The Book A Long Way Gone Went From Innocence To Experience

How Ishmael from the Book "A Long Way Gone" Went From Innocence to Experience
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How Ishmael from the Book "A Long Way Gone" Went From Innocence to Experience
The most prominent them that features in the memoir “A long Way Gone” is the loss of innocence if Ishmael during his involvement in the war. Ishmael Beah’s village is raided and his life is turned upside down after he becomes a boy soldier in Sierra Leone. In his struggles to survive, he attacks villages, becomes a rebel and kills people in the village. The central theme in the memoir is giving the innocent people like Ishmael the courage and lust to revenge, destroying childhood innocence, and embracing war as part of everyday life. The 12-year old Ishmael narrates how he loved swimming with his friends and how he enjoyed rap music and dance to hip-hope music when he was young and innocent (Beah, 2007). Like many children, Ishmael begins off as an uncorrupted and pure child. Most children and naturally trusting and innocent, but along the way, they are corrupted by events occurring around them. However, Ishmael’s life is corrupted and he is forced into every form of adult situations that he is not prepared to commit. War steals his entire life and the experiences in war steals his innocence forever.
Ishmael as a kid grows up with a robust connection with his natural environment loving to swim and playing football. Later after his involvement in war, he figures out his own sadness in anima...