A Deeper Understanding of Child Soldiers
Christina Emmerthal
I wrote this paper for a course titled The Politics of War Through Fiction and Memoir. In this particular piece, I reflect on Ishmael Beah’s memoir “A Long Way Gone” and analyze further research about the rehabilitation of child soldiers in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Ishmael Beah’s experience in the Sierra Leone civil war had me blindly hoping that his experience was unique to him. However, I knew my ignorant optimism was only to protect myself from the harsh reality of child soldiers. Despite the gruesome details introduced to me in
Christina Emmerthal
Beah’s memoir, I decided to do more research about why children were exploited at such a young age, and how the trauma affected their mental health. As inspiring as the ending of “A Long Way Gone” was to read, many other children were not able to overcome their past and
transcend their former life as Beah did.
Christina Emmerthal 