A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier
A long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier
Ishmael Beah tells of a county, Serra Leone, torn apart by a civil war. He describes the injustices done upon his people that has been ignored for too long. In his book a long way gone, Ishmael describes the innocence of his youth, the slaughtering of the innocent and his simple will to survive and come back for the atrocities committed to him and by him. In the beginning of the book you read that Ishmael and his friends taught themselves to rap and dance through American television. They were traveling to another village to attend a talent show unaware a war broke out and was almost at their doorsteps. Throughout the book you see the theme of music and how important it was for Ishmael. Music was used for storytelling in his youth, survival after the war broke out and a rehabilitation tool after UNICEF recovered him. In the IUPUI YouTube video Ishmael tells of how because his father worked for an American mining company his brother and he and access to the American culture via audio cassettes. His father doesn’t understand why he isn’t listening to the BBC news instead of listening to that hip hop which is so fast you cannot understand what is being said. Ishmael explains through the documentary that rap had a story telling quality that reminds him of his own culture. In the villages that is how the children learn about their own culture; storytelling. A story is repeated 2 or 3 times and a child is asked one night to repeat it. You did not want to be the child called upon and not remember the story. It meant you were not paying attention and is a sign of disrespect to the elders. Ishmael liked the storytelling aspect of rap. He has a love for the language and the poetry of rap. The children never make it to their talent show villages over. They decide to move fast to get home and see if any of their family is alive. The cassettes they were to perform to in the talent show is in Ishmael pocket. You see
Ishmael Beah tells of a county, Serra Leone, torn apart by a civil war. He describes the injustices done upon his people that has been ignored for too long. In his book a long way gone, Ishmael describes the innocence of his youth, the slaughtering of the innocent and his simple will to survive and come back for the atrocities committed to him and by him. In the beginning of the book you read that Ishmael and his friends taught themselves to rap and dance through American television. They were traveling to another village to attend a talent show unaware a war broke out and was almost at their doorsteps. Throughout the book you see the theme of music and how important it was for Ishmael. Music was used for storytelling in his youth, survival after the war broke out and a rehabilitation tool after UNICEF recovered him. In the IUPUI YouTube video Ishmael tells of how because his father worked for an American mining company his brother and he and access to the American culture via audio cassettes. His father doesn’t understand why he isn’t listening to the BBC news instead of listening to that hip hop which is so fast you cannot understand what is being said. Ishmael explains through the documentary that rap had a story telling quality that reminds him of his own culture. In the villages that is how the children learn about their own culture; storytelling. A story is repeated 2 or 3 times and a child is asked one night to repeat it. You did not want to be the child called upon and not remember the story. It meant you were not paying attention and is a sign of disrespect to the elders. Ishmael liked the storytelling aspect of rap. He has a love for the language and the poetry of rap. The children never make it to their talent show villages over. They decide to move fast to get home and see if any of their family is alive. The cassettes they were to perform to in the talent show is in Ishmael pocket. You see
Cited: Beah, Ishmael. a long way gone; memoirs of a boy soldier. New York: Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Strauss and , 2007.( Print). Ishmeal Beah. IUPUI Campus Center. New York, March 12,2009. Speaker.