COMBATANT CHILDREN: A STUDY OF SOME SELECTED AFRICAN NOVELS

Abstract

This paper investigated combatant children of war in Uzodinma Iweala’s Beasts of no Nation and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. It examined the ways the authors have portrayed children as combatants of war, the authors’ use of grotesque features, and the consequences of war on the lives of the children. A content analysis of the works was examined employing the post-colonial theory. It exposed the new wave of exploitation of children who have been a signifier not only of war and lawlessness, but also of a marginally alienated African people. Through the evaluation of the characters as children and soldiers, as innocent and guilty, and as protectors and destroyers, it becomes clear that the children need to be protected from any form of violence. Psychoanalytic theory was also adopted as the children suffer disorder that cause them to lose contact with reality and their behavior become bizarre. At the end of the study, it was discovered that combatant children were exposed to dangerous acts of militancy at the expense of their basic needs of life. This paper advocates for children’s rights and protection, and putting to an end the use of children to commit all sorts of crimes, including employing them as soldiers.