Influence of Other Characters on the Thoughts of the Protagonist Ishmael Beah in A Long Way Gone
Introduction
A Long Way Gone is a true story of a boy (Ishmael Beah) coming to age under the most challenging circumstances that life could arguably present- survival, brutality, and an often encounter with the face of death. The story starts with a narration of the protagonist Ishmael Beah’s early life in 1993 when a turn of fate sees him (along with two of his friends and elder brother) leave their village to rehearse for a competition involving their love for rap music. Unfortunately, the day Beah and his companions leave the village turns out to be the eve of a brutal attack of their home village, Mogbwemo, by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The tragic events of that night shape Ishmael’s tragic experiences and revealing themes such as human brutality, haunting childhood memories, survival, and the loss of his childhood innocence. A Long Way Gone is an excellent source of hope, a clear depiction of how acceptance, love and affection, and understanding may reinstate a character marred with human brutality, vengeance, and bitterness.
It would be impossible to understand the impact various characters have on Beah’s life before understanding how the RUF attacks and his recruitment as a boy soldier deteriorates his demeanor and the very core of his character (Kyulanova 28-47). Right off the bat in the RUF ambushes, Beah learns of the renegades’ terrible activities for the most part through rumor and gossip. The first few chapters of A Long Way Gone describes the fruitless attempt Beah’s undergo when trying to find his way home. The bitter realization that there is longer a place he could “home” awakes Beah to the understanding that the only sensible thing to do would be to seek information about his family’s safety. Beah, his friends, and older brother Junior join a small group of survivors of the rebel attacks in earnest search of the peace, joy, and a sense of purpose they had once known. At this juncture, the RUF assaults have forced the transformation of Beah and his companions from innocent children to bitter young adults (Anthonissen, 68-71). Beah finds out that his priorities have changed from an honest love of rap music to a dire want of surviving through the challenges each day brings.
Beah and his colleagues run into the RUF revolutionaries and are isolated from each other. Alone, Beah deals with threats both physical (inadequate food supply, snakes, wild boars) and psychological (fear and seclusion) (Moran, 197-198). Wrong turn to worst when he reunites with his past colleagues to find out that the town he thought the remainder of his family to have taken asylum in has just been hit by the RUF and totally obliterated.
Presently denied of expectation that his family will ever be intact again, Beah becomes what would be termed as a fit candidate for recruitment into the administration military structure (Moran, 197-198). Beah is taken to an administration camp and treated well from the outset; notwithstanding, it turns out to be evident that the government is confronting too substantial a resistance in the RUF and have no other option but to enlist boys into its military.
Lieutenant Jabari
Lieutenant Jabati poses as the de facto leader of Yele town. Although Lieutenant Jabati may very well be considered a minor character, his influence on Beah’s personality and perception of life are enormous. His approach is militant, and he uses the boys’ distress to his advantage, ultimately coercing them to fight against the RUF labels (Beah, 29). His mentorship to the boy soldiers is in revenge, cruelty, and violence. His teachings successfully brainwash Beah and the others to become brutal, fearless, and bloodthirsty killers. Beah looks at Lieutenant Jabati as a father figure, with their mutual love for Shakespeare strengthening their relationship bond. Beah believes in the Lieutenant and embraces his teachings to the extent that he feels betrayed when Jabati hands him over to UNICEF.
As a component of their molding, the young men are given illicit drugs (marijuana and cocaine), and exposed to brutality through strategically selected action films (for example, Rambo: First Blood), and remunerated for finding the most productive approach to murder an adversary.
For about three years, Beah turns into the very thing that horrified him previously: a heartless, bloodthirsty executioner. He and his unit carry out similar abominations that the RUF had executed upon Beah’s home village and other neighborhoods (Moran, 197-198). The brutal activities desensitize Beah to his circumstance, living every day in a dimness of regimented bloodlust and drug-induced apathy.
At a point in Beah’s unprecedented solitude and hopelessness, UNICEF intercedes, taking a portion of boys considered redeemable from their life of military viciousness (Thomas, 7-10). From the start, Beah is unable to get used to the seemingly powerless and nonviolent livelihood of the UNICEF laborers as well as other local survivors he interacts with at the camp. It is at this juncture that other characters begin influencing his thoughts and changing his perception of life as worth living.
Esther
Esther is Beah’s nurse at the UNICEF camp called Benin House, where he convalesces after a narrow escape from the war that had turned him to a child soldier. She endeavors to win Beah’s trust by quietly and patiently demonstrating an enthusiasm for him without pushing him. Esther treats Beah’s wounds each time carefully, urging him to talk about his experiences as a method that would help him let go of psychological torture (Thomas, 7-10). Esther goes to a great height to reach out to Beah. She, at one time, uses reverse psychology to challenge Beah that she would only talk with him at length if he won her trust.
Esther strategically learns about Beah’s interests through the probing questionnaires and takes it upon herself to extensively use her medical expertise to break her patient’s emotional barriers. The final emotional breakthrough is realized when Esther brings Beah a Walkman and a cassette of rap music. Beah opens up and begins telling Esther about his past experiences, which help process his pain.
When Beah is hesitant to talk about the evils he perpetrated, Esther encourages him by responding: “None of what happened was your fault. You were just a little boy, and anytime you want to tell me anything, I am here to listen” (Beah, 92). For the very first time, Beah feels that someone considered him a worthy human being than a monster (Anthonissen, 68-71). He considers himself worthy and progressively begins to transform back to the boy he was before the brutal war.
Uncle Tommy
A brother to Beah’s father, uncle Tommy, is a gregarious and kind man with an open heart to help others. Although he struggles to raise his own children with the small profit he earns as a carpenter in Freetown, he does not hesitate to welcome Beah and treat him as a family when his rehabilitation at the UNICEF camp comes to an end.
Uncle Tommy’s is depicted as a noble family man. When he learns about Beah’s progress in the UNICEF camp, he puts everything aside and immediately goes to see him. From their first encounter, his character changes Beah’s perception of life (Thomas, 7-10). He is vibrant, sociable, and loves to laugh. He immediately offers a home to Beah and warmly embraces him, each time addressing him as his son. Uncle Tommy helps Beah to develop a feeling of belonging and appreciate his family. Uncle Tommy visits him every weekend, takes him for walks, and extensively narrates his childhood memories and experiences with Beah’s father.
Beah is sent to live with his Uncle Tommy and his family in Freetown – at that point, fully recovered from the trauma caused by the war. He battles to acclimatize among individuals who are cheerful always. He fears to talk about his encounters out of dread of distancing his recently discovered associations. However, the love, warmth, and Uncle Tommy’s endearment to him renews his purpose to live a happy life.
In sum, A long Way Gone shows that there is hope that an individual may come back from a deeply traumatic experience to emotional stability. Besides, it is evident that good deeds and a willingness to provide assistance in the time of need may reverse the brutality perpetrated in wars, violence, and other cruel, inhumane acts toward fellow humans.
Works Cited
Anthonissen, Evi. “Representing the Trauma of Child Soldiers: Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone and Uzodinma Iweala’s Beasts of No Nation.” Master in de Taal-en Letterkunde: Engels (2009): 68-71
Beah, Ishmael. Long Way Gone-the True Story of a Child Soldier. Harpercollins Publishers, 2008.
Kyulanova, Irina. “from soldiers to children: undoing the rite of passage in Ishmael Beah’s” a long way gone” and bernard Ashley’s” little soldier”.” Studies in the Novel 42.1/2 (2010): 28-47.
Moran, Mary H. “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, and: Black Man’s Grave: Letters from Sierra Leone.” African Studies Review 51.1 (2008): 197-198.
Thomas, Rishma. “Picking up the pieces: a child soldier’s reflection: Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Farrar Straus and Giroux 2007).” Kennedy School Review 7 (2007): 7-10.