The Children of War

Introduction

The devastation of war is a reality that many children all around the world have lived and are living. Zlata Filipovic and Ishmael Beah are two individuals who endured the horrors of war as adolescents and who chose to share their painful, but compelling stories with the world. Zlata’s story, published in her book, Zlata’s Diary, comes in the form of entries from the journal she kept while she was living in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Ishmael, on the other hand, recounts his experiences involved in war in Sierra Leone in his memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Both of these books shed light on what life can really be like for a child during wartime. Although the details of the stories these two books tell are very different, they both unflinchingly expose the ways war can demolish a child’s sense of self and the world and how these children fight to hold onto their true selves throughout the violence. 

War Changes Children

Zlata’s Diary: Even when a child is not directly involved in fighting in a war, living (or perhaps more accurately, surviving) in a war torn city can dramatically impact her views on life. This was absolutely the case for Zlata, who was only eleven when her life was suddenly transformed from joyful and carefree to terrifying and grief-stricken. Zlata saw and experienced the horrors of war as soon the Bosnian War reached Sarajevo, but for the first couple of months it was difficult for her to fully grasp what was happening. On May 7th, 1992, Zlata was confronted by one of the worst realities of war: innocent and loved people die. After learning of the death of a friend who was just playing in a park, Zlata wrote, “She was such a sweet, nice little girl… Is it possible I’ll never see Nina again? Nina, an innocent eleven-year-old girl—the victim of a stupid war. I feel sad. I cry and wonder why? She didn’t do anything. A disgusting war has destroyed a young child’s life.” Of course, many innocent people had been killed in the war prior to her friend’s death, but Zlata had not needed to fully comprehend those deaths, because she did not know those people. When her friend was killed, though, she was forced to try to wrap her head around the fact that her friend, as well as others, were dying for no reason. Clearly, dealing with the loss of her friend and then coming to better understand the meaning of war was extremely painful for Zlata. Furthermore, the losses of people she cared about combined with the many other horrible realities of war she had to face matured Zlata beyond her eleven years in just a couple of months. Toward the end of May 1992, Zlata informed her diary of the following: “I’m not writing to you about me anymore. I’m writing to you about war, death, injuries, shells, sadness and sorrow.” Most children at Zlata’s age are pretty self-involved, but Zlata has been robbed of this natural part of childhood. There was no time or energy for her to think of herself when her world was being torn to shreds by war. 

A Long Way Gone: Ishmael experienced war as young teenager from a very different vantage point than Zlata; Ishmael was forced become a child soldier when he was 13. Ishmael was also made to grow up far too quickly—perhaps even more than Zlata was—but his situation changed him in slightly different ways. Ishmael learned very quickly that he had to detach from his emotions as much as possible in order to survive. In his memoir, Ishmael illustrates his use of this coping skill when he writes, “One evening we actually chased a little boy who was eating two boiled ears of corn by himself…I felt guilty about it for a few minutes, but in our position, there wasn’t much time for remorse” It’s clear that Ishmael did not like hurting people in any way, but as his account shows, he had no choice but to ignore the messages his inner moral compass. If he wanted to survive, he had to do whatever it took. Unfortunately, the practice of  denying his emotions along would not have been enough to keep Ishmael alive through the war. Ishmael had to actually force himself to portray feelings that often dramatically conflicted with his real emotions and convictions. This is evident when Ishmael writes about one of his first experiences being captured by the rebels. He says, “The rebels laughed at [the old man] and made us laugh with them by pointing their guns at us. I laughed loudly, but I was crying internally and my legs and hands trembled. I clenched my fists, but that made the trembling worse.” Ishmael literally had to fight his own body, which felt sad and scared, in order to get it to express the necessary sentiment, amusement. In other words, Ishmael had to condone actions that he thought were reprehensible and not just once. Over the course of a few years, Ishmael had to do this probably thousands of times, which severely impacted him. 

Children Try To Maintain Identities During War

Zlata as an adult

Zlata’s Diary: The significant effect the Bosnian War had on Zlata’s life cannot be denied, but in her diary, one can see evidence that she tried to hold on to as much of her childhood and identity as possible. From the beginning of Zlata’s diary, it was obvious that her friends were extremely important to her. She refused to give up on this value. For example, on May 26th, 1992 Zlata wrote, “I asked Daddy to take me to Mirna’s because I made her a little birthday present.… The present is waiting for her, so am I.” The little girl who was usually buried deep inside of Zlata managed to peak through in this moment. Giving a friend a present on her birthday had always been important to Zlata, and she was determined not to let the war take away this special practice. Zlata managed to keep a grip on many of her values, and there is no doubt that that helped her not lose herself completely. 

Ishmael as an adult

A Long Way Gone: Ishmael, too, attempted to preserve his own identity and ideals despite all of his traumatizing experiences. But Ishmael had even less ability to live as his true self and by his true values. The real Ishmael could only live inside of his head, and even then, only with caution. While Ishmael was forced to watch the rebels harass (and ultimately murder) an old man, he also observed another scene: “One of the rebels painted RUF on all of the walls of the houses in the villages. He was the sloppiest painter I have ever seen. I don’t think he even knew his alphabet.” The way Ishmael thought about that rebel and his paint job was important. Ishmael could not say those thoughts aloud to anyone around him; to do so would surely have meant death. So, instead of speaking his opinions, Ishmael thought them. Although on the outside he was being perfectly obedient, on the inside, he was trying to lessen the rebels power over him. Ishmael could not fight against the rebels in any physical way, but he could try to undermine them inside himself. It was the best he could do. 

Conclusion

For individuals who live far away and far removed from war, it can be difficult to picture what children surrounded by or involved in war might be experiencing and feeling. It is vital, though, that these young lives are taken into consideration when trying to understand war and its impact. So, books about children in wartime serve an important purpose; they provide readers with portals into otherwise unimaginable worlds. Therefore, both Zlata Filipovic and Ishmael Beah gave the world powerful gifts when they published their books. Everyone could learn from reading these two stories of intense pain and incredible strength. Zlata and Ishmael were real children whose lives as they knew them were destroyed. No one can go back in time to change what happened to these two, but there is no need for today’s children and the future’s children to live through these same devastating experiences.