Cowards die many times before their deaths...

"I read Julius Caesar in school... When I was seven, I used to go to the town square to recite monologues from the works of Shakespeare for the adults of my community... I always recited speeches from Macbeth and Julius Caesar, as those were the adults' favourites. I was always excited to read for them, because it made me feel that that I was really good at speaking the English language."

If you think William Shakespeare's plays are beautifully crafted pieces of literature, then rest assured that if you went almost anywhere in the world, you would find someone who appreciates his writing as you do. If you are not a fan of Shakespeare, then I am sorry to tell you that even if you travelled to Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, you might still be learning and analyzing Shakespeare's plays in school. In a book about a boy soldier, I never expected old William to come up, but alas he did - and not just once, but many times!

Shakespeare is first mentioned in the quote above when Ishmael, the main character and narrator of the story, arrives at his first army base as a fresh soldier and notices the lieutenant reading Julius Caesar . Ishmael was from a small community in Sierra Leone, called Mogbwemo, but it was brutally destroyed by a group of rebels and was left deserted. In reflecting upon what he did while his community still existed, it is noticeable from his tone that he misses being able to do the things he liked best. When Mogbwemo was devastated, so was Ishmael's childhood. After having his home destroyed, becoming a boy soldier, losing his family, and almost constantly seeing death all around him, the only thing Ishmael had to hold on to from his childhood years were memories, one of his favourites being reciting passages from Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare comes up again when Ishmael returns to the same base camp again after having fought somewhere else for quite some time. When he arrived at the camp he "was looking forward to seeing the lieutenant", because he was hoping to discuss Shakespeare with him. Apparently the lieutenant was thinking the same thing because just before leaving to prepare for a raid, he held Ishmael's hand and said, "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him." This is significant because it is the last thing that the lieutenant said personally to Ishmael, since the next day Ishmael was selected to go with the UNICEF workers and leave the army base forever.

Another time that Shakespeare comes up is when Ishmael has gone through rehabilitation and has been selected as one of two children who will represent Sierra Leone at the United Nations in New York City.

"I asked Dr. Tamba why it was so dark so early in this country. "Because it is winter," he said. "Oh!" I nodded, but the early darkness still didn't make sense to me. I knew the word 'winter' from Shakespeare's texts and I thought I should look it up again."

The passage shows that on top of keeping him connected to his childhood and to the lieutenant that he admired, Shakespeare helped Ishmael develop his English vocabulary. In a situation that Ishmael knew very little about, Shakespeare kept him somewhat connected to what was going on. Overall, Shakespeare's plays were clearly relevant to Ishmael, which I find enthralling. It seems so unlikely, to me, that an old English writer could mean so much to a past child soldier from Sierra Leone. I suppose it just goes to show that literature clearly can have a lasting effect on one's life.