A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango

1002 Words3 Pages

No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book. Both Beah and Kamara do share a similar event recovering from the war in their books. Upon traveling across the world to North America, Beah and Kamara would include this trip as crucial points to their stories. One main purpose of these books is to inform the world of the tragedies that happen outside one’s own country. Traveling to another continent has allowed them to spread the truth about Sierra Leone’s civil war. Each author thoroughly describes what it is like to live under the harsh conditions. Although these authors lived in the same world filled with blood and horror, their life stories are significantly divergent. Kamara’s story does give a glimpse of what it is like to be a part of this conflict, but this is her story as a civilian. Through her inner thoughts, Kamara describes the feelings of a civilian running away from the rebels. She had encountered the rebels when they burned down her home and when they cut off her hands. After being injured by the rebels, she tries to escape to... ... middle of paper ... ...ivilian running from war. Kamara’s story is mostly of her own life and how she survived the war, which does inform the world about how the war is to a young child and the importance of morals. However, Beah’s story includes the lives of many people he met that were involved in war. His story left a deep impression on a young teenager. All stories can be informing, but those that contain the true and insightful view of the author can create influences to a diverse audience. Works Cited Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone. New York: Sarah Critchton Books, 2007. Print. Engberg, Gillian. "The Bite of the Mango." Booklist 1 Jan. 2009: 59. General OneFile. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Kamara, Mariatu and Susan McClelland. The Bite of the Mango. New York: Annick Press Ltd., 2008. Print. Ruiz, Miguel. “A Long Way Gone.” TeenInk 24.1(2012): 31-31 1/5. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.

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