What were other topics discussed in chapter 7?

Beah describes the insidious influence of the RUF on civilians throughout the civil war zone. A twelve year old boy, alone or in a group, is a potential threat to others because he might be an RUF recruit.

Again Beah uses a flashback to bring poignancy to narrative. At the moment he loses his last connection to his immediate family - his older brother Junior - Beah remembers his father’s earlier dedication and blessing of their family home in Mogbwemo. Beah has already informed the reader that his father and mother are divorced, splitting Beah’s life between their two homes (Mogbwemo and Mattru Jong); now the rebels have taken his father, his extended family, and his brother in succession, leaving him alone in the world. There is bitter irony in his father’s prayer that the family “will always be together” (p. 47) and cold comfort in the village elder’s prayer that they remain together “even in the spirit world” (p. 47). Beah confronts the fact that his best hope for reunion with Junior is in death.