A Long Way Gone: Chapters 6–10

by Ishmael Beah
Conscripted by the army at the age of 13, Ishmael Beah was forced to fight in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. In this memoir, Beah shines a light on the experiences of child soldiers.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–21
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    These children now patrolled in special units, killing and maiming civilians.
  2. vigilance
    the process of paying close and continuous attention
    But we lost our vigilance to the gradual passing of time.
  3. oblivious
    lacking conscious awareness of
    The imam was oblivious to what was going on until it was too late.
  4. hearsay
    gossip passed around by word of mouth
    I proceeded to ask him if he knew the fastest way to Bonthe, an island in the south of Sierra Leone and one of the safest places at that time, according to hearsay.
  5. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    I looked at the curious and skeptical faces of the children and the woman.
  6. indelible
    not able to be forgotten, removed, or erased
    To this day, I have an excellent photographic memory that enables me to remember details of the day-to-day moments of my life, indelibly.
  7. suppressed
    held in check or kept back with difficulty
    I became restless and was afraid to sleep for fear that my suppressed thoughts would appear in my dreams.
  8. contort
    twist and press out of shape
    We all looked at him and his face contorted with confusion.
  9. subside
    wear off or die down
    The pains we felt from our feet subsided on the fourth night.
  10. disconsolate
    sad beyond comforting; incapable of being soothed
    Her voice was trembling with sadness, and she wiped her disconsolate face as she disappeared behind the hut and headed back to the main village.
  11. aback
    by surprise
    The man chasing me was a little taken aback.
  12. mercenary
    a person hired to fight for another country than their own
    One of the men told the chief that the only way we could possess such foreign cassettes was either by having looted them or if we were mercenaries.
  13. conjure
    summon into action or bring into existence
    I had trouble conjuring up these thoughts, and when I finally ventured into these memories, I became so sad that the bones in my body started to ache.
  14. embellish
    add details to
    We listened attentively to see if he was going to embellish the story with more striking details.
  15. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    When the boat reached the middle of the river, the rebels on shore began shooting at the people in the boat, and everyone panicked, causing the boat to capsize.
Created on Sat Oct 29 20:21:59 EDT 2016 (updated Fri Jul 11 17:10:30 EDT 2025)

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