A Long Way Gone :
Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
Predictions
 Watch the two interviews with Beah.
 While watching the interviews list at least ten things that you
think this book will be about.
 After you watch both videos: Write a paragraph stating what
you think your impression of this book will be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KytToTiPU4U&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx37eVo23Zw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozsOLdgp_y0
Novel Study Timeline
 Information on Memoirs and Sierra Leone
 Journals: Total of 10 responses of your choice.
 Chapter 1 questions
 Hip Hop: A Brief History
 Chapter 2 – 7 questions
 Intro. to Research Project
 Chapter 8 - 21 questions
 Final Thoughts
Sierra Leone
Take Notes and Define
 Listen to the lecture on Sierra Leone and define
the words that are underlined. Be sure to get the
definition that is in context of the reading.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone,
is a country in West Africa.
- The country has a tropical climate, with a diverse
environment ranging from savannah to
rainforests. Freetown is the capital city, seat of
government, and largest city.
- The 1924 Sierra Leone’s constitution was
replaced in November 1951 by a new one which
united the formerly separate legislatures and
provided a framework for decolonization.
- After the completion of constitutional talks in
London in 1960, independence came on 27 April
1961, and Sierra Leone opted for a parliamentary
system within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Civil War
 Civil war broke out, mainly due to government
corruption and mismanagement of diamond
resources.
 In October 1999, the United Nations agreed to send
6000 peacekeepers to help restore order and disarm
the rebels. The UN voted in February 2000 to
increase the force to 13,000 peacekeepers.
 But in May, UN forces were trying to disarm the RUF
in eastern Sierra Leone, forces clashed with the UN
troops, and some 500 peacekeepers were taken
hostage as peace collapsed.
 The hostage crisis resulted in more fighting between
the RUF and the government.
RUF
 The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a
rebel army that fought a failed ten-year war
in Sierra Leone, starting in 1991 and ending
in 2002. It later developed into a political
party, which existed until 2007.
 Between 1991 and 2001, about
50,000 people were killed in Sierra Leone's
civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people
were forced from their homes, and many
became refugees.
 In 2001, UN forces moved into rebel-held
areas and began to disarm rebel soldiers.
 By January 2002, the war was declared over.
In 2004, a UN-backed war crimes court
began holding trials of senior leaders from
both sides of the war.
 In December 2005, UN peacekeeping forces
pulled out of Sierra Leone.
Memoirs—02/06/12
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MEMOIR:
 focuses and reflects on the relationship between
the writer and a particular person, place, animal,
or object.
 explains the significance of the relationship.
 leaves the reader with one impression of the
subject of the memoir.
 limited to a particular phase, time period, place,
or recurring behavior in order to develop the
focus fully.
 makes the subject of the memoir come alive.
 maintains a first person point of view.
The elements of memoir.
 Who is the story about?
 What is the relationship between the subject and the writer?
 What is the writer’s purpose? In other words, what does the
writer want you to know about this relationship?
 What is the one impression that the writer wants you to have
about the subject?
 How does the writer show you how important his/her subject is
in the piece? Through his/her thoughts? Through his/her feelings
about the subject? Through the details and description?
 Does he/she share memories of experiences or events that
he/she shared with the person?
 Where is this person now?
 What are the writer’s thoughts or feelings about this person now?
(These are his/her insights.)
Evaluation
1. Definitions and questions for homework and
classwork marks.
2. 10 Response Journals Due February 29th
3. Research Project Presentation on March 1st.
4. Essay Due on March 2nd.
5. Final Test: February 28th.
6. Your Personal Memoir written March 12th—16th.
Response Journals
 You are responsible for completing 10 response
journals due February 29th.
 A response journal is your personal response to the
events in the book and your connection to them
 Each journal must be 1 single space MLA page in a
duotang.
 You must complete one journal after every even
numbered chapter we read: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16,
18, Final Thoughts.
Prologue and Ch. 1
1.
Why do you think Beah began the memoir with the brief prologue?
2.
Describe, in your own words, “the first time [Beah} was touched by
war” (6).
3.
What confusion was caused by the rebels?
4.
What consolation did the woman give the man with the Volkswagen
van? Why does the narrator say she knows more about war “than
the rest of us”?
5.
Why doesn't Beah not want“to go back to where that woman was
from”? (14)
6.
What was the beginning of “rotten politics” in Sierra Leone?
7.
How do the boys try to escape what is going on around them?
8.
Why does his grandmother tell him he “should strive to be like the
moon”?
9.
What pleases him about remembering his childhood?
Vocab: embedded, Sierra Leone People Party
Ch. 2
1.
Explain where the narrator is in chapter 2.
2.
What information does the narrator give you about his life
after the initial rebellion that we haven’t yet read in
chapter 1? What is this literary device called?
3.
Explain the contradiction in the following statement:
“Staying awake also brought back painful memories.
Memories I sometimes wish I could wash away, even
though I am aware that they are an important part of
what my life is; who I am now” (19).
4.
Explain the statement: “These days I live in three
worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life,
which trigger memories from the past” (20).
Ch 3 & 4 & 5
1.
What was one of the main aims of the rebels when
taking over a town?
2.
What was so dangerous about having RUF branded
on the boys? What does RUF stand for?
3.
How is reggae’s “one love” slogan turned ugly by
the RUF?
4.
What prompts the boys to run for an hour without
tiring?
5.
Beah says, “We had made a logical decision and it
had come to this” (29). Why does he describe their
predicament as “typical”?
6.
Comment: “On my way to becoming a rebel” (34).
7.
How is Beah affected by the screams of others?