Childhood Lost: Ishmael Beah's Sierra Leone War Memoir

The Sierra Leone Civil War, was a brutal, and in my opinion unnecessary war, that lasted for eleven years. For eleven years, the people of Sierra Leone went through unimaginable pain, and through a memoir written by a boy named Ishmael Beah, we gain a window into the minds of the very people who worked so hard to escape the war. Ishmael like many children, was forced into becoming a hardened and cold soldier thanks to the war. Fortunately, he is saved, and thanks to many people in his rehabilitation center, is able to heal and reconnect with the boy he had been before the war. This is his account and his attempt to educate us all on what exactly it means to grow up in a warring country.

The Sierra Leone Civil War had begun in 1991, yet it

wasn’t until 1993 when Ishmael was 12, that he was first touched by the war. Many villagers in his town, and the surrounding town had not believed that the war would reach them. During those two years refugees passed through the town, refusing any offers to stay. Ishmael’s story proves to us that although the rebels (RUF) were brutal, and their kills were grotesque, the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) wasn’t much better. “... the army is the enemy. We fought for freedom, and the army killed my family and destroyed my village” (p. 134). Both sides recruited children, the only difference being that the RUF killed civilians, and the SLA killed the rebels. That changes later on when they begin taking prisoners, and killing them, or when they burn villages down. Ishmael, who had been disgusted and feared the rebels, soon became no better then them due to a variety of drugs and pills. He became a mindless killing machine, and reveled in the pain, and death he brought. He shows that in the end, no matter how hard and fast they ran, they couldn’t escape the war. They had been coerced into something they had not believed in, and soon they were pulled in too deep to escape. The war had become violent, and seemed to no longer have a side that could be considered the right or “good” side.
Unquestionably, there are many consequences to violence.

One of the most common psychological effects of war is ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’. Children and adults often suffer flashbacks, restless behavior, and may avoid situation, places, and people that remind them of traumatic events they’ve suffered through. “Whenever I turned on the tap water, all I could see was blood gushing out. I would stare at it until it looked like water before drinking or taking a shower” (p. 145). Ishmael here had seen so much bloodshed, that even the simple act of seeing water pouring, was enough to take him back to the war. Another effect that they often experience is depression. These children are filled with hopelessness, and helplessness. They’ve witnessed many violent acts, and after repeated exposure they stop believing that they can escape, or do anything to help. In addition, children suffer many physical repercussions. As Ishmael had noted he for example received multiple bullet wounds, bruises, and cuts. Other children may have become disabled due to lack of limbs as a result of grenades or landmines. Seeing as Ishmael is a male, he doesn’t discuss some of the physical consequences female soldiers faced. Many would be raped, resulting in children, or in them never being able to conceive a child. These violent physical acts, often led to the girls becoming traumatized, and developing the earlier mentioned effects of PTSD, or depression. Unintendedly, children are often displaced,

and separated from their loved ones. They no longer become trusted by civilians, seeing as they could be scouts, or simply soldiers for the different sides of the war. They all become lost, and seeking a home they easily become manipulated into becoming killers by commanders offering shelter and food. All in all, war has terrible aftereffects on any child soldier or witness.
Nightmares are filled with indescribable horrors. They consist of terrifying situation, monsters, and our deepest fears. “At night, some of them wake up from nightmares, sweating, screaming, and punching their own heads to drive out the images that continue to torment them even when they are no longer asleep” (p. 148). Ishmael no longer can tell the difference between his dreams and reality, because his nightmares have bled into his life. War which had before been inaccessible, and impossible to comprehend now surrounds him. Rivers of blood are made in villages, staining the ground which had previously been filled with life. Was has finally stopped being romanticized as something heroic, and noble. Ishmael doesn’t understand how the rebels can be so heartless to kill innocent and unarmed people. In all honestly, where is the dignity in that? He along with the rest of the boys, have become beings to fear. He has to worry about whether he’ll be safe staying the night, and if he’ll go to sleep hungry yet again. Ishmael becomes borderline insomniac, and can no longer stand being alone with his thoughts because bloody, and violent images overcome him. So when there no longer is any differences between his conscious, and subconscious mind, there is no surprise that Ishmael can longer distinguish the difference between the two.
The Bra Spider is a story about a spider who had been invited to feasts in five different villages. Not wanting to miss out on any of them he began weaving ropes leading from the feasts to his home. On the day of the feasts he informed the villagers to tug the rope once their feast began. As the day of the feast arrived, the Bra Spider tied the ends of the ropes to his waist and waited for the feasts to begin. Unfortunately for him, the feasts all began at the same time, and the ropes were all pulled. No matter how hard he tried to loosen himself, the villagers took his tugs as a sign he would arrive, so they continued to tug. I believe the moral of this story is to not be greedy. The Bra Spider did not accept any one offer, and instead had decided to go to all villages to eat their food. In the end his greed led to him being tugged all five directions, which explained why spiders had lean waists. The story of the wild pigs is about a man who hunted wild pigs by turning into a boar and leading the pigs to a clearing, where he would turn back into a human and trap and shoot the pigs. One day a small pig noticed that the hunter would eat a plant to turn back into a person. He quickly informed the other pigs, and they ate all of the hunters magical plants. The next day when the hunter attempted his trick again he couldn’t find his magic plant, and the pigs tore him to pieces. The moral of this story could be to find your enemy's weak point to defeat them. In my opinion there are many thing this stories can signify. One can be that the wild pigs are like the RUF, relentless in their pursuit of the enemy. The cultural aspect of the stories can simply be that Ishmael was born in a country that was filled with storytellers, and everyone had a variation of a similar story. These stories became lifelines to their past lives, and reminders of happier days, spent telling stories.
As the story moves along Ishmael’s relation with the civilians drastically changes. In the beginning, before the rebels reached the villages surrounding his home, he was accepted. He always would have a place to spend, and a host willing to feed him. They were carefree, and they could play outside with the other children in front of the adults amused eyes. As the story moves on the civilian stop being so trustful, and become suspicious of them. “This is one of the consequences of the civil war. People stop trusting each other, and every stranger becomes an enemy” (p.37). Rumors of their group is enough for the men of villages to come out prepared to defend themselves. They’re reluctantly given food, and shelter in some villages. Mother’s no longer trust their children around them. Around the middle of the novel, Ishmael and his group reach a fishing village. It seemingly is abandoned when suddenly they’re attacked by the villagers. They remove their crepes and send them off. This the boy’s realize is torture, the heated sand burning the flesh off their feet, and no chance of relief from the blaze. Later, when Ishmael becomes a soldier, horrible actions become part of daily life, and it no longer is unusual when they kill villagers, or rebels. Ishmael’s relationship with the civilians had gone from a peaceful and comfortable, to distrustful and deadly.
The civil war, and Ishmael's childhood provides him with his ultimate calling; to become a spokesperson about what is happening to children in Sierra Leone. Leslie, a man who had helped with his rehabilitation informed him of an interview that was going to happen, allowing two boys to head to New York to discuss what was happening. At the interview Ishmael is asked why he believes he should go to New York, and he responds with, “Well, I am from the part of the country where I not only suffered because of the war, but I have also participated in it and undergone rehabilitation.” (p.187) He understands the war much better, then the city boys who had only heard the news of it. A first hand experience will be a better way of informing the world of their situation. During the conference, he and the other diplomats discussed how they could solve the issues involving their countries, and on the last day Ishmael and the others tell their stories. Therefore, not only had he found something that he would be proud to do because he was helping his country, he also finds his future home and mother.
“A Long Way Gone” is an amazing story that really helps explain the horrors of war that children face.

I know that I personally always knew that war was shown through rose-colored glasses, but never had I imagined what I read in Ishmael’s story. It was an awakening to see just how badly war affects a country. It’s not just death, and pain. Some of these children lose everything; their childhood, innocence, and humanity. The entire country is in upheaval, and disarray, everyone searching for shelter and food when honestly most will die trying to feel safe. It shows that even when everything has been lost, these people cling to hope, believing they will be reunited with their family, and that the war will eventually end. Ishmael suffered, and witnessed things no child could, but with the help of others heals, and helped advertise just what was happening in his

country.