86 pages • 2 hours read
Ishmael BeahA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Answer Key
Introduction-Chapter 4
Reading Check
1. A conversion with his classmates at the United Nations International High School
2. Sierra Leone (Chapter 1)
3. His mother (Chapter 3)
4. They find the village decimated (Chapter 4)
Short-Answer Response
1. They went back to retrieve money, but they ended up not needing it because they aren’t able to buy anything (Chapter 4).
2. It shows the contrast between Ishmael’s life in Sierra Leone and his life now in New York City (Chapters 1-4).
3. The soldiers had already left because they knew that they would be outnumbered.
Chapters 5-9
Reading Check
1. A young boy recognizes Ishmael and Junior from a performance/the name of a rap group on a cassette in Ishmael’s pocket (Chapter 6).
2. The imam (Chapter 7)
3. A month (Chapter 8)
4. From his time at the Centennial Secondary School (Chapter 8)
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. It suggests that people are kind to one another, even amidst all of the violence around them (Chapter 5).
2. Other villagers see groups of young boys traveling together as part of the RUF, so they worry that Ishmael and his friends are rebels (
