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Summary: Chapter 20
Many things about New York are new for Ishmael: the bitter cold and the falling snow; the sights and sounds of places like Times Square; and the strange food. The delegates to the conference are all children from many different countries. Ishmael enjoys a presentation for the delegates by Laura Simms, an adult storyteller. When she sees that he and the other boy from Sierra Leone do not have proper winter attire, Laura brings them winter jackets that same evening. On Ismael’s last night in New York, all the delegates attend an event at Laura’s spacious house. It will soon be his new home, but he does not know that yet.
Summary: Chapter 21
Back in Freetown, Ishmael and Mohamed (who now also lives with Tommy’s family) start attending school. He stays in touch with Laura. But that May, an RUF-led coup overthrows the government of Sierra Leone and Freetown’s streets fall under the control of rebel soldiers who kill indiscriminately. When Tommy becomes ill and dies, Ishmael decides he must leave the country. Otherwise, he thinks, he will be forced back into military service. He calls Laura and asks if she will take him in, if he is able to reach New York and she immediately says yes. A week after Tommy’s death, Ishmael leaves before dawn without saying goodbye. Mohamed will tell the family where Ishmael has gone. Ishmael boards a bus that leaves the city in the dark, by a little-known route.
After passing through many checkpoints and paying several bribes, Ishmael crosses the border into Guinea and finally arrives at the Sierra Leonean embassy in Guinea’s capital, Conakry. As Ishmael watches a mother in the embassy courtyard tell her children a story, he thinks of a story that the children in his village were told every year. In the story, a talking monkey about to be shot by a hunter tells that hunter that one of his parents is about to die. The hunter’s decision whether to shoot or not would determine whether it was the hunter’s mother or father that dies. “What would you do?” the storyteller asked. Ishmael’s answer, which he never shared with anyone, was that he would shoot the monkey to keep it from putting other hunters in the same position.
Analysis: Chapters 20–21
At the close of Ishmael Beah’s memoir, the motif of storytelling expands and foreshadows the writing of the memoir itself. Young Ishmael is fascinated by Laura Simms and the art of her storytelling at the conference. In the context of his advocacy for children affected by war, Ishmael sees how powerful storytelling can be and wants to improve his craft. This message is clear in the very fact of this memoir’s existence. writing of his own memoir. Beah has used this book to tell his story, not for redemption but to raise awareness of the dangers vulnerable children face in his country and around the world. When trouble reignites in Sierra Leone, Beah uses a story he learned from one of his friend’s grandfathers to represent the divided political factions of his home country. Ishmael’s answer to the impossible question of the story, to shoot the monkey, metaphorically describes his decision to leave Sierra Leone for good in search of a new life in New York City as a storyteller.
In one last harrowing sequence, the theme of chaotic war revisits the narrative to highlight the cyclical nature of violence and civil unrest. When a new president overthrows the government in Sierra Leone, supposedly with the help of both the rebels and the government army, Ishmael knows he must flee the coming bloodshed if he can. Tragically, he must leave newfound family members behind. He is not the innocent child he was when the first war started, and stealthily makes it out of Sierra Leone before his life is directly endangered. And though Ishmael makes it safely to Laura’s apartment in New York City, the narrative ends on a tragic note. Fighting will certainly erupt again in Sierra Leone, and more children will be manipulated and exploited, and ultimately transformed into child soldiers.
