A Long Way Gone Vs Blood Diamond

Blood Diamond vs. A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah’s autobiography is almost unique, as far as I can determine – perhaps the first time that a child soldier has been able to give literary voice to one of the most distressing phenomena of the late 20th century. This book tells us how a young boy was forced to become a soldier to preserve his life and live to tell his story. Although Beah was from an under developed nation, he had the dreams and thoughts of any normal teenager from the west. It is heartbreaking to learn that such dreams of millions of children like Beah are crushed down and ripped apart by the institution of War. Ishmael Beah was 12 years old when the civil war in Sierra Leone entered his life, in 1993. When the rebels attacked …show more content…
After many violent twist and turns, Archer finally sides with Solomon against his boss. Solomon is reunited with his family, including his son, Maddy gets her story, but Archer dies. Maddy and Solomon travel to the Kimberley Conference in South Africa, where representatives from major diamond trading and producing countries have gathered to discuss solutions to the blood diamond problem and where Solomon will give eyewitness testimony. This was a real conference that convened in May of 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which was implemented in 2003. Diamonds with a Kimberley Process Certificate are guaranteed to be …show more content…
It is quite disturbing to see how the rest of the world will allow this awful situation to continue for these people in Africa. The movie was very similar to the book by Ishmael Beah. Beah life story in Sierra Leona was same as Solomon’s son Dia in the movie. They both were young and recruited in Sierra Leone Army as boy soldiers. They both for a while forgot everything about their families and became a killing machine. While Beah was rescued by the UNICEF fieldworkers, Dia was rescued by his father Solomon with the help of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio). Both the movie and the book talked about the Diamonds in Sierra Leona which were very famous. At the end Both Beah and Dia get to come to America and express their feeling against child soldiers and the Blood Diamond.
This book was one of the best books I have ever read. Beah writes with frankness and honesty about his experiences but also with other people in mind; his account of the healing process after the horrors he saw is remarkable. His book, especially relevant in today's world, should be in all high school, public, and academic