Immaculée Ilibagiza's Left To Tell Essay

April 7th, 1994: The mass murder of nearly 1,000,000 innocent Tutsi's begins while the world stands idle, unaware or not caring. In Immaculée Ilibagiza's Left to Tell the brutal holocaust of a certain people fueled by long standing prejudice and greed for power becomes reality for a young woman struggling to understand her surroundings. With killings all around her, Immaculée uses life lessons to guide her through a murky path. Nothing is safe, not even the promise of a secure, safe family life. Immaculée's life shows how people's lives are influenced by their peer's behaviors and they create a natural tendency to mimic these behaviors even in the face of peril.

The most obvious idea of a family consists of the immediate relatives such as

the mother, father and any siblings. Before the beginning of the Rwandan Genocide, Immaculée belonged to a traditional understanding of a family with the father maintaining the classic patriarch role. Her father, Leonard, behaved very cautiously, but was "a big, strong man, and I always felt safe and loved" (Ilibagiza 4). His power and communal dominance reflects Immaculée's attitude of self-reliance and knack to take leadership. Continuing with the traditional ideas of a family, her mother acted as a supporting role, but just as important in the development of Immaculée. While her father acted quieter, Rose illuminated the room with her energy as Immaculée noted "her energy never failed to astonish me" (4). Rose always used her energy to care for her children and support their education. The compassion and dedication to education displayed by Rose echoes the care and support Immaculée demonstrates throughout the genocide. Along with the independent and responsible demeanors taught by her parents, Immaculée learns a spiritual side to life as well. Both parents and all Immaculée's siblings share a deeper connection in the metaphysical sense. The connection her family share through God parallels with the bond Immaculée has yet to create with more family members. Before the brutality, Immaculée learned important life skills from her family that unbeknownst to her would strengthen her as a person and help her survive.
While the slaughter of Tutsi's begins Immaculée uses her attitude on life to comfort and lead her new family with the probable death of her relatives.

No longer with her two main role models, Immaculée overcomes this void by becoming the role model to the seven women she is shoved in a bathroom with. While taking charge Immaculée notes " the other women followed me mostly due to the fact I was the only one with a formal education" (Ilibagiza 93). Immaculée's readiness to take charge and behave responsibly reflects the same willingness to lead taught by her father. Another time Immaculée needs to use her leadership skills presents itself after the Hutu kills ransack the pastors house trying to find the girls to kill them. To cover the bathroom door Immaculée pleads with the Pastor "please move the wardrobe in front of the door... if you don't I know they will find us and kill us" (Ilibagiza 115). The way Immaculée demands the Pastor to move the wardrobe reveals her father and mother's imprinted teachings. Even though Immaculée leads the women she understands that she possesses no control over the situation. Immaculée recognizes that God controls her future and states "I prayed daily, and prayer became my armor. The ability to relinquish all control offer it up to God reveals her deep faith connection to Him and true belief. Immaculée's time in the bathroom gave her time to perfect old skills and discerning new ones while growing as a

human.
As the genocide concludes Immaculée’s direct relatives are dead, none having a proper burial.

The lack of obvious family members results in Immaculée relying on old family friends such as Aloise. Aloise took kindly to Immaculée and offered her a home after which Immaculée notes "I didn't know what to say except "Thank you"" (181). Although short, Immaculée's response displays her natural response of compassionate caring and gratitude. Another new family member Immaculée finds is Pierre Mehu, her new boss as she works as a secretary. Although not a glamorous job, Immaculée displays her gratitude in her facial epressions stating “I smiled until it hurt” (189). The gratefulness portrayed by Immaculée symbolizes her spiritual connection to her mother and the lessons taught about the bible of staying humble. Immaculée’s main family member post genocide is her old friend, new roommate Sarah. Her and Sarah stayed friends through thick and thin in college and their old flame cannot be extinguished because of the genocide. Their loyalty to each other demonstrates the importance of true friends and what they can do with each other much like Immaculée’s parents. In the post-genocide mess Immaculée maintains her composure constantly while remembering what her parents taught her leading her to discover new family

members.
When faced with immediate danger one is likely to choose to act as one’s family would have responded. This family may include more than one's immediate blood relatives, but also, friends and acquaintances alike. These family members guarantee to affect someone's natural tendencies to forgive or sin. No matter how hard one may try, family and friends surround them and all that must be done to recognize these special people is to understand anyone can be family.