Malala Yousafzai’s “I am Malala” and Ishmael Beah’s “A Long Way Gone”

A lot of twelve-year-olds play war games, but some are actually in the middle of a war, fighting every day for themselves and their families. Some are fighting for social rights, and some are fighting for survival right now. Malala Yousafzai's novel I Am Malala and Ishmael Beah's novel A Long Way Gone show how important family is, especially in times of crisies. Family shapes people to be who they are when they grow up and are the people they love most in life. Generally, when growing up, people turn out to be a lot like their parents, they also love their family more than anyone else in the world. Even if they won't admit it, and find them annoying at times, everybody would be heartbroken if their family left their life forever or even just for a few weeks.

Almost everybody shares a close physical resemblance to their parents because of genetics, parents pass down their genes. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah is separated from his close family and eventually finds his uncle whom he’s never met before and lives in the capital of Siera Leon. When they first meet, his uncle says: “‘ You look just like your father, and you remind me of him when we were growing up. I hope you’re not as stubborn as he was,’” ( Ishmael 173). This shows, in a physical sense, how much alike you look like your family, especially your parents. Your parent’s actions really rub off on you too, from when people are little, to when they're about 16 you have the same political and religious views as your parents because that's what they grew up knowing and what they were exposed to all the time for most of their childhood. Ishmael's uncle could see that in Beah’s solemness because he later said:“‘ I hope you're not as quiet as your father,’” (Ishmael 174).

Beah’s uncle, who lived in the capital, saw that Beah was quiet when he first met him and remembered Beah's father was a quiet man just like Beah. People also pick up on verbal things their parents and family say and phrases that they use. People can remember things that meaningful people said to them and hold onto it for a very long time. In I Am Malala, Malala follows in her father's footstep and speaks out against the Taliban and all they stand for (same as her dad). The Taliban are a religious militant group who took over Malala’s country and put laws and rules in place. After speaking out, Malala received multiple death threats from them. After that Malala's dad wanted to keep her safe by not having her speak out anymore. Malala said to her dad: “‘ You were the one who said if we believe in something greater than our lives, then our voices will only multiply even if we are dead. We can't disown our campaign,’” (Malala 255). used it back against him. Also adopted kids, though they may not look the same as their foster parents, still make the same facial expressions, use the same word phrases, and even walk the same way as their foster parents. This just goes to show how much we listen to, mimic, and love our family even if they are not biologically related.

For a lot of people, family is one of thee things they love most in life. A lot of the time we complain about going to meet family a holiday gatherings because we have to endure all the hugs and kisses and the “your getting sooo big!!”. To be frank some of those people who we only meet twice a year and don't really know, we wouldn't care too much if we never saw them again. But peoples close family who they live with and see every day, even if we won't admit it, we love them very much, and would be broken and struck down if they were gone. In A Long Way Gone Ishmael’s town is attacked and raided for supplies for the rebel army. The rebels then burned down the village, many families were split up, and lots of their family members killed. Ishmael some of his friends, and his older brother, Junior, left a day before the attack for a dance festival. He didn't know if the rest of his family was okay after the attack. After the attack he thought to himself: “ I thought about where my family was, whether I would be able to see them again, and wished that they were safe and not too heartbroken about Junior and me.

Tears formed in my eyes,” (Ishmael 26). At this point, Ishmael doesn't know if his family is alive or not and if they are they might not be for much longer. They might be captives and worked to death for the armies or, if they are alive, he might lose track of them and never see them again. He is grieving because of how much he loves them. In Malala’s life, after she is threatened by the Taliban and Malala says it doesn't matter if they threaten her, Malala's mother said to her; “‘ I don't want awards, I want my daughter. I wouldn't exchange a single eyelash of my daughter for the whole world,’” (Malala 215). A mother's love for her children is immense. They form a special bond because the mom gave birth to the child. Malala's mom wants the world to change in the same way Malala wants it to, but she cares more about Malala. It may seem selfish, but her love is more than that of change. She also wants Malala to be alive at the time so Malala can see that change happen too. If somebody in a family is majorly hurt or even killed in a shooting or an accident, everybody else in a family grieves for them, even people who aren't part of that family. People who aren't part of the family grieve because they know a little bit how the family is feeling and doesn't want anybody else to feel that way. The family and anybody else who wants to will probably protest for stricter rules or a safer space to live in. Everybody knows how it feels to love somebody, especially family, and nobody wants to feel the loss of family or what you love.

With the love of family comes the loss of family too. Nobody likes death or separation from the people they love. It just pulls at the soul, there's not really a good way to describe it but we all know what it feels like. Grief can make you do stupid things. Some people get depressed, some get mad. Ishmael got really mad because his family was killed by the rebel army and he wanted to make them feel the pain he felt when he learned they killed his family. On page 96, in A Long Way Gone, after he is recruited and trained by the army, they send him to war. “ he attacks a village with the army to avenge his family.”. Making them feel what he felt won't help., The thing is, no matter how much you hurt, hurting other people it just makes it worse. It might make you feel better for a little bit, but him attacking that village is just making more kids like him ripped apart from their families. This cycle will just keep repeating unless someone breaks it. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Ishmael lost his family forever in the war but when Malala was shot and moved to the UK for better medical treatment she was separated from her family for only a couple weeks because her parents couldn't get their documents ready in time. Her family had to stay in Pakistan she was in Europe and they didn't know what her condition was. She could have been perfectly fine, slowly dying, or already dead. When they were separated on page 129 in I Am Malala Malala's dad said: “‘ Tell me how one can live without daughters,’”. He didn't know if she was alive or not and if she was alive he didn't know if he would be able to see her again before she died. He was terrified of never having another chance to talk to her, and enjoy her presence. This made him suspicious of everybody and that's not a good way to live.

In the end, no matter how much you are annoyed by and don't want to be with, or by your family, they are still the people who you know and love best. Malala Yousafzai's I Am Malala and Ishmael Beah's book A Long Way Gone showed this on every single page. Family will always be a major factor in peoples lives.Loveing then makes people stronger and losing them makes people terrible sad and do funny things. Whether you want it or not, there will always be a part of people in their family, and people's family in them.

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