A Long Way Gone: Archetypal Journey

I am currently reading the book a Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. I would have to say that this book is very good for the perfectly described images that it would make it real, as if you were in the same place as the character in the story. In the book there is a war that takes place,and it arrives in Sierra Leone, where our main character lies (the author). The book is about his escape and long journey of his survival during the war. I've noticed the many impacts that this journey has had on his life.

So far not many positive things has happened to him, he's just a refugee in war zone. I would say that positive people have impacted his life. The fact that along the way Ishmael gets to meet  friends from his hometown is a reward anybody would want. Ishmael describes the torture of walking by himself. He says that it's the loneliness that kills him, loneliness makes people go crazy and Ishmael starts to show signs. Ishmael really needed friends, especially it's for the fact that it's dangerous to travel alone, people don't trust anyone anymore so they'll kill anybody unfamiliar. With company Ishmael becomes less worried and less stress from having to be alert for himself. Companions are the make up of  50 percent of his family he misses, since everyone is close in his family.

Negative events would obviously have to be the war that is currently going on in the story because of the fact that it causes so much destruction in the book. First of all it causes seperation, Ishmael gets seperated from his family in the beginning of the story. It's why he started going a bit crazy and why he's so depressed and his brother in the book. The war lost most of his family and has completely ruined a young mind with images and dreams of killings that he witnessed. At such a young age it's hard to see how someone else of similar age could go through this.  His mind is being literally dumped with memories of the war, and it's not erasable.

I'm not done with the book but later on I hope to see the character on a more positive track,which doesn't seem to be going on a positive track anytime soon. I learned to always appreciate family because without them it's hard. Unfamiliar faces just makes problems worse when you really need help. Family is always there and just appreciate them at all times no matter how annoyed you may seem to be because of them. Appreciate everything going well for you all of a sudden like Ishmael it can come to an end.