Criticism+of+Ishmael+Beah

​ Alex Moran, Jack Cardinal, Nathaniel Matsuura, Jack Phillips
= ​ Is //__ Along Way Gone __// another //__Million Little Pieces __//?=

__Austailian view, total oppostion__

The one and only group/newspaper to assualt Ishmeal's work on such a large scale. In a dozen scathing articles published since mid-January, a trio of Australian journalists alleges that Beah grossly exaggerated his story: Beah served as an orphaned child soldier for little more than two months, not the sweeping two years his memoir chronicles. And, according to the journalists, the book's most dramatic plot twists—the time Beah was shot three times in the foot by an AK-47 and the moment Beah witnessed six murders in a UNICEF refugee camp—don't check out at all. Additionally this group aside from the multiple articles also seeked an interview when Beah held events. Due to their persistance and low brow tactics they were banned from the event.(planted questions in a student) The credibility of this group is very questionable as the vast majority of their arguments have been disproved and their evidence proved false or their sources unreliable. Whether or not they believe there is something wrong with Beah's memoir of they simply want a story is questionable. They entered a country in a civil war for a story which was either brave or proof that they did not understand the situation or read Beah's memoir. They keep hounding him over every detail of a traumatic experience even after he issued a statement deflating many of their arguments. Ultimately I can only view them as story hungry journalists without any taste or limits. []

__ Jack Cardinal's Criticism __

 The main criticism of Ishmael Beah’s novel, //A Long Way Gone//, is the timeline of events that Beah uses. During January of 2008 reporters of the newspaper //The Australian// began questioning when and how long Ishmael Beah was actually involved in the army. They supposedly uncovered records that indicated Beah was enrolled in school during March of 1993 while in his novel; he fled his home in January of 1993. Another argument that //The Australian// raised was that the attacks that drove Ishmael out of his village did not happen until 1995, while he writes they occurred in 1993. A reporter by the name of Peter Wilson, of //The Australian,// traveled Sierra Leone to ask the question of whether the village was attacked in 1993 or 1995. Wilson asked, //“Are you sure you were attacked in 1995 and not 1993”// and he said, //“Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot for raising the question”// about it not being in 1995. This statement would severely shorten his time in the army from nearly three years to only a few months. The final argument that //The Australian// presented was Ishmael’s father was working as a lab assistant in Sierra Leone mine under a man by the name Bob Lloyd. Additionally, fellow mineworkers disagreed on numerous different aspects of the book.

Beah fired back by issuing a statement dismissing and attempting to disprove these accusations. When Ishmael found out his father was supposedly in Sierra Leone still, he sent him a set of questions only his father would know. By the responses he received from the man he deduced him to be a hoax. A man by the name of Leslie Mboka, who was Ishmael’s counselor at the Benin Home and included in the novel had an impactful statement backing up Beah’s story.  Leslie Mboka //“A gentleman named Wilson was here investigating regarding Ishmael// //Beah’s book, and I told him emphatically−emphatically−that Ishmael’s accounts are accurate and correct. Wilson was going to Mogbwemo to find out if Ishmael Beah’s family was alive. When he came back to Freetown, he said he couldn’t find anyone alive, and the man who said he was Ishmael’s father was actually just a relative. But then he asked, what about confusion with the dates? // //And I said, there is no problem with the dates. The rebels made sporadic attacks on the mining communities between ’93 and ’94, leading up to and in preparation for the major assault in ’95. In fact, military personnel were deployed to the area because there were these sporadic raids. Ishmael was caught in one of the earlier attacks. // //I told all this to Peter Wilson. I told him everything that Ishmael wrote is accurate and completely factual, and I explained to him what was confusing him. // //I do not understand what his paper’s agenda is. I do not understand why they are trying to blackmail this brilliant and honest young man.” //  This statement reinforces the fact that Beah left in an early attack on his village in 1993 and was indeed in the army for almost 3 years. Another relevant quote was made by Alusine Kamara, the former director of the Benin Home . Alusine Kamara, // “I have known Ishmael since he was a soldier and he came to our center. I have read his book, and I have no doubt that what he says is true. I do not know why anyone would want to question what Ishmael writes about. He did not write a history of the whole war, he wrote about his experiences. And if anyone has any doubts about what Ishmael went through, or what it was like for those soldiers, I refer them to the BBC World—they made many documentaries about our center.” // // Kamara also said some impactful words about Beah’s experiences. He admits that Beah could have made a mistake by saying, //// “We all make mistakes, and for a little boy who has seen too much it can happen. One month is even too much. If you are talking about close to one year, that is extremely long. I am not a professional psychologist, but we all know that post-war trama can cause a lot of pain and effects.” // // <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">The most impactful quote by Kamara is, ////<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">“The message of the story is what’s important, “the book” has gone a long way to highlight the plight in the wars, and I’m grateful for that.” // <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Interview With Ishmael Beah __ []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 210%;">__ My Opinion __

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">I personally think that Ishmael Beah’s novel, //A Long Way Gone,// portrays his experiences to the best of his ability. The criticism of Beah’s timeline and writings of the war by //The Australian// are unjustified and are inaccurate. Beah has backed up his dates through quoting reliable sources that were involved in the Benin Home, such as Leslie Mboka and Alusine Kamara. The only argument that could be used against these sources would be if these men, who were once close to Ishmael, would lie for him. I really doubt they would taint the portrayal of their country’s war by facilitating lies of Beah though.



Overall, the timeline in Ishmael Beah’s book and the length of his involvement in the war does not matter. Just as Alusine Kamara said, “The message of the story is what’s important.” Beah has told his tale of tragedy and loss to the best of his ability. A few months fighting in a war can still be as detrimental to a human as being in a war for three years. No matter how long a person’s tour of duty is, they encounter most of the same experiences. As Ishmael journeyed through his life, especially during the war, he was experiencing episodes of post traumatic stress disorder and drug use, which in the end most likely affected his memories. Even if his past is not totally clear to him due to these ailments, he has still enlightened outsiders to the atrocities that have taken place in Sierra Leone. Beah’s novel, when joined with others, will allow for what has happened in Sierra Leone to be remembered.

[] [] []

=** Alex's Criticism! **= While researching the information on AWG i found all the stories Jack refrences, however after watching many interviews with Beah and his editor, I have my own thought on this memoir. After finding alot of information and comparring this book to A Million Little Pieces, I think this story is in fact true. Does that mean there are not mistakes by the author and editor? As Jack states the timing of Beah's story is what made people question his overall credibility, not to meantion the story was released not long after Frey's "memoir." Frey's editing staff made sure he had a defence, the story had a statement saying how these memories are how James remembered them, also that some events, people, and places have been changed to protect people. Ishmael Beah's editor made the crucial mistake of forgetting this statement. As an editor Sarah Crichton's job includes telling Beah which stories to tell and how much to tell about.

As we all suspected, Ishmael is not telling us the full sotry. Some of us may believe this is because his story is so heart wrenching that he doesnt have the strength to tell all the details. However I think the editor may have told him which stories to tell, in result dropping many details and feeling from his past. I feel in this type of book their can never be too much detail, the more details the better this story would be. I do no blame Ishmael for the criticism he recieved for his book, it was the fualt of the editor in my eyes. Becuase the statement was placed on the book that events may be changed from Beah's memory, people feel they have the right to challenge the credibility of this memoir. Also AWG was Ishmaels first book, his first editor, his first everything when it came to publishing. Can we blame him because of a few mistakes made by the editor? I don't believe so.

Would Ishmael Beah really write a fake memoir? This book sold over 6,000,000 coppies, real or fake it was extremely succesfull, many humans would not care of the oppinions of others if it meant their book sold over 6 Million coppies. In fact after A Million Little Pieces was outed it actually grew in intrest.

However while watching interviews with individuals from papers such as The Australian attack Ishmael Beah you can see that he has grief and pain from this story. When many question him and try to prove him as fake he gets very torn up, and you can physically see the emotion in his face. This story is one that was obviously hard to tell, and the ones who question it do help his credibility.

Many ask the question of how Beah could get dates that were so important wrong? There is no straight answer for this, when asked he simply explains his story an how he remembers things the bst he can and that is all his mind knows.

So where do we go from here? What should we do with this memoir? Should we attack Beah and call him a fake because of the timing? Or do we learn and grow from his story? I personally think we need to walk away from this book as an insight to the part of war that many do not want to talk about. We should learn from Beah and know that humans make mistakes, and sometimes the mistakes cost lives. However sometimes humans do not have another option.

Nathaniel's thoughts and critisms
First, aside from what Jack said about the Austrailians and the time lapse issues the only other doubt is in the fact that Ishmael Beah is very certainly a victim of PTSD. Normally post traumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder that is characterized by headaches and mental issues like fear or painful flashbacks. So its possible that he would not be able write such an eloquent and detailed memoir on his travels. It is possible that he simply saw or talked to another possibly less powerful writer who experienced the war like he says he did or that he was completely univolved. Still the amount of work that would have to be executed to obtain as much information that is in this short memoir would mean risking death and for what potentially writing a book that might sell well. Unfortunately there are any number of better ways to make money.

I started reading this book objectionately. With a memoir the validity of the author is extremely important. No matter how horrible the scenes he saw I believed if he was lying it would show later in the book. However the facts do add up. The first scene where he experiences death for the first time he is shocked at least inwardly and he leaves on his sort of journey with his friends. In order to survive this first scene of gore and death he needed a strong character and drive to live. The dream of seeing his family was what drove him through the book and that can be assumed as real.

In order to get out of a country that was in a constant civil war the amount of effort must have been enormous. Even considering the short amount he details the effort needed an amazing drive centered on either survival or telling the world about Sierra Leon. The fact that Ishmael got out of the country is proof of his drive and willpower. So comparing some of the strange events like how he continued on even after seeing so much death or why he was so angry at Gaesu were all a result of his drive to see his family and stay alive.

Finally the ambiguity and lack of a day by day story creates a better more acurate picture of Sierra leon while loosing some credibility. Why didn't he simply write about each and every day? Simply put the amount of information he was willing to give out was not his whole journey. Perhaps he did not remember every single day understandably as a victim of PTSD, Or maybe he wanted it to pull forth a powerful and largely accesable story on the conflicts of Sierra leon.

The main point is that he was not trying to create credibility. The possiblilty of the events goes up greatly when you consider that the date skips days and sometimes years. As long as the memoir continues in a strait line the story is still credible. Memoirs are not complete, remembering what you did a certain day, of course some days stand out and others don't. Ishmael just presents those that he remembers or is willing to talk about.

He also creates a sort of awe because even when he skips periods Ishmael's character does not change anymore than would be expected. When he skipped time for the army or the rehabilitation center it was after it had become stable. In the army he described the day to day routine and then skipped and at rehab he skipped the long process before he started to really revert.

I still question the autheticity of this book but, the arguments against its credibility have proven weak and unresearched. The undeniable proof that Ishmael Beah made it out of Sierra Leon and accompanied with the skips in time and the sheer ridiculousness of someone doing or imagining what happened to Ishmael make it far more likely that he lived through it.

Personally, I do not believe that it necessarily matters if Ishmael Biah told the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is impossible to have every little detail of every of every story down to the exact point, if he could he must have a super human memory. Also I found that most of his criticisms come from a “difference” in the dates that Ishmael claims the events happened. I sympathize with him on this for I, and very bad with dates, if I were in the middle of a traumatizing event I think that my knowledge of specific dates would be even greatly decreased. The dates are all ballpark dates, the best that I would be able to give years after the events took place. Also, I do not think that it matters if the events depicted in the book were 100% accurate. The book brought worldwide awareness to the atrocities that were taking place in the name of “Freedom” and “Protection” in Sierra Leone. But regardless of this, I believe the events depicted in the book to be accurate. The only criticisms I was able to find were vague, they did not hold enough evidence to convince me of their accusations. For example, one criticism is “ “**Ishmael Beah says that when he was in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in May 1997: “Someone came on the radio and announced himself as the new president of Sierra Leone. His name, he said, was Johnny Paul Koroma, and he was the leader of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council …”** Muctaru Wurie says in //Sierra Eye//: “ … everyone who was here at that time knew that what was described as the most embarrassing coup broadcast of all time was delivered by the late Corporal [Tamba] Gborie, who was later convicted of treason and shot by firing squad.” ” The only discrepancy is the name of the officer who comes over the radio, and again I do not believe that this provides sufficient proof that Ishmael forged some of the proceedings in his book. The time this radio was broadcasted was when Ishmael was revisiting the beginning of the war; he was with a family that loved him and the war was brought to Freetown. The only difference is that he was with his family and not running away, other than that he was a little too familiar with his surroundings.
 * __ Jack Attack's Criticism __**