Community and Isolation

Visiting my family on the weekends is one of the greatest perks of going to school so close to home. I love coming home and spending time with my four sibling and parents and catching up on what I missed that week. However somewhere between the twelve games of monopoly and the Disney princess movie marathon, I find myself alone in my room rejecting every invitation to play one last board game. I think there has to be a balance between community and isolation. Too much time with a group of people can be just as hazardous as being alone.

Through the progression of Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone, it is shown that at times it is best to be alone and sometimes it is vital to be with people. In the beginning of the memoir he is shown with his family, friends and tribes. He has a great sense of belonging and confidence. When his family and tribe fall apart after the rebels invade his village he clings to his friends for safety. They look out for each other as long as they can but soon get separated. Ishmael is told he can stay with a family of a friend of a friend and hid with them. He chooses not to because he feels it is not safe to sit and wait because the rebels will surely find them. He then wonders on his own for a while and finds himself stuck in a forest without any human interaction for a long time. His thoughts soon consume him and he longs for a distraction which is given to him when he runs into a group of six boys and joins them. His new community helps him not to think of the horrific events he has been through or wonder to his family which he will never see again. The boys even laugh off being mistaken for rebels and almost being killed by a village together.

As Ishmael tells his story there is a constant theme of community and isolation. By writing about the time he has been isolated he also creates a community of fans and readers which he can become a temporary member of by doing readings of his book or book signings. By the writing the book he is choosing to set himself apart of other people but not necessarily isolate himself because soon after writing the book he is surrounded by people and asked to join communities.