Browsing by Author "Otoo, Paul"

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    Lost children: a critical analysis of child soldiering in uzodinma iweala’s beasts of no nation and Ishmael beah’s a long way gone: memoirs of a boy soldier.
    (KNUST, 2023-01) Otoo, Paul
    ABSTRACT In the Child Soldiers International Annual Report (2017-2018), it is revealed that globally, over 10,000 children were formally released from armed forces and groups during 2017. Delivering his annual report on children and armed conflict to the Security Council in 2021, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, revealed that more than 8,500 children were used as soldiers in the year 2020 in various conflicts across the world. Obviously, the high numbers of child soldiers witnessed over the years, especially in Africa is clearly indicative of the need for an unremitting discussion on the topic with the aim of ending this repugnant enterprise. It is for this reason that this thesis through textual analysis, anchored on the trauma theory and supported by the theory of literary realism, critically analyzes the child soldier phenomenon in Uzodinma Iweala’s novel, Beasts of No Nation (2005), and Ishmael Beah’s memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007). This research work concentrates on how the child soldier as a result of his traumatic experiences is rendered lost: a child who is robbed of his childhood and innocence and for that matter, transitions from a victim of war to a victimizer. By discussing the child soldier as the narrative voice, this research is able to explore the traumatic experiences of child soldiers through their own narrations. The child soldier’s loss of innocence and childhood is further highlighted after the war and during the period of rehabilitation. The difficulty experienced by the child soldier at this stage communicates how lost he has been rendered. KEYWORDS: Civil War, Child-soldier narrative, Child soldier, Trauma theory