Ishmael Beah Courageous

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In the memoir, A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael is clearly displayed as being an courageous boy and having courage. Courage is the power or quality of dealing with or facing danger, fear, and pain. Ishmael demonstrates all of these qualities when the civil war entered his life at the age of twelve. He fights for his life after having to leave everything behind and losing track of his family when the war broke out. Even after being put in many life or death situations while running from the war without knowing where his next meal was going to come from, where he was going to sleep at, or even if the war was ever going to ever end, Ishmael still kept moving forward until he found his way out of the insane war. In the beginning of the book Ishmael has hope that he will find his family and out run the war. The only thing that gave the strength to keep going was his hopes in leaving the war and looking forward to something good to happen, “When I was little, my father used to say, ‘If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen, if there is nothing good left in the density of a person, he or she will die.’ I thought about these words during my journey and they kept me moving even when I didn’t know where I was going.” (54) This shows that Ishmael was determined to get away and keep on going but later Ishmael begins to lose hope and only expect the worst when he says, “To survive each day was my goal in life. I was never disappointed, since I always expected the worst to happen. There were nights when I couldn't sleep but stared into the dark night until my eyes could see clearly through it. I thought about where my family was and whether they were alive.” (69) This is hinting that Ishmael is slowly losing hope, giving up on running from the war, and doubting that he will see his family again. Ishmael being able to have made it this

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