Deo In What Remains

While the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza and the movie “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George shows its share of similarities, both portray the Rwandan Massacre of 1994 in diversified ways. First, while both characters share similarities portraying the perspective of the genocide, they also show some major differences in the point of view as the main character in the movie was a hotel manager while the other main character from the book was a young, Tutsi woman. Also, while they face similar conflicts and hardships, both have their own personal field of adversities to face.

When some of the people moved on Mango St. they didn’t interact with others because they spoke a different language which hinders them from achieving The American Dream. In Document C, “No Speak English” Mamacita didn’t know how to speak English. “When people came to her door she told them that she didn’t know how to speak English.” At the end of this passage her son is singing along with the Pepsi commercial in English and she breaks down crying and tells him not to speak English. She is upset because if her son starts to speak English she would be isolated because everybody around her knows how to speak English. When coming to America and if you want to succeed you need to

Having been so open about his feelings and the events that occurred within Rwanda, therefore bound to surface just how disappointed he was, with not only the government, but mostly with himself. He recalls and describes events that not only shock, but disturb the majority of the readers. The biggest parts of the whole essay that truly emotionally connected to people in more ways than one would have to be the description of the young orphaned boy and the way the government talks about the situation. “We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are humans.” (Dallaire, 502, 18) Being able to look at the devastating chaos and be able to say “all that is here are humans.” As if humans- young or old, black or white, male or female, aren’t worth our time and oh so valuable finances. If Dallaire did not have readers attentions before his point, it is guaranteed he did afterwards.

She stood up to her family and gave them a strong person they could believe and rely on; she organized her family back into their normal actions. Her father then started to rally the Tutsi people who gathered for his guidance to fight against the people who attacked them, whether it is the government or the Interahamwe, which was a Hutu militia.

In her book, Immaculée Ilibagiza shares the power of faith in God through her moving experience of the Rwandan genocide. God saved her life for a reason. “He left me to tell my story to others and show as many people as possible the leading power of his Love and Forgiveness” (208-09). Her book proves that “with God all things are possible”. Her objective is not to give a historical account of Rwanda and/or of the genocide. She gives her own story. She attests that through God’s help, forgiveness is possible – even to those who killed her parents. Her book is meant to help people to let go of the chains of hatred and anger, and be able to truly live in God who is love. Left to Tell is a breathtaking book that proves the fact that “the love

In the novel “A long walk to water” by Linda Sue Park, Salva, a young man that lived in South Sudan throughout his childhood to his young-adult years, had faced many difficult challenges the young age of eleven. Salva had to flee from home because of Sudan’s civil war. He soon experienced a horrifying and dreadful life, his family gone, no resources in his group, he watched people die, walked for months, and lead twelve hundred boys to a refugee camp in Kenya. Salva survived this terrible life with the help of three factors, perseverance, luck, and relationships with others. Without any of these factors, Salva might not have been able to survive or possibly become the leader he is today.

Like John Proctor in The Crucible, there too is a protagonist in the Rwanda Genocide – Paul Rusesabagina. They both display strength in standing up for what is right, they refuse to betray their friends and they both show great courage to do what is right, even if it means sacrificing themselves.

“The following is my story of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. It’s a story of betrayal, failure, naiveté, indifference, hatred, genocide, war, inhumanity and evil. ”

During the time the memoir was written, Paul Kagame was the Vice President of Rwanda, a man who had been working for Habyarimana, former Rwandan president, before fleeing to join the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The conversation Gourevitch has with Kagame about how people can be either made good or bad builds his credibility because of the authority that Kagame holds, and the knowledge he possesses about Rwanda and the genocide, since he was in the RPF. The conversation he had with Kagame also augments Gourevitch’s authority because it depicts that Gourevitch has the power and credit to be able to talk to the vice president. Gourevitch also builds his credibility by the numerous number of stories he accumulated from people who had experienced the horrors of the genocide. These stories allow the reader to be able to envision how the genocide was somewhat like. A prominent story in this memoir was told by Alexandre

Danticat writes about a daughter and her mother, who has been accused of being a witch. The mother had to cross the river separating Haiti and the Dominican Republic to save herself and her daughter. This real event was a massive massacre with very few survivors. “My mother had escaped El Generalissimo's soldiers, leaving her own mother behind. From the Haitian side of the river, she could still see the soldiers chopping up her mother’s body and throwing it into the river along with many others,” (40). Despite surviving, the mother saw her own mother die in this massacre and likely many more people that she knew. She lost everything while trying to escape, except for her own daughter. This forced them to start their life over in Haiti. And while she did get a chance to start a new life, she went through immense suffering trying to escape and even once she did escape and got to Haiti. After moving to the city, the mother is accused of being a witch and

Many people are from war stricken areas overseas looking for refuge in the United States. In numerous ways the reader can see a cultural difference in the way that Americans feel about the way that folks from overseas fit in here in the United States. Luma’s friends were afraid because, “a Muslin women from Jordan wouldn’t fit in Down in Dixie” (24). This shows the reader how a large amount of people may view those from across the sea. In a different instance, the author switches to a different family and the reader sees more insight on how the world is disconcerting those trying to start a new life. Just as Beatrice, a newly single mother of three sons, is walking home from work, “A man was following her…she felt the man’s hand on her arm…Beatrice let go of the bag…and she took off running herself in the opposite direction” (31). The reader also sees an instance of police brutality towards a Nigerian immigrant. All of these instances show the trouble that those from overseas may be experiencing. Now as the book goes on the reader gets a sense of the community around those and how those first settled

In “An Ordinary Man” Paul tries to persuade the Hutu soldier to not kill his family and friends and paid for their lives “It’s was the price we had finally agreed on: a million Rwandan francs for everyone”. The German soldiers persuaded the Jews to to get on the train. However “Night” states some rhetoric to help others, when the Maria the christian made to try to persuade the Wiesel family to hide in the hut with her, “Our former maid came to see us. Sobbing, she begged us to come with her”.

“A small boy of 11 years, was curled up in a ball of fresh flesh and blood, in his eyes was a glance of lost hope, abandonment, and defeat. He was without vision; A little girl at nine years of age, was pinned up against a tree…her legs apart, and she was covered in things even hell can’t imagine; excrement, urine and blood . . . in her mouth was cold fresh meat, cut with a machete, that of her father… near in a ditch with putrid water were four bodies, cut up in pieces, stacked up-their parents and older brothers.”

According to the book Peacemaking in Rwanda, that I Immaculee made my children read (in order to get an understanding of why this hateful genocide of 1994

Life as an immigrant in the U.S was not all that great. First, they had to learn English