Hope enables people to move on by providing the thought that maybe tomorrow’s events will be better than today’s. Hope is a theme that remains constant in every part of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. Ishmael begins the novel optimistic, believing he will find his family again. This optimism is later lost when Ishmael is recruited by the army to fight against the rebels, causing him to become addicted to drugs and the thrill of killing. Three years after his recruitment, Ishmael is rescued by UNICEF-a group dedicated to rehabilitating child soldiers. During his rehabilitation, Ishmael discovers hope once more by relearning how to trust, love, and have the will to survive.
Ishmael was just a normal 12 year old boy in a small village in Sierra Leone who spent his days playing with friends, performing hip hop songs, and going to school when his life would take a dramatic turn for the worst. The war was more of a thing that people heard about but soon became a reality during a stay at Mattru Jong when the rebels attacked the village killing many, taking prisoners and recruits, and sending the escapees fleeing to the forest. This young boy had to endure seeing people gunned down in front of him and murdered in the most gruesome ways as illustrated by the author, ³I had seen heads cut off by machetes, smashed by cement bricks, and rivers filled with so much blood that the water ceased flowing.´ (Beah 49) After many months of cheating death and experiencing the loss of friends and family, Ishmael had no choice but to join the military with some friends he met on the way to a village.
