Strength In What Remains. Kathleen Disselkoen:. Cornerstone

The characters presented in Stephen Minot’s “Rwanda” create an air of literary sophistication within the work, mainly through means of dialogue and thought. However, other narrative modes are incorporated into the short story as well. These include exposition, action, and some description. Minot’s writing is rather simplistic in style, but literarily it is very much so sophisticated. Despite being somewhat predictable, “Rwanda” implements a variety of well-executed narrative modes that transmutes the story into a meaningful and refined piece of prose.

An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina takes the audience through a journey of expression and of events that occurred during the Rwandan genocide. In the autobiography, Paul shows many emotions and several tones. The most frequent one was emotional. three direct quotes that demonstrate this tone are, “the person's throat whose you don't cut will be the one who cuts yours”(), “ I was a hotel manager doing his job”(190), and ¨their uniqueness was gone..loved ones erased with a few swings of a cheap machete¨

In 1994, a conflict the US couldn't understand, between clans and tribes it didn't know, in a country where there were no national interests, occurred. The Rwandan War of 1994 did not deserve US intervention. There are four contentions on why the US should not have gotten involved in this Rwandan war. The Black Hawk Down incident, how the UN was there previously there, there being no Possible Gain, and having nothing to do with us. Through the examination of the novel, An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina, it is Obvious that these key points are valid.

Since the start of the Sierra Leonean war in March of 1991, innocent civilians have been the primary target of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)’s wrath. The people of Sierra Leone have faced significant problems due to the invasions and attacks by the Rebel Forces and are the main population that is being affected by this group’s disapproval of the government. One person who experienced profound changes in her life due to the start of this war is Mariatu Kamara, a victim of a Rebel attack that cost her both her childhood and her hands. Throughout her memoir, “The Bite of the Mango,” she is faced with numerous traumatic events and meets an abundance of people who were very significant in her life and some of whom helped her survive the war. Kamara also gives the reader a variety of themes to use as a foundation to understanding war life, which also serve to help readers learn more about life, grow as people, and rise above to help others in need. Mariatu Kamara has not only changed the lives of people all throughout Sierra Leone by giving them a voice and an outlet to share their experiences, but has also proved to be an inspiration for countless amputees around the world.

Social impacts of violence are detrimental to individuals, communities, and entire nations. Beah’s harrowing ordeal in Sierra Leone’s civil war exposes him to all of these impacts. A sense of community is quickly lost

Kidder observes Deo as he tours places of his past, Kidder felt that Deo have also come to Burundi to revisit his past, and hopefully find a closure out of it. Kidder narrates on the two sides of dealing with the past. He concedes that there is merit in following the notion of gusimbura; he had seen people in Rwanda who cannot let go of their past and living aimlessly because of it. One man named Emmanuel lost his family in the Hutu-Tutsi violence, and he refuses to move on from the tragedy. He decided to stay close to the memorial, so he can still feel close to his family. “’You know, what I can tell you is that he’s half alive,’ said Deo. ‘This is a guy who lost the trunk of his life.’” (242). Deo felt that Emmanuel was an example of what happens if you dwelled too long in your memories, you became possessed by them, and is unable to live in the present. On the other hand, Kidder felt that Deo’s journey through his exodus and memorials are a necessary part of the healing process. Although most people would stay away from a place filled with horrible memories, Deo visited memorial after memorials. Kidder thought, “After a time, I came to think that visiting memorials was in pat a willed catharsis. And why wouldn’t he have need of that?” (247). Through revisiting his past, Deo was convinced that he has to move on from his past memories. He has dreams and goals that he wants to pursue, and living in the past will be an obstacle to

Genocides are beyond erratic, beyond inhumane, and beyond cruel. In truth, the systematic killing of a group of people because of their religion, color, race, etc. is absolutely preposterous! Therefore, it is absolutely important and essential that we learn about past genocides in human history to avoid and never repeat them again. For that purpose, I chose to read Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian, a fiction book based on a true story of the life of a young boy who grew up during the Armenian Genocide. Forgotten Fire was recognized as a National Book Award Finalist, further attracting me to read it, although, that was not necessary in order for me to choose this book because I wanted to educate myself about this first modern genocide that not everyone knows about.

Bohjalian goes back and forth between second person narrative when it depicts the events during the Armenian genocide with interjections from present day Laura Petrosian, descendant of an Armenian genocide survivor. Laura, the impact survivors and victims of genocide have on later generations. While the book makes it clear that Laura, and by extension Bohjalian, have done their research in providing factual information, the first personal narrative account given to Laura conveys the growing emotional connection developed over the course of her research. By allowing us to see the thought process and visceral emotional reactions of Laura through the first person point of view, Bohjalian proves that the stories and experiences victims and survivors can impact the actions and feelings of people in present day, transgenerationally, meaning their stories can never be obsolete.

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder is a true story based on series of event that happened during the turbulent period in Africa and later in New York City. It is a story about a young Burundian medical student named Deogratias, a Tutsi, who survived genocide and civil war in the French colony of Rwanda and Burundi. During the initial attack by the Hutu, he was an intern in the rural village hospital of Mutaho. Without any processions, Deo made his way into the woods to escape the chaos, during that period of time, he endured: starvation, illness, and traumatic experiences and memories. Deo was later saved by an unknown woman who took him across the border of Burundi into Rwanda where he took refuge in multiple camps, where further violence

We consider the readers and their effect on the debate that, essentially, is of them. He makes the point that, “a grieving mother in Gaza deserves the whole world’s attention” (Ritchen, 3), but the consequences of showing everything that deserves to be shown outweigh the benefits. Showing all of the horrors that the world has to offer can cause a desensitivity to them as “the reader tries to disconnect” (Ritchen, 3). He gives a personal example of how hearing about these travesties causes already such a large scar on his psyche, that a picture serves to do nothing but cause more pain. He contrasts the ideas made earlier in the essay of owing the victims of horrors to have their stories told by making an argument that it is just as important to ensure that those stories have their full effect. The reader of the essay considers their own experiences and most likely comes to the same conclusion that when confronted with all of the horrors, they are overwhelmed, but a small taste of each can strike the perfect balance. The sharing of a story in words gives a sense of wrong that exists in the world and refraining from shocking the reader can give them a sense of ability to change. It has a better chance of sparking an idea in a reader to call their representative and

McDoom, Omar S. 2013. ‘To Aid, or Not to Aid? The Rwanda-United Nations University.’ United Nations University. http://unu.edu/publications/articles/to-aid-or-not-to-aid-the-case-of-rwanda.html (October 23, 2015).

She argues that the trauma in the novel is a way to break barriers and force privileged readers to understand others. She says that the representation of trauma in the novel makes readers see the effects of imperialism rather than focusing on politics, making it a personal problem not a political one. The novel depicts this trauma in a relevant light for global readers.

Genocides are commonly known for their eight stages. The stages include classification, symbolization, dehumanization, organization, polarization, preparation, extermination, and denial. Massacres usually do not start until stage seven, or late stage six. The time between stage one and six can give the public and foreign nation plenty of time to address and combat the situations. For example, Armenians are always differently classified than the Turks. a few warning signs for the Armenians Genocide include the arrest of Armenian intellect in 1915. Other signs people can look for include a group of people being treated less than human, the group being considered second-class citizen who has fewer rights than their counterpart in the country. “I have heard something about a Turkish massacre of Armenian several years before, in Adana, but I was sure it was something else –a war of some kind, and not a murder, uniformed Turks battling uniformed Armenian.”(P10) Before the genocide, a mass murder took place in Adana and other Armenian villages, which resulted in 80,000 death. In the book, the main character, Vahan, are not aware of the actual event that took place. Not only does this show his ignorance, it also accurately reflects the reality of the genocide. People ignore the earlier stages, and when they did decide to take action, it's often too

In many works of literature, especially those coming in Africa, Indian, Middle East, we meet characters who are struggling with their identities, culture, religions, submission of other people or country. As we can imagine when you analyze the novels from these countries as we cites the problem of characters are the same as: economic, political, cultural, and emotional effects that colonizer brought and left behind, these are called emotional trauma for the people of these nations cited. The literature asks the readers to enter a text through the post-colonial lens; the chart will help how the approach can be analyzed in reading of a text, the reader would look for the effects of colonialism and how the characters they addressed through of

When studying international relations there are six main theories to look at: realism, liberalism, Marxism, social constructivism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism. These six theories take different approaches to explain various regimes, actions, and events that have occurred around the world throughout time. Not only do these six theories vary by regimes, but also by individuals. For instance, looking at the Rwandan genocide of 1994, it can be argued that the overarching theory to explain it is realism, but notions of liberalism, constructivism, and postcolonialism can also be seen from individuals experiencing it. These four theories are represented in the movie, “Hotel Rwanda.” “Hotel Rwanda” is based off of a true story of a man named Paul Rusesbagina and the hotel he manages, Hotel de Mille Collines. Although not everything depicted in the movie is a real-life event, one is still able to understand how world views can differ from person to person depending on what they were going through during that time. Concepts presented in the movie are concepts that tried to stick to the real events as much as they could. The movie clearly distinguishes the feud between the Tutsi tribe and the Hutu tribe within Kigali. Furthermore, characters Paul Rusebagina, Colonel Oliver, Georges Rutaganda, depict motivating world views. When viewing these three characters and Kigali as a whole, it is evident that not everyone experiencing the same event will view it in the same way.