Explain How Ishmael From A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

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From Innocence to Experience: “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007)” by Ishmael Beah
The featuring theme in “A long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah is centered on the loss of innocence to participation in war. In the story, the young Ishmael Beah struggles and wanders for survival in Sierra Leone. In the hopes of survival, the twelve-year young boy raids villages and murders everyone, loses his innocence in lust of revenge when war becomes part of his lifestyle. In the world today, many children face internal conflicts in their life that causes significant harm to their physical and emotional wellbeing. Beah portrays the atrocities committed in the world and their effect on the lives of the young people in causing trauma and loss of innocence among young people. In the story, the boy soldiers take a day off to play football and swim (Beah 18). As the lieutenant calls the boys, they shoe and push each other into bushes with live ammunitions and guns. To enhance their energy the boys are given white tablets that will “transform” them into men and fight alongside with the military. This paper highlights how Ishmael from “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007)” went from innocence to experienced fighter.
As Ishmael and other boys fight, it becomes the first time he kills a man but his two friends, Josiah and Musa are shot as he sees them die. This incident angers Ishmael and he becomes a fierce fighter. Together with the corporal, he strips the bodies, ammunition and guns, but he has nothing to regret about killing the rebels as he flips over the dead bodies with his feet. Following the battle, he falls numb and asleep but his nightmares return after the effects of the drugs wears down. He begins to shoot after he wakes from his dreams and the lieutenant and corporal rush to offer more pills and splash water in Ishmael’s face (Beah 148). After taking the drugs, he fights two extra battles. The young innocent boy soldier at first behaves like a child playing football and splashing water in a river (Beah 86). However, upon taking the pills, he grasps ammunitions and guns...