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.
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Date
2023-01
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KNUST
Abstract
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
Description
Thesis Submitted To The Department Of English, Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology, Kumasi In Partial Fulfilment Of The Requirements For The Award Of Master Of Philosophy Degree In English