In a short essay, analyze how beah unfolds the events and ideas in the excerpt from a long way gone. why do you think beah chooses to unfold the events in the order in which he does? do you think it is effective? why or why not?

Beah begins the story by describing the beginning of the civil war and his experience of it. He was ten when the war began, and his life was relatively unaffected. Sure, he read about it and watched the war through the news, but it was something that was happening far away from his peaceful life. Then, the refugees began pouring into Mogbwemo from other towns. But even then the war seemed unreal. The stories of the refugees were too terrible to seem real. Then, Beah flashes forward to January 1993. He’s twelve, has an active social life, and is obsessed with rap music and dance. He sets out with his friends and brother to visit friends in Mattru Jong, and they stop to visit his grandmother in Kabati on the way. After finally reaching Mattru Jong, he learns shortly afterward that rebels have attacked his home, Mogbwemo. It is only after the attack that Beah reveals why the boys are not in school and that Beah’s parents were divorced. During a flashback, we learn of the last time Beah and Junior see their father and mother. The parting is sad, part of a long saga of family issues and strife. We’re reminded that these issues may never be resolved when the plot returns to the story line. The boys quickly return to Kabati, where they wait in their grandmother’s village while survivors from Mogbwemo trickle in. The horrible state of the victims shocks the boys, and they realize that nothing is left in Mogbwemo. Again, Beah allows us a brief reprieve from the sickening events with a flashback; this time Beah remembers speaking to his father about the political explanations of war and corruption. Beah wonders if there could be a reason for all this killing. The boys end the story back in Mattru Jong, singing along to rap songs on the cassettes they carried in their bags when the left home. Beah copes with the situation with one more flashback, this time to a peaceful, happy Kabati before the war arrived.

I think that Beah creatively gives us details about his life as they become important and not a moment too soon. His father’s silence, stepmother’s arrogance, and his mother’s grief are more emotional after the reader realizes that they may never get the chance to fix their family. In the midst of everyday life—strife, hobbies, and friends—war ends everything. The flashback to Beah’s father explaining the reasons for war seem a bit forced. It’s hard to believe that a thirteen-year-old took the time to think about the Sierra Leone independence in the midst of such a precarious present. The last flashback, however, is touching. When Beah remembers his grandmother and the peace of the village, the reader is reminded of how much has been destroyed and can never be recovered.