A Long Way Gone, Group Analysis

While reading the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmeal Beah, I analyzed the groups present in the book.  I noticed a shocking thing about the way the group of boys that the main character is traveling with is treated.

The group is a bunch of boys in their teens, they are innocent, and just looking for safety from the constant threat of the rebel forces invading Sierra Leone.  Despite their young age, they are feared by all of the townspeople they meet, because the villagers know that the rebels have been recruiting rebel sources against their will to take over villages and raid them.  This is causing the group of boys many problems, they have been held hostage and interrogated numerous times, when traveling past a village.  They have made it out mast of the time, but there is a constant fear for the characters that they wont make it out a live or worse, being forced to join the rebels themselves.

Despite being feared by some of the people they meet, there have been occasions where people where kind to them.  For example, when the boys had walked on hot sand for miles, they had burned and cut their bare feet, they could barely walk and were in a lot of pain.  They luckily met a nice fisherman, who let them stay at his fishing shack, he gave them places to sleep and took care of their feet, until they were ready to leave.  This relationship between the fisherman and the kids gave me hope that the boys would be okay, and they would make it home safe and be reunited with their families, despite the troubles the group would inevitably face.

I am very interested by the plot and characters in this book, it is scary at times, and troubling, but I cannot wait to see how the characters reach the goal of their journey, and whether they can  find a way to rebuild the society that they once knew and get their lives going again after this terrible incident.