"Even a twelve year old can kill brutally” I
thought as I read “A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier”. Born and raised in a country where killing is
a hobby to many, I have yet to come in terms with the fact that a child who
should be committing silly mischievous acts; holds a pointed gun to an elder
thrice his age.
I have seen and heard of
adults who are brainwashed into killing the Christian communities of India.
It’s a painful reality that children are used as killing machines in this
modern era.
Ishmael Beah’s memoir is quite a horrifying and jolting piece of
work. His writing is simple, clear and to the point; it neither plays with the
emotions of the reader nor confuses us with too many facts. The tone he uses
throughout the book is as someone who speaks from the outside looking in; he
does not validate or reproach his actions. Everything Beah states induces
sympathy towards him, though he asks for none.
One of the attributes of Beah’s
narration is that they are simple; however they rouse the thoughts of human
beings and their lives. “That night for the first time in my life,” writes
Ishmael in Chapter 3, “I realized that it is the physical presence of people and
their spirits that gives a town life” (p. 22). This is a sentence that really
provoked a thought to the existence of mankind, yet Beah explains it in such a
simple way without mingling the viewpoint with philosophical or psychological
terms. Readers of any level can grab this book and understand the basics and
find many truths about life.
Throughout
the book Beah does not show his emotions and this lets the reader come to their
own conclusion. “The wheelbarrow in front of me contains a dead body wrapped in
white bedsheets. I do not know why I am taking this particular body to the
cemetery.
When I arrive at the cemetery…I lift the cloth from the body’s face.
I am looking at my own” (p. 18). Beah’s narration of this nightmare makes it
seem as if this is happening to him in reality. This passage, however, shows no
emotions as to what he felt upon seeing that dream except that his whole body
ached. Though Beah displays little emotion, his fear is driven through the
readers mind as the nightmare unfolds in front of them.
His
tone of narration is consistent and neutral that it does not play with the
emotions of the readers. As explained above, Beah lets the reader develop their
own fear, and emotion into the essay. “One of the unsettling things about my
journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn’t sure when or
where it was going to end” (p.69). As Beah writes this sentence, the reader
expects him to elaborate how he was unsettled mentally, physically, and more
importantly emotionally.
He does not give a description as to how he is
affected emotionally, but rather he states that he does not know what he is
going to do with his life. This one sentence alone allows the reader to point
his/her emotion into the circumstance. Everyone has felt this desperation of
not knowing what to do with their life at least once in their life.
Therefore
the readers’ perspective of this anxiety forms an emotion that is applied to
Beah’s narration. Though Beah is both consistent and neutral in his narration,
his memoirs are a sequence of sad and emotional climb for the reader.
While
Beah’s simple, neutral and unemotional tones convince the readers of it
realism, it is also hard to prove the situations such as when he describes his
drug usage. Pages 156-158 depict the drug usage and how he could not feel the
bullets that pierced through his bones is quite unbelievable. Also in the
beginning chapters he talks about how he had no sleep for over a month, which I
believe is embellishing the truth. Scientifically, the body is said to be dead
after 10-11 days of no sleep. If a child has no sleep for more than 5 days, it
will lead him to his grave without much effort. Minor scenarios such as these
may prove to the falsity of Beah’s memoir. Though he may have embellished his experiences
in the minute details, one cannot really disprove that these events did not
occur in his life.
Beah’s
memoir is personal and at the same time he shows the hardship of other boy
soldiers like him fighting in the war. Numerous journalists have tried to
depict the lives of boy soldiers in this manner and have not succeeded. Beah
writes to impact the lives of the readers who have the slightest knowledge of
the horrendous acts in their neighboring countries. He accomplishes his goal
through clear and simple words, consistent tone and his unemotional narrative.
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