Introduction War. This terrible word calls fear and nervous trembling. This word contains blood, tears, and millions of ruined lives. Omar Bradley once said “The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about the war that knows about peace, more about killing than we know about living” (Condon, 180). The war theme in literature was always one of the most outstanding themes. It revealed the tragedy of a human being in pursuit of power, new territories, freedom. Through the novel pages, the writer can show what a terrible beast war is and how greatly it can impact human lives. “A Long Way Gone” The novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah is sad evidence of the author’s war experience in Sierra Leone. The main character, Ishmael, is a ten years old boy who dreamed to participate in a talent show and become a rap singer. But his plans were suddenly interrupted by unexpected rebels. Numerous army attacks forced villagers to scatter in all directions. Ishmael and his friends had to pass a lot of life tests including starvation, injuries, life losses of their friends. They had to hide from rebels but they came right into war jaws. They were searching for a safeguard but they lost their families. Ishmael was trying to run away from horror dreams and terrible nightmares and this put him on the path to rehabilitation. He suffered a lot and he obtained a happy chance in his life. He went to New York because he understood this city to be the only way to escape from war. He dared to make this dangerous travel in order not to be swallowed by an insatiable mouth of war when it knocked on Ishmael’s door for the second time. “They had run so far away from the war, only to be caught back in it. There is nowhere to go from here” (Beah, 207). However, there was one way not to go crazy because of war realities. This wonderful remedy was storytelling. Storytelling occupied a significant part in Ishmael’s life and had a considerable impact on him. Moral upbringing and storytelling If we remember, his early moral upbringing was connected with storytelling as well. His grandmother told him different stories to teach him how to behave in society. Chapter eight presents such an example. When Ishmael was hiding from rebels in the thick forest and when wild pigs persuaded him, he remembered a story, which he heard in childhood from his grandmother. It was about how wild pigs began to hate people. One hunter once discovered a wonderful plant that allowed him to change into a wild pig. Thus, he decoyed wild pigs into an ambush and then killed them. One of the pigs saw how a hunter ate this plant. Sounder destroyed herbals so the hunter was not able to turn back. Then they just tore him into small pieces. There in the forest, Ishmael firstly understood the true meaning of that story: how the war turned his innocent countrymen against each other. Impacts of storytelling Later in the book Ishmael says “I feel as if there is nothing left for me to be alive for. I have no family, it is just me. No one will be able to tell me stories about my childhood” (Beah, 167). This fact proves the idea that storytelling was the essence of I