A Long Way Gone

A long way gone by Ishmael Beah is a memoir that describes his life as a human soilder and his life afterwards when he was struggling to try and convert back to a decent life he had before the war. The last blog post primarily was about separation being one of the themes of his book. Today, I am going to discuss more themes surrounding this book.

A loss of innocence could also be a theme in this book. During the book, the RUF, or the rebel forces take the mostly the children (mostly boys) so that they are able to fight in the war. I believe that they kill off all of the adults and take the children because the children's minds are able to be manipulated compared to an adults because they know what is right and wrong.. The violence that he sees in his home traumatizes him, but once he is turned into a solder, that is when he truly loses his innocence as a small boy. In the book, he even describes the methods used by the soldiers; one of them involving the kids to intake drugs into their system to make them somehow bury their feelings.

Another one of the themes that is in the book is the results of war. During the war there werelots of damage to Sierra Leon and its people. Many kids were forced participate in a war that they were not even part of,  Many families were separated and might not have seen each other probably in a long time or maybe even forever. The drugs that all of the kids in war are becoming addicted to are taking an effect on their humanity as well as whether or not they will be able to live to see the next day.

A Long Way Gone

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah describes his life in the past when he was a soldier for the Revolutionary Army in Sierra Leon. So far in the story he describes how he led a normal life leading towards Revolutionary Army taking over the villages, getting closer to him and others. "This town will will be next, according to the teachers."(pg 9). During part of the book, their home was being attacked by the rebels.

Going through certain sections in the book, certain themes of the book were shown in the book. Those themes are what makes the book what it is. Ishmael Beah wanted the readers of his book to understand not only what he was going through but as well as all of Sierra Leon. 

One of the themes are shown in the book is fear. The rebel army in the book is portrayed as the type of group that is able to cause chaos to anyone because their ideals are not being followed by others.

They spread their influences towards the children, (especially the boys) because children tend to be easily influenced. 

Another theme that is represented in the book is separation. This theme however can be separated in to sub categories. The separation of Ishmael and his family and friends and the separation of his own self consciousness to realize what is right and wrong. Separation had begun from the moment the rebels were taking over villages. Children were stuck without their parents and had to rely on themselves for their survival. Ishmael also had in a way, a separation within himself. The beginning of the story shows how he was a collected person. But as the war goes on and with him fighting in it is well, he is often confusing on how he should deal with his feelings.

Alternate Endings

Alternate Endings for Eragon

As we all know from the previous posts, Eragon's life is changed when he sees a blue stone appear out of nowhere in the middle of the woods. He keeps the stone and later it hatches into a baby dragon. No knowing what trials awaited him in the future, he keeps the dragon and raises it as if he was part of the family. When the empire figures out that a kid from a small village has a dragon, Eragon is then hunted down. He flees his home traveling from place to place with Brom and Saphira and together, Brom teaches Eragon the ways for the dragon rider in order to restore true peace to the world.

But if he never found the dragon's egg in the woods? What if Eragon had sold the egg to the town's butcher? What if he had never met Brom? All of these answer that I will show you would be my alternative endings to Eragon's quest for peace.

If Eragon had never found the Dragon's egg in the woods, the Empire might have already have found it. Around the same time that Eragon was in the woods, elsewhere, a elven warrior named Arya was in charge of safely delivering the egg to a secret location . Almost being successful, Arya went from route A to route B. However, she was ambushed by the empire's soldiers. She quickly used a magic spell to teleport the egg to a random location so that the empire would not get their hands on it. If Eragon did not find the egg, the empire would have traveled from one end of the earth to the other until they found it. Once they have, the empire would have complete control of the world. Another possible ending to this is that someone else may have found the egg and kept it for themselves, therefore creating a different dragon rider.

If Eragon had sold the egg to the town's butcher named Sloan, him and his family would have become rich off of his finding. Eragon would have never became a rider. He would have used the money he had to build a better house and farm for him and his family. Roran, Eragon's brother would not have to move away from his family to get a better job to support him and his new wife Katrina, They wouldn't have gone far away and his family would be safe since the empire wouldn't he after them.

Lastly, if he never met Brom, his adventure would have been short lived. He would have never known how to raise Saphira to become stronger. He would have no clue as to how to train himself. He also would have been hunted down and killed by the empire's men. The empire might have also kidnap Eragon and Saphira. The king might have forced them to do their bidding. Eragon would have become stronger, but at the same time he would be working for the evil that he had sworn to defeat.

Eragon: the Inheretance Cycle

The Inheritance Series

The author of Eragon, Cristopher Paolini had made three more books to follow up Eragon's quest for peace in his world: Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance. The first book Eragon tells the tale of a farm boy named Eragon whos fate is changed when he finds a blue stone in the woods during his night in the woods. He kept the stone and it then hatched into a baby dragon. An old sage in the neighborhood named Brom, became his teacher. Together along with Eragon's dragon Saphira, they travel miles and miles away, training on how to become a true dragon rider so that when the time comes he is able to face the evil king, Galbatorix, and reshape his world back to the way it was before the tyrant's rule

Eldest takes place after Eragon was successful against defeating the king's right hand man, the Durza. Wounded from battle, Eragon and Saphira soon take part in another battle that involves another dragon rider. Eragon had thought that the only rider that was in existence was only him. It turns out that his friend Murtagh (met during the first book) had switched sides and joined Galbatorix towards his plot for tyranny. They both fought, but in the end Murtagh had beat him without much effort at all. At that moment Eragon realized that he would never be able to beat the king and restore peace to the land if he can even beat a new rider that has just gotten his dragon. He decides to make a trip to the elven country where he meets a former rider to learn and improve upon his magical abilities and swordsmanship.

Brisingr in my own opinion takes a different follow up compared to the other books. It tells about Eragon still continuing his training over at the eleven country. It also talks about his brother Roran who is taking a different path towards finding his brother. It all started from the first book. Roran wanted to leave his village and get married to a girl named Katrina. When he found out that his brother is a dragon rider fighting in the war, he packs his bags to go look for his brother, and also join the resistance. Eragon then is reunited with his brother and they take leadership in the resistance. Later Roran and Katrina then have a baby.

Inheritance is the last book of the series. Eragon faces hard months of training against the fight between Galbatorix and his men. There are no second Eragon does not defeat Galbatorix he will fail in restoring the world to its former self. Eragon is learning more and more secrets every day before he faces his greatest challenge. Murtagh who is going through drastic changes within himself is deciding whether he should team up with Eragon or to continue to serve Galbatorix. Months later before the final fight, Eragon discovers a tunnel. In that tunnel is filled with dragon spirits. With that Eragon finally has enough power to face Galbatorix.

Eragon

Eragon is about a young man named Eragon who has the fate of becoming the next dragon rider. It all starts when he finds a blue stone in the woods while hunting for deer. He brings the stone back home, not knowing what trouble it will soon cause him. Later that stone would then hatch into a dragon, later named Saphira. He would take care of her, but the evil empire is on the hunt for him and his family for the Saphira. He runs away from home with Saphira, and lucky, an old former dragon rider named Brom volunteers to go away with him to teach him the ways of the dragon rider. With the skills that he learns, he is able to defend himself against the empire.



Analysis of Themes

One of the themes in the book is the idea of the coming of age. During the beginning of the book, Eragon thought of himself as another farm boy that was trying to make a living out of the things the hunted for. Once Saphira hatched he learned a great deal about responsibility, and that his world and its problems were greater than what he has realized before. He also now realizes that since he is a dragon rider, any action that he takes can affect his family others around him.

Another theme that is shown in the book is the supernatural and how it makes the world the way it is. Dragons, magic, sword play, they are all effective towards controlling the world. Depending on how the people uses their powers it could change the world for the better or for the worse. Eragon and Saphira use their powers to try and help people in need, most especially the ones who are trying to fight back against the empire. However, the empire tries to use their power to control the weak that are unable to protect themselves.


Another theme that is largely shown in the book is the idea of fate and free will. Saphira's character in the story will show that she highly believes in the idea of fate. She says that it is because of fate that Eragon found her in the woods. Once Eragon had found her, they were destined to be partners together. Eragon however, believes in the idea of free will. In the book he told Saphira how they might have not stayed together if it were not for a merchant refusing to buy a "strange stone." He also said that he could have left the stone back in the woods because he knew that the stone was not his to begin with, and therefore was not his responsibility to ensure that it was safe.

The last theme that I would like to talk about is the theme of good and evil. Throughout the story there are a lot of archetypes on color that can be used to distinguish the good and evil. The color of Saphira which is blue can be used to represent something that is clear and pure hearted. The colors black and red is used on the king and other characters to represent the blood and disorder that the king is spreading towards the land.