The boys are urged by their commanders to take revenge on the rebels for the deaths of their families and are given a steady supply of drugs to keep them distanced from the present. In their first battle Musa and Josiah are killed, but in the space of that battle, Beah becomes a killer. But the village’s large population of orphans is enlisted to fight for the army, despite the fact that some of them, like Sheku and Josiah, are so small that they can’t pick up their guns. The boys are picked up by government soldiers soon afterwards and brought to Yele, where they think they have discovered some peace. They are attacked by rebels who are returning to the village and flee, and as they do, Gasemu is shot and eventually dies of his wounds. The boys rush in to find everyone dead and the village on fire. Gasemu leads them there, only to find that just as they are arriving, the village is being attacked. Their friend Saidu dies mysteriously after the boys eat a crow that has fallen from the sky, but soon after Beah runs into an old acquaintance named Gasemu who tells him that Beah’s family is in a nearby village. The boys strike out again without much sense of purpose, but despite their sadness and their loss, are often buoyed by the kindness of people they encounter. Beah’s cassette again comes to the rescue. The boys head for the ocean, having heard of a town called Yele which is safe, but along the way are captured by villagers who mistake them for rebels. He promptly gets lost in the forest and wanders for a month hopelessly before coming upon a new group of boys, Alhaji, Saidu, Kanei, Jumah, Musa and Moriba. When there is none, Beah decides to get as far away from the war as possible, and leaves Kaloko behind. The village is initially vigilant about watching out for rebel attacks, but that vigilance wanes, and after a little more than four months, they too are attacked.īeah loses track of his brother and friends in the chaos, and hides out in the forest with Kaloko, hoping for some sign that his friends have survived. Eventually the boys get word of a village, Kamator, where Gibrilla’s aunt lives, and they go there to help out in return for food and shelter. It is only Beah’s cassette of rap music that saves them, because when the villagers play it, they see they must be dealing with innocent boys. They are often mistaken for rebels and are chased, and in one case, even captured. Their efforts are fruitless, however, and the boys wander aimlessly in the surrounding countryside, unable to cope or even talk about what they have seen, stealing food to get by. But while he is there, his hometown is attacked by the rebels, and Beah’s family are not among the stream of refugees that come through Mattru Jong.Īfter a little more than a week, Mattru Jong is attacked by the rebels, and Beah flees with Junior, Talloi, and friends from Mattru Jong, including Kaloko, Gibrilla and Khalilou, into the forest, only to return to Mattru Jong out of hunger and desperation. When the memoir begins he is on his way from his hometown of Mogbwemo to the town of Mattru Jong, a sixteen mile trip, to participate in a talent show with his friends Junior and Talloi. A civil war is raging elsewhere in Sierra Leone, but the fighting has not touched Beah’s life and he can’t believe it ever will. Beah’s mother and father are divorced, but he occupies himself with rap music and dancing. Ishmael Beah is a twelve year old boy living an innocent life in the eastern part of Sierra Leone in 1993.
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