Reading Response: A Long Way Gone

The power of the rebels is shown in everybody. Ishmael Beah’s book “A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" is about his experience as a child soldier and his steps to recovery. It begins with Beah running from the rebels with a group of boys and how they are taken into the government military at 13. Then the rest of his book is about him being rescued by UNICEF and his recovery and maturing. What Beah was recovering from was being trained to kill, addicted to drugs, and the things he had seen and done.  In the book the people with power are the rebels.

A way the rebels have power is how they have distorted people’s perception with fear. For example the group of boys Beah was with were known as the “seven boys”. Their innocence had been replaced with fear and they had become monsters in the eyes of others.  Beah recalls how “Many times during our journey we were surrounded by muscular men with machetes who almost killed us before they realized that we were just children running away from war.” (Page 57). At the time these boys were only 12. Imagining that happening in New York currently is crazy. The boys are only in 6^th grade. This is a clear example of how the rebels have scared people enough to believe a group of boys were going to be a threat to them.

Another example of how the rebels have power is their enormous army and plentiful weapons and supplies. The rebel leaders go into the villages and massacre the villagers in any way they want and keep the boys they want for soldiers. Beah overheard a rebel saying that they had burned down three villages and killed everybody in them in one day. They loot their houses and after wards set it all on fire. If one decided to fight they would crucify people and light them on fire, dismember people, or worse. If they got any prisoners they would also torture them, try new killing techniques on them or bury them alive. When they recruit new members or boys they make them kill their families and burn their villages. Recruiting is either by abduction or choosing. The rebels also have many machetes, knives, hand guns, automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, grenades, and many more weapons. (Beah uses a AK-47.) These villagers are peaceful people who live in shacks. They are very defenseless. As you can see this shows you why people are afraid of the rebels and give them the power to do as they please.

Ishmael Beah does some unforgettable things as many more people have. I am humbled by his experiences and what he had to do to get where he is today. Unlike KONY 2012 this clearly shows what is going on in the world currently and back then. Beah’s main reason to write this book is to get the raw truth out there, the real story. I feel very moved and feel the urge to do something, make a difference and help others who are in the same situation Beah once was.