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James T. Smith
Professor Gary Bigelow
English 10
11/24/14

Inanimate objects impact on life

Inanimate objects can have more than one useful aspect to them.
While some physically help people, others can mentally and emotionally
comfort people. In many different books authors use inanimate objects to
play an important role in developing characters and highlighting the central
themes of their books. In the book A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, music
has a big impact on the main character (Ishmael Beah). Beahs music serves
two main purposes in his life being, fun and joy in his life as a kid and saving
his life in many different ways. These purposes help illuminate the larger
meaning of the work which is, when he has his music his life is joyful and fun
but when it is taken from him his childhood is lost and only music can bring
him back to humanity.
While Beah had music in his early childhood life he was happy and
innocent but when bad things started to happen to him and his family, music
was the thing that saved his life. Towards the beginning of the book Beah
and his friends find play time by listening to music, dancing, and singing. In
chapter one Beah writes We alternately moved our right and then our left

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feet to the front and back and simultaneously did the same with our arms
(Beah 7). In this he finds joy and happiness while dancing and listening to
music with his friends. This quote portrays that him and his friends were
innocent and harmless and just loved music. Not very long after his great life
goes haywire, and he is left with nothing but his music, Beah undergoes
many hardships on his journey, and a big thing that saves his life is the
music. Beah had many different scary and sorrowful dreams and when he
wakes up from the dreams he sometimes feels he is still in them and music is
the thing that brings him back to reality. One particular part is when he is
having a nightmare and he wakes up to the sound of music in the
background, he says I studied the red exposed brick wall of the room and
tried to identify the rap music coming from a car passing by(Beah 19). This
saves his life in the sense of him coming back to reality. If he didnt have the
music at that time it would have drove him mad and he wouldnt have made
it through the rest of the troubles pilling on top of each other. He would have
become a monster in the eyes of other people.
These two purposes help illuminate the larger meaning of the work, as
in, when music is in his life he is an innocent child and when that music is
taken away he becomes a monster and the only thing that brings him back
to humanity is a sense of music. At a time when Beah was in the presence of
the military he was going to join them and after he changed he says A
soldier took my old pants and threw them into a blazing fire that had been
set to burn all our old belongings(Beah 110). His music being of those

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belongings a part of him was lost. Since that was the only thing that was
holding him down and keeping him in reality he was able to make the full
transformation into a monster. Without music he wouldnt have been able to
come to humanity as quickly. When Beah is in the rehabilitation center
Esther tries to bring him back to humanity and he says It was the genuine
tone of Esthers voice that made the phrase finally begin to sink into my mind
and heart (Beah 165). Esthers voice is acting as a sense of music in this
part and it comforts him into coming back to humanity. He says that it was
her voices tone that made the phrase it wasnt his fault sink into his mind
and that is why he was able to become a human again.
Ishmael Beah, in the book A long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, went
through some really hard times. While he was experiencing these hard times
he had music to help him be happy and get through hard times. Beah uses
music as an inanimate object in his book to illuminate the larger meaning of
the work. The meaning of the work is that when Beah has the music he is
more humane and when he doesnt he becomes a monster and it is only
music that can bring him back.