A Long Way Gone
By Ishmael Beah
Internal Characterization
Ishmael and his friends were taking refuge in a different village then usual because of an attack on the village by rebels which then they took over. About three months passed, and the village they stayed in was safe. Eventually the village was attacked which left Ishmael and his friends separated. Almost all the villagers ran and hid in bushes outside the village. Ishmael decided to walk alone wandering as a slave to the path he took.
Journey
Ishmael's internal self could be described as alone, scared, starving, isolated, hurt, morbid and delusional.
Historical Connection
These two picture relate to each other because in the first picture Ishmael is wandering and starving in Africa. He is walking from village to village to get any food he can find. The second picture shows a village of African children starving just like Ishmael.
Conflicts
Ishmael faces the conflict of starvation because from wandering he is forced to find things and eat them as they come. To help solve this he finds a place with many of this one kind of fruit that he is able to eat. A second conflict would be shelter. Ishmael finds a tree with inter-locking branches that form something similar to a hammock that he sleeps in.
Vocabulary
Veranda
A large, open porch, usually roofed and partly enclosed, as by a railing, often extending across the front and sides of a house.
Cassava
Any of several tropical American plants belonging to the genusManihot, of the spurge family, as M. esculenta (bitter cassava) andM. dulcis (sweet cassava) cultivated for their tuberous roots, which yield important food products.
Hissing
To make or emit a sharp sound like that of the letter s prolonged, as a snake does, or as steam does when forced under pressure through a small opening.
Setting
When Ishmael takes sleep in the night he finds shelter in inter-locking tree branches which serve as a make-shift hammock. The setting of the book takes place in many villages and forests in hot, arid Sierra Leone, Africa.