Left To Tell By Immaculee Ilibagize

In the second part, Immaculée narrates her horrifying experience of the genocide. God became her father, mother, brother, her everything, in a tiny bathroom where she hid from the killers for months. When the genocide began, Immaculée’s father asked her to go to hide at the house of Pastor Mulinzi – a family friend – with her brother Vianney, and Augustin, Immaculée’s friend who was a Hutu but looked like a Tutsi. Mulinzi accepted them into his house, but when things became tough, he chased Vianney and Augustin away and kept Immaculée with five other women. Mulinzi hid them in a tiny bathroom. Every corner of his house was searched many times by the killers, the Interahamwe (youth militia trained for killing), but it seemed that God blinded them, preventing them from discovering the bathroom. The six women wished

In the novel Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza vengeance is sought of more than forgiveness. Vengeance is wrong no matter how right it seems and the devil is not to blame for this calamitous event. Immaculee has encountered many vengeful people throughout this tragic genocide. She is a very strong person forgiving the Interahamwe, while they slaughtered everyone in her family but her older brother. Immaculee is an example of why forgiveness is such a beautiful thing and vengeance is not.

“Left to Tell” is a real life story of a survivor of the Rwanda genocide. The author of this book, Immaculee Ilibagiza, who survived the genocide describes in this book the fear and suffering she went through. Ilibagiza is a Tutsi and born in Rwanda. During the genocide she and seven others managed to survive hidden for ninety-one days in a cramped tiny bathroom, no larger than four feet long and three feet wide (pg. 73). The bathroom was hidden behind a wardrobe in Pastor Murinzi’s home, who was a Hutu. During those horrible days that she was hidden, she lost most of her family who were murdered by the Hutu majority. Although, the Hutu Interahamwe searched and searched for her, there was no success. Ilibagiza survived the genocide and throughout

For decades, a common phenomenon within society has been that women are to clean, cook, nurture and comfort while the men are to work and perform all “manly” tasks. Brady, the author emphasizes the point that the roles of a wife are unfair to the role of husband, stating that there is an obvious difference, inequality, between the roles of husband and wife. As the narrator claims he wants “a wife who will have the house clean, keep [his] clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and will see to it that [his] personal things are kept in their proper place so that [he] can find what [he] needs the minute [he] needs it” (Brady 443) it becomes obvious that the man will see his intended wife as one that can provide no other than his and his family’s satisfactory needs. These expectations force women to change who they are if they lack the basic qualities of a wife and shames them if they do not. Trying to change or not accepting one’s personality can lead to internal conflict and unhappiness with the situation that the person is in.

The Holocaust was a mass genocide which killed six million European Jews by Hitler’s Nazi’s that lasted for 12 years. This mass killing event left a mark in history, this was an act against humanity. The book “Night” was a written perspective from Elie Wiesel, who was kept in one of the most dangerous camps with his family in Auschwitz, during the Holocaust. A letter was written by Regina Kandt to her lover while she was transitioning to a camp, and a photograph was taken during the Holocaust of the aftermath of the mass killing genocide. All of these sources connect to the loss of religious faith because everyone had a loss of hope the victims depending on their value of family and their relationships to survive.

Using the Feminist Literary Theory, the woman’s weakness can be proved to be caused by their constant treatment as being lesser than the male. Studies have shown that “married women have higher levels of stress than unmarried women and married men” (Crossman). In that, it is not although a woman decides that she needs a husband because she herself is unable to provide food and have a stable income, and overall take care of herself, rather she is first taught

This example of equal responsibility shows to an extent, how women were treated respectfully within these ancient civilizations. The woman of the house has almost as much responsibility as the man. If together they accumulate a debt, both of them are to be held responsible.

“It’s not easy for a woman to get out and about. She has to look after her husband, make sure the servant girl does her work, tuck the baby up in bed, wash it, feed it…”

In the middle ages, social classes had a major effect on the responsibilities of women. One responsibility was that many women was married when they were teenagers rather they lived in a castle or a peasant hovel (Bovey). Peasant hovels are the houses that the peasants lived in. Another responsibility is women of the church had the responsibilities of the abbesses of convents (Bovey). Abbesses of the convents was the “leader” of mostly the monks in the Catholic Church. Also, peasant women had the responsibility of all the household duties, such as preparing and cooking the food, cleaning the house, and taking care of the children (Bovey). Then, 90% of women that lived in rural areas not only had the basic household duties, but they were responsible

As a self-proclaimed history junkie, I am almost ashamed to admit that prior to reading “Left to Tell,” I had never even heard of the Rwandan genocide. From the moment I picked up this novel I was eager to educate myself on this tragic piece of history that I had so naively missed. The epitome of strength and perseverance, Immaculée Ilibagiza’s firsthand account of the genocide was nothing short of heart wrenching. I hung on to her every word as she restored my faith in the power of prayer and forgiveness.

Throughout the complicated web of humanity, we have had many people that are recognized today as great. From Christopher Columbus to Madonna, fame and recognition have graced many great members of our society. But many more members of our society, that deserve respect, don’t receive it. This was often the case in the past for women, as they were not treated equally to men. Yet the women of these times had a lot of value, especially compared to the praise they were given. Two examples of women of this quality are O-lan from The Good Earth, and the “Virtuous” woman from Proverbs 31:10-31. Both O-lan and The Virtuous Woman have many similarities and a few differences. Both of them provide a lot of value in the relationships that they are a part of, both romantically and platonically. These woman are both models that not only women, but all people should aspire to be like.

Women have constantly been told that their worlds should revolve around their femininity which is in direct relation to how they handle their responsibilities. Although their roles should not be seen as responsibilities but rather privileges that they should accept with open arms. Those who were thinking that they wanted more than their simple mundane left were left feeling ashamed as they felt that they should be grateful for having the stability that comes with having a husband and a home. As more mothers began to slowly open up about their pressures they began to realize that they were not completely alone. However, despite finding someone who could relate to their pain, the suppression continued as many husbands would add salt to the wound by exclaiming that their wives should feel blessed that she has the ideal job. Obviously, this constant reminder from husbands did not make the situations any easier and would often lead housewives to resent their partners, children, and even their lives. By playing the roles of mother, wife, and upstanding female, women were not given an opportunity to discover who they truly were. Without a proper knowledge of their identities, there was no way that these homemakers would not feel isolated as they were simply a shadow of their former selves. By constantly

However, women are only given jobs that lack power and are centered on carrying out the duties of an ordinary housewife, besides those given to the Aunts. They predominantly have the roles of Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas instead. Atwood writes, “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping” (73).

Women are not the shadows of their husbands. Their roles are much more than the acknowledgment of their spouse. They’re much more than the home keeper and the baby breeders. They play an important role not only in marriage, but also in life. Men are not just their job titles. They’re main priority isn’t just to provide for the home. Home should be equally divided between men and women. Time has change greatly where the roles has either switch or has become equally between the husband and the wife.

To continue the Wife had her own remedies for love and a thriving amount of knowledge that was not positive. The Wife believes that a wise woman places herself in higher authority in a relationship. Women could not become priest so they influenced society in their own ways such as visionaries, spiritual advisors and writers. She persuades that the women should make men fall in love so that the women can take the man’s love for granted and gained power. The wife was a selfish older women wanted everything she wanted.