Cause and Effect Essay: A Long Road Traveled Texts are powerful tools that have the ability to entertain and convey messages to its readers. Certain events occurring in the texts allow readers to see the injustices in the world around them. In the novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, readers learn about the struggles endured by a young soldier during a horrific war in Sierra Leone. This novel expresses how a child soldier is affected by the civil war, the power of authority and the lack of parenting during the war. Lack of parenting during Sierra Leone's civil war is a major cause leading to the use of child soldiers during the war. The outbreak of war in Sierra Leone caused everyone to flee for their lives, leaving their loved ones behind. Due to the sudden outbreak, many children were separated from their parents, leaving them abandoned. At the start of the war, “fathers came running from their workplaces, only to find themselves standing in front of their empty homes with no indication of where their families had gone. Mothers cried as they ran to schools, rivers and water taps to look for their children. Children were running home looking for their parents who were wandering the streets looking for them. As the shooting intensified, people gave up searching for their loved ones and ran out of town” (Beah 9). Ishmaël realizes that he will be alone without his family and begins to feel like a part of his is lost. As for family separation, children in Sierra Leone have been forced to make their own reasonable decisions in order to stay alive during this time. Young children who lost their families were brainwashed into believing that fighting in the war was the right thing to do. As a result, the lack of parenting during this difficult time...... middle of paper ...... inculcates the violent act of killing in the minds of child soldiers. Ishmael learns that he must channel his rage and take revenge for the death of his family. It was from this that Ishmael and many other young soldiers came to believe that revenge was the only way to fight for what they had lost. It was because of this violent society that Ishmael and other young soldiers suffered from a disorder called post-traumatic stress syndrome. PTSD is a mental condition that occurs as a result of psychological shock, which in this case is war. As Ishmael came out of the corruption he was living in, that's when readers realized he was suffering from PTSD and was going to get help to correct it. Overall, it is the manipulation and abuse of authority power that has a psychological impact on innocent young soldiers..