Shake Hands With The Devil Analysis

Broken Promises
The Rwanda genocide is a shameful episode in human history that illustrates the inability of the international community to help the population who is in need of a hero. General Romeo Dallaire was the commander for the United Nations mission in Rwanda at the time of the Genocide. Regardless of his continuous efforts to try to prevent the genocide, his ideals were halted by the skepticism of the world in the situation. General Dallaire fought until the end to stop the cruelty of the situation with his life at risk and never giving up on those who the world had ignored and left to die in the hands of its enemy. General Dallaire, regardless of his failure in Rwanda, is a role model to our generation. He demonstrated that helping to the best of our abilities sometimes is …show more content…
In his book, Shake Hands with the Devil, he explains the details involved in his attempt to resolve the situation. The name of the book signifies the hands he shook whenever he was attempting to create agreements. Those hands that later betrayed him and were used to fill the street with the blood of children that were rip out of their mothers’ womb. General Dallaire knew there was something that some individuals were hiding. As soon as he lost the grip on the situation his perspective in the situation completely changed. He realized that the extremists were testing him since his arrival in Rwanda. He made promises that he could not back up with the means given to him. The enemy knew he was weak and that there would be no resistance from the United Nations in case of an actual conflict. Murphy in her article explains, “Throughout the work, Dallaire reflects on his weaknesses, clearly explaining his perspective at the time of the atrocities” (130). There were multiple shifts in his understandings during and after the genocide, but when he realized he had lost control it was too late to do anything about