Beast of No nation By Uzodinma iweala

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Beast of No Nation Analysis
Uzodinma Iweala’s story, Beast of No Nation, focuses on the child character Agu, who was forced into becoming a child soldier by the rebel soldiers. The narrator, Agu was one of the victims of the war in an unknown country in Africa. Strika is the character who discovers Agu. Strika is younger than Agu and is traumatized after his family was slaughtered. Agu and Strika became great friends after the former agreed to join the army. The army “Commandant” was tough on the soldiers, and Agu feared him as well. In the story, Agu described his journey into becoming a soldier He also shares his experiences after he first killed a man. Iweala focused on the inner moral struggle of the main narrator, Agu. Therefore, the analysis will focus on attempts by Agu to keep his humanity and the possibility to redeem himself.
The author reveals morality ambiguity, whereby even as Agu kills people that should make morally wrong, Iweala makes the readers empathize with him by revealing that inwardly there is hope for Agu to become a better person. She makes the readers feel that Agu had no option but to obey the orders given by the Commandant, his superior, as is the norm in a military society. Secondly, Iweala makes the readers empathize with Agu as she brings out a scenario whereby he has to get involved in such activities to survive. Iweala uses distinctive language that describes a child’s perspective exposes Agu’s fears.

He describes his first encounter with the soldiers saying, “…I am floating on top of my body and just watching.” He continues to say, “I am hearing people speaking, but it is like different language” (Iweala 8). He cannot even remember his own name when asked by the Commandant (Iweala 8). The Commandant pretended to give Agu the option to consider joining the army or not, but the readers could read from the environment where Agu was, that declining the offer was not an alternative. Agu says, “I am seeing the entire soldier with gun and knife…” This is where Agu gets the empathy of the readers.
Secondly, Agu also managed to win the readers over as he became worried about the feelings of killing a person. It proves that Agu still had some humanity in him. The Luftenant warned Agu not to be worried about his first killing because if he did, his “head could turn to the inside of rotten fruit” (Iweala 12). The Commandant and other soldiers sarcastically assure Agu that his turn to kill will come and he will realize the feeling then (Iweala 12). Agu’s struggles with humanity are evident as he is not comfortable with what the Commandant is forcing him to do. Agu wants a drug (gun juice) that could help him forget the killings he has made (Iweala 127). The most horrifying and brutal moment is when Agu and his friend Strika are involved in their first kill. The commandant made Agu kill a man for the first time, and he describes the moment saying he was “bringing the machete up and down and up and down hearing the sound every time and seeing pink” (Iweala 21).
Iweala makes us understand the ordeal that Agu to go through. She mentions that the situation was a kill-not-be-killed moment. This makes some readers feel empathetic with him as they argue that he had no option but to ensure that he survived. However, the moral argument of the incident is ambiguous. The moral case is unclear because Agu struggles to balance the contradictory desires to be a good person and become a better soldier as well who have to follow orders. It is challenging because his moral conscience convinces him that the rules are not right, but he has to follow them to survive. Agu became a rebel against his will, but even as he does all the evil activities with the other soldiers, his conscience remains reluctant all through. Agu is depicted as a Christian with a tender heart and struggling to break out of what he is forced to do.
Agu believed that death could free him from the atrocities, but he was fortunate not to die. Together with Rambo, another rebel, they kill the Commandant. Agu joined a rehabilitation center after the death of his friend Strika. The war experiences made Agu feel like an adult and lament that the war did not give him an opportunity to enjoy his childhood. Agu says, “All I know is that before the war began I was a child and now we aren’t” (Iweala 106). The war led to the loosening of his faith in Christianity and God. The war made Agu question the existence of God that even when the priest tells him of God’s presence, he replies by saying that even though he likes hearing about God, he does not believe in Him anymore (Iweala 140). However, Agu is still a believer who hopes that he will have a brighter future. Agu is an example of a child soldier who has gone through many experiences that most adults can never imagine in their whole lives.
Agu committed atrocities that he was compelled to do for his survival. Through his conscience, Agu reveals to the writers that he does not want to be part of the killings. Iweala makes Agu appear as the victim more than the perpetrator that makes the readers feel sorry. The story reveals a disintegrated society that has turned children into warriors involved in killing innocent souls. Iweala revealed the inner struggle that Agu undergoes to maintain who he is and not to forget that he used to be a victim of his current actions. The title comes into play because; Agu refuses to let the “beast” within him to take over and decides to maintain humanity even during moments of cruelty. Iweala managed to make the readers sympathize with the narrator and children soldiers who are forced to go through worst experience at an early age. Therefore, Agu played a useful role in exposing the experiences of children soldiers.
Works Cited
Deutsch, Noah. “The Grim and the Dead — Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala.” The
Millions. 15 January. 2007.
Iweala, Uzodinma. Beasts of no nation. Hachette UK, 2015.
SPÁČILOVÁ, Gabriela. Translating Beasts of No Nation. Diss. Masarykova univerzita,
Filozofická fakulta, 2011.Stifani, Bianca. “Beasts of No Nation.” The Harvard Crimson. 19 November. 2005.