A Long Way Gone Questionair

Caitlin Spradlin Period 1 1. A long way gone: Memoirs of a boy soldier, Ishmael Beah 218 Pages 2. The external conflicts in this story include person vs. person and person vs. society. The reason person vs. person is included, because Ishmael has many problems with the rebels he must join in the cruel war that is of Sierra Leone. Not only did these very soldiers burn down his town and take away and later murder his parents, but they also bring horror and death to everyone who gets in their path, for reasons Ishmael could never discern. He must fight next to those that have destroyed the ones he loves, and the country he has grown to call his own. Person vs. society comes into play throughout the entire book. Ishmael and everyone who grew to be apart of this country must watch their whole community burn down, and see the horrors of death and destruction. They run for their lives and the lives of their loved ones, only to starve or get caught, beaten, and even killed with little help from anyone. 3. The internal conflict of this story is individual vs. self. Ishmael is a young innocent boy who has to hear that his community, friends, and parents have all went down in flames. I imagine the emotional toll to be horrendous. He must also join the war that did so much wrong to him and continue on to be ordered to kill and torture others. For a boy who has probably never seen a gun, this is huge! He has to close himself down (emotionally) and try to strive like that. After the war he has to move to a different country alone, move in with strangers and continue to put back as many pieces to his puzzle as he can. He ends up being very successful but the emotional impacts of the war has scared him for forever. 4. Passage One: “

Cite this page