A Long Way Gone #5

In The last section of A Long Way  Gone, Beah is in New York at the conference. He sees snow for the first time. Get to experience the reality of New York, and attempts to reconnect with his uncle. Unfortunately he and his uncle never meet, but the times he has in New York are memories he will never forget. He starts up school again when he is in the city. He doesn't like American food, and he doesn't understand why Americans keep it really hot inside their house. At the conference, he confesses that he too is just  child and that the reason he joined the army was "because of the loss of family and starvation. [He] wanted to avenge the deaths of his family. [He] had to get food to survive, and the only way to do that was to be a part of the army" (Beah 123). But leave it to Beah's life to take a turn for the worse as gun shots start going off the morning after the conference. Allegedly there was a new President of Sierra Leone and he was Armed Forces Revolutionary Council or the (AFRC). Later in the night, the RUF came on the radio and stated that they were "ousting the government" (Beah 203). Beah knew that he didn't want to return to his old life. He didn't think that he wouldn't be able to make it out alive. At the end of the book, Beah does go back to Sierra Leone. He knows it's the right thing to do. Dangerous but right.

yours truly,
Amy