Analytical/Evaluative Writing
Analytical/Evaluative essay by Paul Kim
So for my Analytical/Evaluative essay,I decided that I wanted to talk about how being a child soldier. So this quote is comes out when the main character Ishmael Beah goes to a rehabilitation center after being a child soldier. He gets mental traumas which is based on his actions as a child soldier.
“My forehead was sweating. I took the lamp to the living room, where a box of matches sat on the table. I lit the lamp, and as soon as the room was bright, I saw men standing all around. They had circled me in the dark. I could see their bodies-except for their faces, which were darker, as if they were headless walking beings.Some were barefoot and others wore army boots. All had guns and knives. They began to shoot, stab,and slice each other’s throats”(Beah 164).
This passage is very interesting because it shows Ishmael Beah’s mental state after being a child soldier. Essentially he is seeing a hallucination of his past actions. And he is having a trauma because he is scared of what he has done. It could be interpreted as he feels the regret of doing what he has done but he cannot go back to the past to change what he has done. Although this may not seem significant, but it is this dream/hallucination that changes Ishmael Beah. By having this dream, he starts opening up his heart for changes and become rehabitalized. Since he starts talking to the nurse about his dream. Which leads to a rippling effect to him becoming a better person.
“My forehead was sweating. I took the lamp to the living room, where a box of matches sat on the table. I lit the lamp, and as soon as the room was bright, I saw men standing all around. They had circled me in the dark. I could see their bodies-except for their faces, which were darker, as if they were headless walking beings.Some were barefoot and others wore army boots. All had guns and knives. They began to shoot, stab,and slice each other’s throats”(Beah 164).
This passage is very interesting because it shows Ishmael Beah’s mental state after being a child soldier. Essentially he is seeing a hallucination of his past actions. And he is having a trauma because he is scared of what he has done. It could be interpreted as he feels the regret of doing what he has done but he cannot go back to the past to change what he has done. Although this may not seem significant, but it is this dream/hallucination that changes Ishmael Beah. By having this dream, he starts opening up his heart for changes and become rehabitalized. Since he starts talking to the nurse about his dream. Which leads to a rippling effect to him becoming a better person.
Review of A Long Way Gone by Seung Soo Chae (Joseph)
The book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is a memoir of the author’s past. He faces many challenges and difficulties along the journey. He then has to perform on his own with no hope of even staying alive. Although he survives, this story gave a strong impression of how a child soldier’s life was like. The story ends in a answer to a question that he asks himself, and gives hope to the reader.
The story starts off at the start of a war, where he is in peace and frequently talks about rap music. The rap music represents a symbol where Ishmael has something that he really likes. During the story rap music comes out often, it even helps for not dying to a town leader because of they dressed and they were recognised as rebels. During his escape in the forests he encounters many problems such as colliding with many rebels and getting chased down by tribes of whom they recognise the boys as “rebels”. I can also conclude that during this time people were desperate and wanted to live, as they threatened young children because they thought they were rebels. There is another key components during the story, the characters that help or the characters who want to kill Ishmael is separated equally. His friends help each other even though they are all separated.
Also the image of the whole family dying in an automobile gave the reader a strong impression of how the rebels treated the civilians and the readers could think of what would happen in the past. As to Ishmael’s injuries, he only had drugs that keep him drowsy and did not help at all. The drug only weakened himself and made him think that killing people is exceptional. He often times went to villages and terrified the civilians with all the necessary supplies in his hands. Even when he went to the camp, he was violent during the whole procedure of detoxification. He beat up a supply clerk because his mattress was wet and he showed violence everywhere he went. After he was done, I think the reader can tell a big difference of what he did when he did drugs and when he didn’t. Even though he still was a bit cruel in Uncle Jimmy’s house but he controlled himself and eventually went to New York to tell what his life was like. I think this story helped us understand how Ishmael’s experiences helped him along the way.
The story starts off at the start of a war, where he is in peace and frequently talks about rap music. The rap music represents a symbol where Ishmael has something that he really likes. During the story rap music comes out often, it even helps for not dying to a town leader because of they dressed and they were recognised as rebels. During his escape in the forests he encounters many problems such as colliding with many rebels and getting chased down by tribes of whom they recognise the boys as “rebels”. I can also conclude that during this time people were desperate and wanted to live, as they threatened young children because they thought they were rebels. There is another key components during the story, the characters that help or the characters who want to kill Ishmael is separated equally. His friends help each other even though they are all separated.
Also the image of the whole family dying in an automobile gave the reader a strong impression of how the rebels treated the civilians and the readers could think of what would happen in the past. As to Ishmael’s injuries, he only had drugs that keep him drowsy and did not help at all. The drug only weakened himself and made him think that killing people is exceptional. He often times went to villages and terrified the civilians with all the necessary supplies in his hands. Even when he went to the camp, he was violent during the whole procedure of detoxification. He beat up a supply clerk because his mattress was wet and he showed violence everywhere he went. After he was done, I think the reader can tell a big difference of what he did when he did drugs and when he didn’t. Even though he still was a bit cruel in Uncle Jimmy’s house but he controlled himself and eventually went to New York to tell what his life was like. I think this story helped us understand how Ishmael’s experiences helped him along the way.
Analytical/Evaluative by Simon Nam
Significance of the last passage of the book
“When I was seven I had an answer to this question that made sense to me. I never discussed it with anyone, though, for fear of how my mother would feel. I concluded to myself that if I were the hunter, I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament.” (Beah, 218)
This was the last passage of the book and it really had a deep message of what the author wanted to inform readers. In my opinion, the ending part of this story was thrilling and reached the climax. In the story, he was suffering from the war caused by the rebels and he had to quickly move away from the village whenever the rebels came nearby. Therefore, he couldn’t stay in one village for a long time and kept moving on until he had found an actual refugee with army. He couldn’t runaway anymore and decided to train himself and become a soldier fighting against the rebels. After several months, he was saved from the war by the UNICEF organization that was rehabilitating child soldiers. Ishmael had a rough time recalling himself back to his original lifestyle. After several months, he was able to return back to his normal state, but unfortunately the rebels came and invaded the capital city Freetown which he have lived with his remaining relatives. With all the great challenges and effort, Ishmael successfully escaped Sierra Leone. He already knew that staying behind in Freetown will do nothing good for him. He couldn’t give up his life again to the war, since he was able to change himself back to his normal state with all the caring and support that other people gave him.
I thought it was right for him to make the decision of escaping, because he realized that he won’t be able to control himself when he becomes the boy soldier again. He had a strong desire to live in a peaceful condition where he doesn’t have to fear about anything. Also, he wanted to stay alive so that he could inform more people from other nations about this situation. He wished that this war could end as quick as possible, since he was worried about his remaining friends and relatives from his home country. According the last passage of the book, he didn’t want any young children to live like him and suffer throughout the war which have caused them to act as soldiers fighting for their revenges.
Significance of the last passage of the book
“When I was seven I had an answer to this question that made sense to me. I never discussed it with anyone, though, for fear of how my mother would feel. I concluded to myself that if I were the hunter, I would shoot the monkey so that it would no longer have the chance to put other hunters in the same predicament.” (Beah, 218)
This was the last passage of the book and it really had a deep message of what the author wanted to inform readers. In my opinion, the ending part of this story was thrilling and reached the climax. In the story, he was suffering from the war caused by the rebels and he had to quickly move away from the village whenever the rebels came nearby. Therefore, he couldn’t stay in one village for a long time and kept moving on until he had found an actual refugee with army. He couldn’t runaway anymore and decided to train himself and become a soldier fighting against the rebels. After several months, he was saved from the war by the UNICEF organization that was rehabilitating child soldiers. Ishmael had a rough time recalling himself back to his original lifestyle. After several months, he was able to return back to his normal state, but unfortunately the rebels came and invaded the capital city Freetown which he have lived with his remaining relatives. With all the great challenges and effort, Ishmael successfully escaped Sierra Leone. He already knew that staying behind in Freetown will do nothing good for him. He couldn’t give up his life again to the war, since he was able to change himself back to his normal state with all the caring and support that other people gave him.
I thought it was right for him to make the decision of escaping, because he realized that he won’t be able to control himself when he becomes the boy soldier again. He had a strong desire to live in a peaceful condition where he doesn’t have to fear about anything. Also, he wanted to stay alive so that he could inform more people from other nations about this situation. He wished that this war could end as quick as possible, since he was worried about his remaining friends and relatives from his home country. According the last passage of the book, he didn’t want any young children to live like him and suffer throughout the war which have caused them to act as soldiers fighting for their revenges.