A Long Way Gone Analysis

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The life of a child soldier, as recounted by Ishmael Beah in his 2007 book “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” is one of heinous violence. However, as Beah proved, these children can build a life for themselves away from the horror of civil war. After the book was published, author William Boyd printed his analysis of Beah’s novel in The New York Times. “Babes in Arms” compared “A Long Way Gone” to other novels written about African conflicts and praised Beah for his unique first-hand account of his experiences as a child involved in war. In his review, the author states that “A Long Way Gone” allows readers to understand one of the reasons that the African conflicts differ from their Western counterparts: “the rise of the pubescent…show more content…
Boyd presents the argument that there is a savage brutality present in African conflict which distinguishes it from the more “civilized” nature of Western warfare. For those who have not read “A Long Way Gone,” this review gives an insightful and detailed account that would allow for a reader to understand not only the events of the book, but also the nature of the conflicts in Africa. However, although Boyd uses child soldiers as evidence of the contrast, he does not go into any further detail regarding their use save for referencing Beah’s age during the events of the…show more content…
Additionally, Boyd utilized his own personal experiences of a similar conflict to expand his idea. However, his review focused heavily on the conflict itself, while only briefly mentioning the key aspect of the novel: the use of child soldiers in war. Regardless of the argument, “Babes in Arms” is insightful and well supported, and offers the reader the necessary information not only about the novel, but also about the nature of African
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