The Climb Back To Normalcy

When someone becomes a child soldier, they no longer care for others. They have no feelings because when they did they were hurt, a lot. So for someone to come out of that state unchanged does not happen; they might be able to move on but they will be changed. The longer they stay in that state the harder it is to help them. So for Ishmael; a 15 year old boy who lived as a child soldier for 2 years, it’s going to be tough. But there is hope; for every moment where he seems like a child there is hope. Ever smile, every time he laughed that pain and horror that he went through is pushed back. Because it is the past and the past is the past and there is nothing you can do about it.
The first sign of the heart of a child in Ishmael was when he smiled, “ I smiled, because I was thinking the same thing….’You have a great smile, you should smile more,’” (Beah 153). A soldier does not smile, a child does. And that’s what Ishmael is a child in a body that has been treated like a man’s for two years. His heart may not see it but his soul does, he is no longer in danger therefore he does not need to be a man. He needs to be the child that was pushed aside in order to survive.
The second sign was that he was ticklish, “Esther sat between Alhaji and me in the backseat. She tickled us and sometimes put her arms around us,” (Beah 161). What child doesn’t like to be tickled? And if a child is tickled, laughter soon follows. Not only does Ishmael show his child side in the quote but he also shows that he can trust people enough to touch him. A soldier does not give or receive hugs, no they cold hearted. But a child loves hugs, whether it is receiving or giving.
The third sign was his love to listen to stories, “He loved telling me the history of Rastafarianism. I loved the history of Ethiopia and the story of the meeting of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. I related to the long distance they traveled and their determination to reach their chosen destination. I wished that my journey had been as meaningful and as full of merriment as theirs,” (Beah 163 – 164). Children are full of imagination, so it’s clear to see why Ishmael loved stories. Not only did he have his own to tell, yes they may not be as nice but they are still his, but he compared his to other fairy tales. Not horror stories, no he loved fairy tales just like every other child.