War Crimes

A Long Way Gone is a memoir by Ishmael Beah based on his experience with civil war, and child soldiers in his home country of Sierra Leone. At 11 years old, he and his friends are avid dancers and love to sing and dance to rap music from the US. He is on his way to the main town of Mattru Jong where the talent show he is attending is happening when he learns that his hometown has been attacked by rebels. This is the first time he has been affected by the war and he is dumbfounded by the violence caused by the rebels. He doesn’t really understand why they’re attacking the citizens when they are rebelling against the government. 

“The last casualty we saw that evening was a woman who carried a baby on her back. Blood was running down her dress and dripping behind her, making a trail. Her child had been shot dead as she ran for her life. Luckily for her, the bullet didn’t go through the baby’s body. When she stopped at where we stood, she sat on the ground and removed her child. It was a girl, and her eyes were still open, with an interrupted innocent smile on her face.” (p.13)

 The author’s point to show the ruthlessness and violence of the rebels is displayed very clearly in this passage. The fact that the rebels are shooting without discretion, at woman and children nonetheless, shows the mindset of the rebels and the fact that they didn’t care who they were shooting at. 

After they had returned to Mattru Jong people began to hear reports of the rebels coming to attack, and the rebels even sent messengers to report to the town that the rebels were coming, but each time the reports were false, until they did.

“The sound of guns was so terrifying it confused everyone. No one was able to think clearly. In a matter of seconds, people started screaming and running in different directions, pushing and trampling on whoever had fallen on the ground. No one had time to take anything with them. Everyone just ran to save his or her life. Mothers lost their children, whose confused, sad cries coincided with the gunshots. Families were separated and left behind everything they had worked for their whole lives.” (p.23)

These passages support the fact that the rebels were unwavering in their killing of innocent people. They show the ruthless, sociopathic, and brainwashed soldiers actions in the Civil War of Sierra Leone. These events would be seriously detrimental for a kid to witness. For example, having to run from the rebels as they’re attacking the village and being shot at would have many negative effects, such as becoming extremely paranoid or suffering from mental illnesses such as PTSD. The passages continue to confuse me while I try to understand why the rebels are killing innocent people.

The author uses a lot of imagery to display the atrocities of the rebels and to better show the purpose of the story through detailed events such as all of the rebel invasions, and killings. Ishmael’s childhood will be affected by witnessing trauma and going through traumatic events such as these. PTSD can be caused by events like these and it is especially worse that children have to witness events like this. The first person point of view and imagery help to understand what Ishmael thinks of the killings and various other things. These literary techniques give us an example of how a child would react to and deal with traumatic events.

This is an example of the rebels and the ruthlessness of them to force children to become soldiers.