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The Lost Boy of Sudan
The origin of conflict in Sudan
Causes and consequences of conflict
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The Sudanese Civil War lasted approximately twenty years and destroyed whole villages along with the lives of entire families. “They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky” tells the true story of the Sudanese civil war and the Lost Boys swallowed up by gunfire and hatred. The Lost Boys was the ‘nickname’ given to the thousands of children that were orphaned or relocated during the bloody Sudanese civil war. The Lost Boys includes Benson Deng, Alepho Deng, and Benjamin Ajak who wrote the novel provides their opinions and understandings of several political concepts. These political concepts have multiple views by the Sudanese people. When brought to comparison by the American culture the perspectives are not that different. On the subject of human nature I believe that the Lost Boys viewed the concept solely as the will to survive mentally and physically in times of war—otherwise known as self-preservation. Throughout the novel nothing remained constant during the continuously changing circumstances except the overwhelming idea of survival. In many instances Sudanese people acted poorly in relation to the Lost Boys, but their physical survival would not have been possible without the kindness and consideration of others. When Alepho had not eaten in three days and was overwhelmed with hunger a man shared his meal with him. The man’s wife believed that the portion of grain was to small to share with Alepho, yet the husband disagreed and shared with him anyway which may have saved his life. After witnessing such kindness Alepho states, “I had become convinced that people were not good; people were bad. Sometimes I try to remember the man who shared this small meal. That incident made me think differently about people” (A. Deng, 180). Bein... ... middle of paper ... ...ty,” and Ron Edmondson does not disagree. Edmondson talks about the ten reasons why he loves America, and many are a common ideal throughout the country and culture. Out of the ten the most important three are freedom, diversity, and patriotism. “We love out country. Period” (Edmondson, 2011). The Lost Boys view freedom as opportunity and the idea of being able to leave all of their problems and misfortunes behind them. At the end of the novel, Benson is on the plane thinking about what America would be like when he got there, whom he would meet, what he would see, and what he would do with the rest of his life as an American. “I heard many things about the USA. I heard that I would be able to lead a better life and whatever it was going to take for me to do that, I was going to do it” (B. Deng, 306). I believe that the ‘typical’ American perspective of freedom is
·Historical Information About The Period Of Publication: In 1992, the most prominent occasion that may have impacted the plot of this book is serial executioner Jeffrey Dahmer's conceding however crazy for the homicide of fifteen young men and young fellows. This attracts a parallel to the vanishings and murders that happen in Lost Boys.
The film God Grew Tired of Us is a documentary about the journey of a couple of Sudanese “lost boys” to their new lives in the United States. The film is divided in two parts. The first one gives the historical background of what led to the boys’ situation at the time the documentary was being filmed and what their lifestyle at Kakuma camp looks like. It starts by recounting the events that led up to the Second Sudanese Civil War of 1983. The conflict was fought along ethno religious lines between the Muslim North and the non-Muslim South. By 1983, 27,000 people, including the lost boys, from the South were forced to flee as the Sudanese government, held in the hands by northerners, announced that all men in south should be killed regardless of age. After a short stay in an Ethiopian refugee camp, the boys finally arrived to Kakuma refugee
Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, narrates the story of Ishmael’s life as a child soldier in the Sierra Leonean civil war. Ishmael chronicles his journey from a scared, adrift child who lost his family in the war to a brutal child soldier who mercilessly killed many individuals to a guilt stricken rehabilitated teen who slowly learns to overcome his remorse from his past actions. Ishmael’s life as a child soldier first started when the Sierra Leonean army took him and his friends with them to the village, Yele, occupied by army officials and seemingly safe from the rebels. Unfortunately, within a few weeks of their stay, the rebels attacked Yele, and Ishmael and his friends decided to make the choice of becoming a child soldier in order to sustain their slim chances of staying alive. Ishmael’s interaction with violence was very different as a child soldier compared to as a civilian: while he witnessed violent actions before, as a child soldier he was committing them. As his life as a soldier demanded more violence from him, Ishmael sank deeper into the process of dehumanization with his main driving point being the revenge that he sought from the rebels for the deaths of his family and friends. After a few months as a child soldier, Ishmael was brought to the Benin home by UNICEF officials who hoped to rehabilitate the completely dehumanized child soldiers. With the help of Esther, a compassionate nurse, and other staff members in the center, Ishmael was able to ultimately reverse the effects of the war on him. By forgiving himself and the rebels who took away his close ones from him, Ishmael was able to restore his emotion of empathy and become rehabilitated.
In 1992, the conflict of the Sudanese Civil War resulted in the mass migration of thousands of Sudanese boys. This huge group of children were without adult supervision and care, and they travelled a total of one thousand miles through the Sahara desert. Many of them died of starvation and exposure during their journey. They were given the name the Lost Boys.
Since 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudanese government have been at war within the southern region of Sudan. This brutal conflict has ravaged the country claiming hundreds of lives and exiling a vast number of the southern Sudanese people. Most of these outcasts were young men aging between five and twelve years of age who returned home from tending cattle to see their village being attacked and their fellow villagers being killed by government militias . These boys fled, not knowing what they would encounter on the journey to escape the violence in their own country. Hungry, frightened, and weak from their long and hellish journey, the boys reached refugee camps outside of Sudan. Even though many young men were killed on their journeys to and from refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, many remained at these camps for numerous years. While in the camps, they heard news of an opportunity to travel to the United States for hope and a promise of a better life. In Mark Bixler’s The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of The Refugee Experience, Bixler depicts the story of these young men or Lost Boys’ and their determination to receive an education that would not only transform their lives but also the lives of their kinsmen.
Capturing children and turning them into child soldiers is an increasing epidemic in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah, author of the memoir A Long Way Gone, speaks of his time as a child soldier. Beah was born in Sierra Leone and at only thirteen years old he was captured by the national army and turned into a “vicious soldier.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) During the time of Beah’s childhood, a civil war had erupted between a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front and the corrupt Sierra Leone government. It was during this time when the recruitment of child soldiers began in the war. Ishmael Beah recalls that when he was only twelve years old his parents and two brothers were killed by the rebel group and he fled his village. While he and his friends were on a journey for a period of months, Beah was captured by the Sierra Leonean Army. The army brainwashed him, as well as other children, with “various drugs that included amphetamines, marijuana, and brown brown.” (Beah, Bio Ref Bank) The child soldiers were taught to fight viciously and the effects of the drugs forced them to carry out kill orders. Beah was released from the army after three years of fighting and dozens of murders. Ishmael Beah’s memoir of his time as a child soldier expresses the deep struggle between his survival and any gleam of hope for the future.
The Lost Boys of Sudan was about 17,000 boys. Some of the boys died of starvation hunger, dehydration or by getting eaten by animals during the journey to a place of safety. Although this may seem like a made-up story. it wasn’t. It was all real to salva, a lost boy in Sudan who survived the journey. This young boy (Salva) endured long walks to camps across the country, becoming a leader and making a positive impact on water in sudan which was a consistent struggle in Sudan. This boy has been written about in a book called “A Long Walk To Water” By Linda Sue Park. Salva’s life wasn’t easy as we read in the book. Salva has lived and survived with these survival factors: Hope, Persistent and Bravery.
He brings to mind all those who suffered and fought for the freedom known as the American Dream. He prompts an emotional response from the reader to show how those early settlers, the slaves, the farmers, the factory workers, the common laborer, all those who gave a part of themselves for this land felt as they fought for the “mighty dream” (???) of America. Even though there is still the hope of that dream, it is unobtainable for many. No matter how hard they work, no matter how determined they are, they will never be more than what they are as long as there are those in power who constantly step on and dominate in order to obtain and keep the power they desperately desire. But the heart of America is strong and must fight to keep the dream alive because without hope, the American people have nothing to live for. It does not matter where one comes from or what one does. The American Dream is for everyone, is what keeps America alive, and is in the heartbeat of every American citizen. “We, the people, must redeem” or land “and make America again”
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
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.
Most refugees have to shift and alter their lives to survive because war is so common in today's society. Even women and children are not exempt from the ravages of war. This is generated in the story, "My Parents Bedroom," where the author, Uwem Akpan explains in a first person's point of view a cultural clash in the main character's country. The author focuses on the genocide in Rwanda, which created a clash between cultures. Akpan reveals that the main character, Monique, faces hardships and difficulty in understanding her parent's fears. Similarly, in the "Lost Boys of Sudan," Sara Corbett interviews a group of boy refugee that attained political asylum in the USA. These boys expressed to Corbett their experiences, fears, and concerns.
...themselves all in surroundings that they are not only unused to, but unsafe in. Because of the nature of their predicament, this made the lost boys even more dangerous to themselves. Once all the boys had adapted to their new surroundings, they had been severely mentally and physically hardened. They had all been forced to grow up, and fast.
The 2006 American-German film Blood Diamond and the 2006 Nigerian novel by Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun both have scenes that show the representation of the behaviour of child soldiers. Despite on the surface they share some similarities, the film and the novel approach the inhuman conscription differently. Whereas the scene from the book is showing how the children are kidnapped from the streets to become soldiers in Nigeria, the scene from the movie elaborates on how the children are forced to become soldiers in Sierra Leone. The scene in Nigeria happens in 1960s, whereas the actions in the film Blood Diamond take place thirty years later. The analysis of these two scenes will present the different ways of child soldiers’ portrayal.
Resolved to join the American way of life a large number of outsiders have ventured to this extraordinary land to have an existence based upon “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“Bildungsroman, a form of fiction which allows the novelist to recreate through the maturing of his protagonist some of his own remembered intensity of experience” (Nivin, Alastair; pg. 34)