to war at age thirteen, but what keeps him going were his grandmother's wise words. His grandmother was the one who told him powerful lessons that he could use in real life. These lesson that Ishmael is keeping him grounded is not only from his grandmother but also from his friends. Lessons that were seen by the readers are “wild pigs”, “Bra Spider”, and the story about the moon.
As a child, Ishmael Beah seemed like he was playful, curious, and adventurous. He had a family that loved him, and he had friends that supported him. Before the war, Ishmael had a childhood that was similar to most of the children in the United States. Unfortunately, the love and support Ishmael grew accustom to quickly vanished. His childhood and his innocence abruptly ended when he was forced to grow up due to the Sierra Leone Civil War. In 1991, Ishmael thought about survival rather than trivial things. Where was he going to go? What was he going to eat? Was he going to make it out of the war alive? The former questions were the thoughts that occupied Ishmaels mind. Despite his efforts, Ishmael became an unwilling participant in the war. At the age of thirteen, he became a
It is hard to remain innocent during a time of war. Ishmael was an innocent 12 year old boy when the war broke out and the RUF took over his village. He was chased and shot at by the RUF. As a young boy he had to endure seeing people gunned down in front of him and murdered in the most gruesome ways as illustrated by the author when he said, “I had seen heads cut off by machetes, smashed by cement bricks, and rivers filled with so much blood that the water ceased flowing.”
Ishmael Beah’s first transition on his approach to family began with a strong sense of hope. Consequently, after the separation of his mother, father, and older brother his life completely changed. When he began to take his journey Beah hoped to find his family and survive the war together. In his memoir, Beah demonstrated the idea of hope when he came across a childhood memory that impacted his life. As he walked alone in the forest Beah remembered his father’s significant words of advice that motivated him to find hope and purpose. With this idea in mind, his father once said, “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen” (2007, P. 54). For Ishmael, his father, mother, and
In the book A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael survives and describes his journey while at war. Ishmael was a 13 year old who is forced to become a child soldier. He struggles through a variety of problems. In his journey, he was separated from his family and mostly running for his life. Later on, he has no problem killing people and picking up his gun. In fact, anyone can be evil at any certain time with kids changing, getting drugged, and going back to war.
Ishmael starts his journey with a will to escape and survive the civil war of Sierra Leone in order to reunite with his mom, dad, and younger siblings, who fled their home when his village was attacked by rebels. Having only his older brother, who he escaped with, and a few friends by his side Ishmael is scared, but hopeful. When the brothers are captured by rebels, Ishmael’s belief in survival is small, as indicated by his fallible survival tactics when he “could hear the gunshots coming closer…[and] began to crawl farther into the bushes” (Beah 35). Ishmael wants to survive, but has little faith that he can. He is attempting to survive by hiding wherever he can- even where the rebels can easily find him. After escaping, Ishmael runs into a villager from his home tells him news on the whereabouts of his family. His optimism is high when the villager, Gasemu, tells Ishmael, “Your parents and brothers wil...
Near the end, when he walks into his room he falls to his hands and knees and looks
"An eye for an eye", one phrase that is used as more than just fiction and in some countries it is the basis of their criminal law. The phrase "an eye for an eye" in the criminal world refers to the term retaliation; the law of retaliation. It's the principle that a person who has done harm to another person is penalized to a similar degree. For example, someone who takes a life might expect to give up his or her own life in return. This concept is suppose to present to people that the punishment for their crime will be just given to the same degree as the crime that was done. However, in this day and age people have no regard for consequences and many expect to get away with their crimes therefore making this concept of punishment hard and unable to be an effective deterrent.
Revenge is defined as harming someone for the wrong doings that they commit. Revenge is the key ingredient to hundreds of the most loved and action packed movies, books, and shows of today. Because of the fact that there is so much vengeance played out in entertainment media, society encourages revenge as necessary to those seeking retribution. Works of art such as Kill Bill and “Killings” are prime examples of stories that are about revenge.
Kong Qiu once said "before you embark on a journey of revenge dig two graves". This represents how seeking revenge can cause detrimental damage to one's relationships. In the novel "other side of the bridge" by Mary Lawson the author demonstrates that betrayal motivates one to seek their Revenge; which in turn causes irreparable damage to one's relationships. Jake, Arthur and Ian encounters with Revenge help build up their character and furthermore obliterate their connections.
heinous crimes. Take in account the need for justice, (“An Eye for an Eye”) capital punishment carries
The term “eye for an eye” is derived from the Latin words lex talionis. In the words of Stephen Nathanson it means, “What people deserve as recipients of rewards or punishments is determined what they do as agents.” In my opinion, criminals take life, liberty, peace, goods, in order to reward themselves with undeserved benefits. Deserved punishment protects society. Once a person no longer abides by the laws which govern society, they are no longer entitled to the protection of the laws of society. Meaning, if you choose to break the law and kill a person, you no longer should have the same rights as those who respect law and authority and you are no longer protected under those said rights. There must be dire consequences for heinous crimes. There should be set standards of punishment. We as a society have an obligation to protect and seek justice for those who abide by social order. We must
of the disgust that he as appeared at their party. He goes to speak to
The phrase “an eye for an eye’ has been around for some time now. When someone hits you, you hit them back. Many people live their life by this, they strive to get their revenge. When does taking that “eye” become unnecessary or too harsh? It becomes too harsh when lives are being taken. The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics in our history. Capital punishment is wrong and ineffective. The price of the operation cost more than life in prison, and it is morally unjust.
all his troops of battle, but giving away the girl without any difficulty. By not