Ever thought about writing a book? If you have, let me give you a word of advice: the biggest challenge you will come across is not the storyline, but the character. In order to write a captivating story, you would need to create someone your readers could relate to and when people feel sympathy for your character, then you know you have succeeded. This is generally achieved through flawed characters that pursue a noble cause, or at least in their own mind. In Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda, Jean-Philipe Stassen takes us into the heart of the Rwandan conflict that focuses on Deogratias, who is initially presented as a madman, which belies the fact that he is capable of committing atrocities. As a reader, sympathizing with Deogratias proved to
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Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda, who was in the same boat as Deogratias, chose to help the Tutsi refugees when he could have easily led a man-slaughter of his own or even, ran off and drank himself to death. Nonetheless, Paul’s actions revealed that good could persevere over evil, if constructive measures are taken. On the other hand, Deogratias acted out of cowardice and allowed alcohol to consume him, which did nothing to improve his life. Consequently, his actions not only blurred the line between reality and illusion, but also paved the way for him to commit atrocious acts in the name of so-called …show more content…
Having experienced the genocide firsthand, Deogratias probably failed to see that resolving murder with murder will never accomplish anything. Hence, he confused revenge with justice, leading him to commit murder. We see that he cleverly uses the sergeant’s disregard for tasting beer for poison before drinking to kill him (6). We see a significant level of intelligence in a supposed ‘madman’ and it makes us wonder once again whether Deogratias may have had the potential to restore balance in a country where chaos reigned freely. We see that Deo successfully contributes to society by building Village Health Works, a clinic that served the people of Kigutu and nearby nations (Kidder 256-57). If Deogratias was truly seeking redemption for his mistakes, he should have pursued a different approach, one that would have benefited society in the long
Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda, who was in the same boat as Deogratias, chose to help the Tutsi refugees when he could have easily led a man-slaughter of his own or even, ran off and drank himself to death. Nonetheless, Paul’s actions revealed that good could persevere over evil, if constructive measures are taken. On the other hand, Deogratias acted out of cowardice and allowed alcohol to consume him, which did nothing to improve his life. Consequently, his actions not only blurred the line between reality and illusion, but also paved the way for him to commit atrocious acts in the name of so-called …show more content…
Having experienced the genocide firsthand, Deogratias probably failed to see that resolving murder with murder will never accomplish anything. Hence, he confused revenge with justice, leading him to commit murder. We see that he cleverly uses the sergeant’s disregard for tasting beer for poison before drinking to kill him (6). We see a significant level of intelligence in a supposed ‘madman’ and it makes us wonder once again whether Deogratias may have had the potential to restore balance in a country where chaos reigned freely. We see that Deo successfully contributes to society by building Village Health Works, a clinic that served the people of Kigutu and nearby nations (Kidder 256-57). If Deogratias was truly seeking redemption for his mistakes, he should have pursued a different approach, one that would have benefited society in the long