Compare The Bite Of The Mango And Sierra Leone

Compare and Contrast Essay Outline

A vivid use of description when discussing stories about the war in Sierra Leone drastically impacts the readers. The war in Sierra Leone broke out in March of 1991, and it lasted until 2000. This war happened because a group of men believed that the recently independent government of Sierra Leone was corrupt (Bah pg. 2-3).The Revolutionary United Front, or the rebels, began to attack villages in attempt to overthrow the government. They typically cut off the hands and feet of civilians. RUF grew, and they took over much of the countryside. Then, they began to attack Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, continuing their attempt to overthrow the government. They killed and wounded thousands, and they robbed

In The Bite of the Mango, Kamara really only describes the rebels and her hands getting cut off in detail at the beginning. As the story progresses, there is not much explanation of the war. She barely describes the brutality and realness of the war. Once Beah becomes a brainwashed soldier, he goes into detail about killing. Beah discusses how killing the rebels is like a game, because the corporal times how long it takes to kill them. The soldier with the fastest time would win. He describes how he slit the rebel’s throat, and he does not leave out any detail about how sharp his bayonet was against the rebel’s Adam’s apple. Beah even says, “His eyes rolled up and they looked me straight in the eyes before they suddenly stopped in a frightful glance, as if caught by surprise” (Beah 125). This is just one example of how violent this war was. Although Kamara is affected by the war in an immense way, she seems to be indifferent towards it. After the tragedy of her hands being cut off, she just goes through the motions. She has her child, and it dies. Begging on the streets becomes her lifestyle. Also, she joins a theater troupe. All of this is going on as the war is, but she never goes into that or how it was affecting her personally. The imagery Beah uses to relay his experiences in the war is extremely effective, and he uses the same important detail in portraying the scenery and places he saw throughout his