86 pages • 2 hours read
Ishmael BeahA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Discussion/Analysis Prompt
What is a coming-of-age story? Is this memoir an example of one? We as readers see Ishmael forced to grow up very quickly by taking care of himself and his friends before being enlisted as a child soldier and experiencing violence that many in the United States have not. What does his story about transformation and rehabilitation tell us about innocence and the ability to maintain one’s youthfulness?
Teaching Suggestion: Encourage students to think critically about how Beah has had to live with the consequences of his actions, especially emotionally, in the years since he fled Sierra Leone. If the discussion is productive, use it as a way to get students to think about their privilege in coming to school without fear of becoming child soldiers.
