Literary Essay
Choose one of the following guiding themes on which to base your literary
essay.
1. The writing style of Ishmael Beah allows the reader to not only to read
the text but to also experience his memoirs ( POV, tense, imagery etc)
2. Animals and nature play a significant part in the myths and legends of
third world countries. They also have an overwhelming presence in the
novel. Why does Ishmael include these if he is writing a memoir?
3. “I could no longer tell the difference between dream and reality” (p. 15),
Ishmael writes early in his tale. Indeed, memories, dreams, and troubling or
inescapable thoughts are perhaps even more important to this book than
firsthand events and actions are.
Literary Response
Complete a literary response on one of the following (you must use your
connection paragraph to connect back to a long way gone:
The movie “Blood Diamond” or “ Julius Caesar”
crapes (p. 7)
kamor (p. 8)
lorry (p. 10)
cassava (p. 17)
RUF (p. 21)
palampo (p. 23)
RPGs (p. 24)
sleepers (p. 27)
imam (p. 44)
sura (p. 44)
waleh (p. 51)
Nessie (p. 51)
Temne (p. 55)
Mende (p. 55)
soukous (p. 59)
jerry cans (p. 59)
Sherbro (p. 63)
carseloi (p. 71)
spirogyra (p. 73)
pestles (p. 76)
lappei (p. 76)
leweh (p. 76)
Ngor (p. 91)
gari (p. 91)
wahlee (p. 98)
brown brown (p. 121)
tafe (p. 137)
kalo kalo (p. 150)
repatriate (p. 171)
kule (p. 177)
sackie thomboi (p. 181)
ablution (p. 182)
raggamorphy (p. 183)
upline (p. 184)
poda podas (p. 185)
SLPP (p. 188)
groundnut (p. 188)
CAW (p. 188)
United Nations First
International Children’s
Parliament (p. 195)
NGOs (p. 196)
UN ECOSOC (p. 199)
“Sobels” (p. 203)
G3 (p. 207)
Conakry (p. 209)
bildungsroman
flashback
memoir- bias POV
A Long Way Gone:
1. What did A Long Way Gone teach you from a historical perspective? What did Ishmael’s
personal history communicate to you about the recent history of his homeland?
2. The book describes two kinds of domestic living in detail, village life and city life. Which does
Ishmael prefer, and why?
3. There are many levels of conflicts that occur in the book: physical person vs. person violent
conflict, psychological inner conflict, conflict with nature, and conflict with society. Which do
you think is the most harmful of all Ishmael’s conflicts? What in the text supports your claim?
4. Early in his book, Ishmael laments how “the war had destroyed the enjoyment of the very
experience of meeting people” (p. 48). Where else does he express this fact, or suffer from its
consequences? Discuss the book’s ongoing struggle between trust and survival. Can thesetwo
things coexist?
5. What are the various families Ishmael belongs to over the course of the book? How does he
portray each group or family? Which family/families does he feel most at home with?
“My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to
kill or be killed. . . . and it seemed as if my heart had frozen” (p.126). Discuss the ways in which
the idea of “family” is configured, re-configured, challenged, and re-affirmed in this book.
6. Let’s reflect again on the title: in what ways is Ishmael “a long way gone” by the end of the
novel? In what ways, if any, is he not “a long way gone?”
7. Finally, do you think there are any positive outcomes of Ishmael’s harrowing journey? Do
you think it’s important to see positivity in his story, or should we simply accept it as a bleak
story of a lost childhood?
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A long way gone
For this project, you will be responsible for making your own choices in regard to tasks:
You must:
*From page one of this document: choose a topic for your literary essay and literary response
*From page two of this document: Define the vocabulary words for the Day 9 tests
*From page three of this document: Prepare four questions for the final Day 9 test on the
novel
* From page 4 and 5 of this document: Choose three questions from each heading (only one
from the Leadership section) and submit them once you have finished them, or once we have
completed the novel.
*Be responsible for one chapter of the book (chapter 4 to the end of the novel). Once you
have chosen the chapter, you will be given a set of questions to prepare. When we have read
your chapter, you will present your chapter analysis the following period to the class.
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