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  • Essay / A long journey: discovering the real fiction behind Ishmael Beah's life story

    What is the difference between non-fiction and fiction? The details. In a non-fiction novel, the author recounts purely real events. However, in a fictional text, the author has a wide range of possibilities and can be very subjective. Details can be used to tell the story of a person's life over the course of a day or every minute. In the novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, the author tells his story from the beginning of his life until today. It tells the life story of a young man growing up in Sierra Leone with fearlessness and precision. With Ishmael Beah's life experiences based on real events, I can conclude that Ishmael Beah and his novel are not fictional. This is seen through; his loss of identity, the politics of 1997 and of course his experience. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIshmael Beah, the author of this remarkable novel, overly assured his audience that the Sierra Leone Army was the reason why he had lost his identity. Beah was captured at the age of thirteen and forced to use a gun. Try to imagine for yourself. A thirteen-year-old boy must turn into a murderer. At his age, he only cared about his studies and being able to enjoy life to the fullest. For almost three full years, Ishmael Beah had to fight in the war in Sierra Leone as a child soldier. An example of this from the novel is when Ishmael states, “I was silent for a while, because I didn't know what to say and I didn't trust anyone at that point in my life. I had learned to survive and take care of myself. I had done this for most of my short life with no one to trust, and frankly, I loved being alone because it made survival easier. Once Ishmael Beah was captured by the Sierra Leonean army, he was treated like dirt. Surrounded by people who are the reason he lost his family and why he had to survive on his own. He had lost his identity at a very young age until Unicef ​​​​saved him. Ishmael Beah's loss of identity proves that this novel is not fiction. Politics in Sierra Leone in 1997 were not seen as the most stable supporting government for their country. During Sierra Leone's civil war, there were numerous reports of government forces and rebel troops torturing civilians to the point of indescribable events, such as severed limbs, ears and tongues. All of this was intended to help launch a political and global campaign on diamond mining in conflict zones. An example from a credible article is: "A Sierra Leonean paramilitary commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Human Rights Watch that suspected RUF members were taken to a paramilitary base allied with the government in Freetown on May 8. According to the commander, the five men were severely tortured and beaten, and the commander personally observed that their ears had been cut off. When the commander returned later that day, he was informed that the five men had been taken away and he believed they had been executed. Also in the novel, it is said that “this was the beginning of “rotten politics”, as my father said. The adults told me it was a revolutionary war, the liberation of the people from a corrupt government. But what kind of liberation movement shoots innocent civilians, children and this little girl? This report from the government of the time and.