Once the boys join the rebel army, they are forced to "enjoy" cruelty, following their commanders' orders.
"We are going to initiate all of you by killing these people in front of you. We have to do this to show you blood and make you Strong" (Beah 34).
In "a long way gone" Ishmael and his friends are forced to watch killings because the rebels want to make them "strong". Sometimes, the boy soldiers in Sierra Leone are ordered to kill their own friends to make them stronger and crueler. The children are boiled 'alive' or forced to eat human flesh for punishment. They are drugged to be brainwashed and follow the orders from their commanders.
"We walked toward the dead bodies, giving each other high fives"(Beah 19).
"We are going to initiate all of you by killing these people in front of you. We have to do this to show you blood and make you Strong" (Beah 34).
In "a long way gone" Ishmael and his friends are forced to watch killings because the rebels want to make them "strong". Sometimes, the boy soldiers in Sierra Leone are ordered to kill their own friends to make them stronger and crueler. The children are boiled 'alive' or forced to eat human flesh for punishment. They are drugged to be brainwashed and follow the orders from their commanders.
"We walked toward the dead bodies, giving each other high fives"(Beah 19).
As a result of drugging and constant brainwashing, boys adapt to cruelty; their senses toward brutality becomes numb. They are not horrified from dead bodies or massacre anymore, because they have gotten adjusted to the longest war. They do not feel neither physical nor emotional pain anymore. It is terrible how they get used to massive killings. It is as though killing became their routine just the way they eat or wash everyday. The civilians in Sierra Leone are against special court for juvenile soldiers. They assert boy soldiers should be punished the same as the rebels are punished. Due to severe brainwashing and drugging, boy soldiers do commit the same unspeakable crimes as rebels do. However, should they be blamed for what they have done? Did they have any choices? The civil war left Sierra Leone confused and apathetic.
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