A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider (Chapters 15 & 16)

Lily Tikijian
October 26, 2008
Literature Period 6
Mrs. Pfanschmidt

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider
Chapters 15 & 16

Chapter 15 and 16 were the just more of the same brutal things. It wasn’t as brutal as the last chapters, it was more jaw dropping. By this time, Ishmael Beah has been fighting for two years. Killing is just part of a daily activity for him. He says, “My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed.” This is how Ishmael has been living the last two years of his life. Everything revolves around the war, and when something in his life doesn’t, he doesn’t know what to do. When the UNICEF people come to take Ishmael and some of the people from his squad to the compound where they would be living, he doesn’t know what to do or think. He just keeps thinking about killing and how he wants to hijack the car and steal the official’s guns and kill them all. That is really scary to think about. I would hate to be the official’s in that car. They must know that they are in danger riding with a bunch of young boys who know nothing but how to kill people. When all of the boys arrive at the compound they almost immediately break into teams: army vs. rebels. All they do is fight. They kill people with rocks and kick them to death and some boys sneaked bayonets into the compound. The boys had to be moved to another city. There, the same things happen, they just fight for no reason at all, that all they know. They steal, kill, and fight. They disrespect the official’s, the nurses, and the civilians. The main reason I think this happens is because, obviously this is all the know but I think that all of these boys are going through serious withdrawal. They haven’t had marijuana or cocaine in weeks. That is one think they always relied on. These chapters really made me see how difficult like is for these boys even after the war. It seems like it’s harder for them after then it was during the war.