Journal #6 from Kayla

     I think the most impactful character in A Long Way Gone is Ester. She is the young nurse who works at Benin House where Ishmael enters rehabilitation. She sees something worth saving in all the boys who come there, but she sees something even more in Ishmael. She gradually works on him to become her friend and trust again. She recognizes that saving him may be through his beloved rap music and uses that to pull out his lost memories of life before the war. She shows him he can be successful in finding a new life and cheers him on, listens to him, and loves him when he needs it most. One example is when Ester gives Ishmael a casket player. In this scene Ishmael gets excited, and hugs Ester. “When I unwrapped it, I jumped up and hugged her, but immediately held back my happiness”(Beah 154). It shows that Ester wants to deeply care for each boys she examines, and help them find true happiness. 

     I think Ishmael’s rehabilitation was successful. In the beginning stages of Beah’s rehabilitation, he did not like the other side in the same area. One scene the military and RUF soldiers was in the same area there was a massive outbreak. There was so much violence and bloodshed. It seemed obvious that the boys where still feeling a part of the war. Towards the end of the rehabilitation process Beah was back and integrated in society. He went to school, and found a relative. Beah still got flashbacks from the war, but he does not harm any one. He is like a civilian again. Beah also got to speak in the UN program about the life of a child solider. At the end of the book the war finds Beah, but he decides to flee because all the rehabilitation he went through would not be worth it, if he ended up going back to the military. I would let Beah into my neighborhood because one of my neighbor’s was a part of war. He was station in Afghanistan, but was released because he had PTSD. He went through rehab, and he has not harmed anyone. Therefore I would have Beah as my neighbor. 
    
     In writing this memoir, Beah used very deliberate diction to create a story that is informative, honest, and also interesting.  He describes the events of his stories in very short sentences that are very matter of fact and to the point.  He is descriptive, but often not very detailed in how he tells his story.  The stories in the memoir are often horrific, and the reader can only imagine how hard it must have been for Beah to take his painful memories and put them onto paper.  He does not use “flowery” language, instead his short sentences are very direct and to the point.  He does this because the objective of his memoir is not to write a book that is exciting and entertaining for readers, it’s to help educate readers on severity of war and to help them understand the physical and emotional hardships that come with being a child soldier. For example, Beah writes, “There was tears in my eyes, but I was unable to cry because I was too thirsty to make a sound”(Beah 61). 

I think my favorite passage is when Beah’s father tells him “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die”(Beah 54). The quote is very powerful because it gives Beah the motivation he needs to survive the war, and he eventually does.