Ishmael Beah Key Passages

As we read through the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, there are many striking moments or key passages that have a lot of meaning, character development, or plot development. These key moments occur at many times, such as before Ishmael is a soldier, during Ishmael’s time as a soldier, and during rehabilitation from being a soldier. The three most striking of key passages from the book that are important to character development, plot development, and meaning is when Ishmael learned to be more independent, when war and killing becomes a daily part of Ishmael’s life, and the theme of revenge causes more revenge. A key passage of character development is on page 50, starting at line 19. After Ishmael separates from Kaloko and goes on his way to Bonthe. He is by himself in the middle of a jungle, trying to stay alive. “I walked around to familiarize myself with the vicinity . As I was getting acquainted with my new home, I cleared the dried leaves. Then I took a stick and

During Ishmael’s time of war, we see a big change in his personality, “We had been fighting for over two years, and killing had become a daily activity. I felt no pity for anyone. My childhood had gone by without knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.” This is a key passage for two major reasons. First of all this is when Ishmael realizes that he had lost all of his innocence as a child. Secondly, this is the point of the story in which will cause the main conflict later on in the story, which is him in rehabilitation coming back from all the horrible memories of what he did in war. During this passage, the author is trying to inform the reader Ishmael was a child up until this point. At this point Ishmael could kill any rebel he wanted to and he could not care less about the consequences for the person’s family that he killed (nor did anyone else in the