In Emmanuel Dongala’s, Johnny Mad Dog, we see the significant factors of the plight of women and children in civil war situations. Throughout the world today, we see this mostly in the Middle East and in African countries. Like in the novel, many of these wars are caused by political debates, or for no reason at all. Like described in Johnny Mad Dog, militia fighters kill to kill no matter race, religion, ethnicity or gender. There usually is no reasoning behind any of the killings, but the main victims usually are women and children. Refugees of civil wars face many threats and obstacles as they try to flee from war. Many of these include struggling to find food and safety, as well as physical and mental trauma caused by the war. We see these factors in Johnny Mad Dog by Emmanuel Dongala and Disposable people? : the plight of refugees by Judy A. Moyotte. Both of these authors use different types of narrative techniques to show us the plight of women and children in civil wars, mainly in Africa and the Middle east. These struggles brought about, are challenges many Africans and Middle Easterners …show more content…
Between mental and physical trauma, and struggles such as safety and food shortages, cause women and children to be in extreme danger in the midst of civil wars. This is why countries like the USA and France usually try to intervene to help these third world countries get out of war, and save the many innocent civilians that are hurt due to malnutrition, rape, casualties, family deaths and many other factors. Johnny Mad Dog, Disposable people? : the plight of refugees, and Civil Wars in Africa: A Gender perspective of the Cost of Women, all help explain to us who have never experienced these horrendous things, how tragic and terrible war is on innocent women and children who just want to live peacefully and not struggle every day just to
“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” is a moving war story about the author, Ishmael Beah, and his life growing up in the african country. Sierra Leone is the setting during the civil war which spanned from March of 1991 to January of 2002. Ishmael provides a stance against child soldiers, and has stuck with that view ever since he was rehabilitated. This book presents strong first hand encounters and vivid war stories. This helps prove the argument that child soldiering is a cruel act, and by using rehabilitation, victims would be able to return to regular life.
Literary Analysis of Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water Slava was forced to run at age 11 “Then he was running, too. Running as hard as he could, into the bush. Away from home.” The civil war in Southern Sudan started in 1985.
Hunter Davis Mr.Werley English lll 9 March 2023 Unusual Normalites Ishmael Beah reflects on his experience as a former child soldier in Sierra Leone and his societal challenges after the war. Ishmael describes the difficulty of readjusting to normal life and the struggle to find a sense of belonging and purpose in the world. Beah begins by describing the unreal experience of returning to his village after the war. He says, "Everything seemed so normal, yet it was all real." (8)Beah had spent years as a child soldier, forced to commit acts of violence and witness unspeakable atrocities.
The 6-year war in Sierra Leone captured 10,000 to 14,000 child soldiers and left them displaced after the war with no family and no childhood left. A long way gone by Ishmael Beah gives us a unique perspective of what child soldiers have to go through and what they have survived. Resourcefulness was one of the various skills that Ishmael used to survive well being part of the Sierra Leone war. Ishmael's resourcefulness helped him in many ways to survive well in war. The first piece of evidence that supports that Ishmael is resourceful is, "I learned about this grass during one of the summers when I visited my grandmother.
The same applies to the children of Sierra Leone, where they were separated from their families—however, these children will never end up finding their families, they will never have a happy life again, and will never remember how it felt to be loved or cared for by someone. The 1991 Sierra Leonean civil war split children from their families and forced them to survive on their own—without any supervision. Many children were either captured by the rebels or were forced to join the military and fight the rebels. Nearly all “strong” children forced to endure many painful situations and commit immoral acts. All children who were not recruited were killed because they were too “weak”.
On Saturday, March 23 the Sierra Leone army came under attack from rebel forces from within the country called the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a ruthless group of soldiers led by a former army Sierra Leone corporal, Foday Sankoh. They would do anything to gain control of the country including the enlistment of child soldiers, and they had the upper hand until the army followed their strategy and drafted children themselves (Fyfe and Davidson). Many of the child soldiers suffered a lot of physical and psychological trauma from the war including a young boy named Ishmael Beah. In A Long Way Gone, Beah’s recounting of his experiences in the war, portrays the loss of innocence and hope in child soldiers due to the effects of war.
All survivors from 21st century wars have traumatic memories that people can sympathize for and stories that are cringe worthy. Two 21st century war autobiographies that exemplify how gruesome the war was in Sierra Leone, Africa are The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara and A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. These real accounts from children who grew up during these hard times give insight on how the standards of life have changed.
Because of war, these women had to give up their social identities as women in order to become soldiers. However, after the war is over, they return home and cannot idly stand by as they did before because they now have the minds of soldiers from war. Their lives are forever changed and once your identity undergoes a change, it is difficult to revert back. The woman’s tone and diction reveal a clear distinction between her past self and present self. As she describes her past she is “seized with terror” even though it is her own past that she recalls.
Living in the middle of a warzone has become second nature for the refugees living in Southern Sudan. The novel, A Long Walk to Water, written by Linda Sue Park is based on the true story of Salva and his journey to refugee camps all over Africa over the last 30 years. Salva was one of the thousands of Lost Boys to make it out of Sudan and travel to America for safety. Through all of this Salva has proven he is a survivor by enduring hostile environments, being a leader for others, and pushing forward despite the loss of his friends and family. There are many ways Salva has shown he is a survivor, but the biggest example was him undergoing the harsh environments of Southern Sudan.
Could you imagine having to run away from your home and your family because of a terrible war in your village? According to the Tennessee Office for Refugees, “It is a badge of strength courage, and victory to be a refugee.” In the novel, A Long Walk To Water, by Linda Sue Park, a young boy named Salva is a Southern Sudan refugee, a “Lost Boy”. He shows strength, courage and bravery when he makes his journey to escape war. Salva is stuck in his war struck village, and he needs to show these qualities if he ever wants to make it to a safe place.
In Linda Sue Park’s novel A Long Walk to Water, demonstrates one of many true stories of many a Lost Boy. Salva an eleven year old had to flee from his village all alone because his village was attacked due to the Second Sudanese War that began in 1983. When Salva was at school and his village was being attacked,he was told not to go home, but into the bush,that's where his whole journey began. Salva had to show confidence, determination,and perseverance in order to survive in a difficult environment.
A Journey Traveled Through Pain Imagine being involved in a bloody massacre and watching your community dissipate into the dusk. Picture dodging the piercing bullets as they whisk past innocent ears. Envision your home turning into a battle ground, breaking up into military bases—flipping the world upside down. (nice capture tactic) This was peoples’ lives for many years, beginning in the 1960’s, during the Civil War in Sierra Leone.
“The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars’’ is an article by Jeffrey Gettleman from the New York Times on the subject of child soldiers. All over Africa militias are fighting each other for control over certain areas. These militias have deployed four foot tall killing machine that terrorize, loot, and destroy village after village these weapons: child soldiers. Mozambicans have learned that children were the perfect weapon since they were easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and most important in endless supply. There are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide experts say that the nature of the conflict changes especially in Africa.
Refugees face many difficult situations after migrating to a new home. Because of the migration and the mixed receptions from the community, their lives start to twist and turn in all sorts of directions. The book Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai tells a story with poems about a young girl named Ha who’s life starts to turn “inside out” as she leaves her home in Saigon during the Vietnam War. The article “Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison” by Ana Marie Fantino and Alice Colak describes the struggles and process of adaptation that refugees in Canada face every day. Ha’s and other refugees’ lives turn “inside out” as they become a teacher for their loved ones and a punching bag for their classmates, but gradually turns “back again” with the help of their community.
In the second half of the twentieth century, it was understood by the majority of society that civilians physically and psychologically suffered from warfare. In The Shock of War by Sean Kennedy, the author weaves a global perspective of how World War Two entered and affected citizens world-wide. As stated in the novel, “As many as 60 million people died as a result of the Second World War; over half of them were civilians” (Kennedy). China became a breeding group of corruptness that allowed millions of deaths as Japanese soldiers raided homes and killed civilians, illustrating that soldiers were not the sole victims of warfare (Kennedy). Moreover, a woman reported that she delivered her newborn on the side of a country road, illustrating how