Raymond: Week 7 Hotel Rwanda & Murambi, the Book of Bones

Again we are faced in both the movie and the film of fight over power. For many years the Tutsis people were thought of as powerful and strong with a great influence over the Hutus people. The Hutus despite the lack of respect they received from the Tutsis people were the majority of the population. The hatred toward one another was so great. The Tutsis people wanted power, this is what brought us to the massive genocide that last for three months in Rwanda. We see the Hutus perpetrate so much more violence, which was driving by the anger. This quickly resulted in many more Tutsis people killed. There were so killed in such a relativity short period of time in this genocide, which is what made this so impressionable. In Hotel Rwanda, we are able to see the massacre first hand, but it is seen from a Hotel Manager. He attempted so greatly to save his fellow citizens from the wrath of this genocide. Here we also see that constant struggle of political power and control. Paul Rusesabagina who is the hotel manager is a Hutu, but is married to a Tutsis woman. This is one example of the reason for the genocide as well; the lack of control of the integrated marriages between the two people. Due to Paul’s marriage he had even a harder task of keeping safe and staying alive. The same things are seen in this film as many of the other genocide films we have studied. The people watching their fellow citizen die such horrific deaths and being subjected to such violent abuse. Paul does what any other man would do to keep his family out of harm’s way. Finds people in high authority and gives them things they want such as money to maintain his family safety. Paul does and is able to keep his family out of harm’s way.
Michel Serumundo, is one of the characters we meet in Murambi, the Book of Bones he is actually the first we meet. I thought that his story was interested, because he did not have any idea of what was happening. This shows just how quick the genocide began for these people. Michel is an owner of a video store in the village, he is at work one night and it’s a very quite night. He stayed late in the store just in case the last minute customer would arrive. When Michel began to leave and head to the bus to go home, he had an odd encounter. As he began his walk the sounds he heard were sirens, he took this as a fire must a have broke out did not think very much of it at all. The next event it was started his suspicious feelings solider in combat gear asked for his ID, when the solider saw he was a Tutsis he told him to move on. Once on the bus, Michel bus was stopped by soldiers and asked for Id’s as well. Michel suspicion grew even more so now. He was thinking to himself what is going on here, why is all this odd things occurring? As Michel arrived home his wife looked very serious as well, he then knew something bad was happening or going to take place soon. Like any other parent, he made sure all of his children were indoors and in his possession. His wife told him the radio advised all to stay home and not leave to go anywhere. By now Michel was aware this must be related to the death of the President that took place. He knew that major killing would then take place and massive bloodshed was coming their way. Having to live in complete fear as Michel and his family did, the fear of dying and the fear of the unknown is in conceivable. This would all be a result of showing that you cannot kill our President and not have consequences follow. All in all it was struggle of trying to regain power; everyone wants to have the upper hand and the control over others in these genocides. As a result, however many lives are lost that does not need to be, and the power control still in resolved.

Rogers: Murambi, Book of Bones and Hotel Rwanda

Having viewed Hotel Rwanda before, I thought that I was prepared for the carnage and bloodshed that I knew was in store for me. But Don Cheadle proved me wrong; I was weeping 15 minutes into the film. "Jesus, I'm so ashamed" states Joaquin Phoenix's photographer character, Jack Daglish. This is, overwhelmingly, the case throughout the entire film. Joaquin has hit the nail on the head and this view is echoed by abrasive Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte) in his shockingly truthful speech about the negligence of the Western powers. In Charles Murigande's article, "Lessons Learned from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide" he gives us a little background information regarding just how much the UN and the West knew about what was going on in Rwanda. For example, in a report from 1993, a reporter named Adama Dieng, discovered that NGOs had discovered that the current regime of Rwanda was planning a large-scale genocide. Another warning that was ignored due to what Murigande calls "International Indifference" was a cable from General Romeo Dallaire in 1994, commander of the UN Assistance Mission in Rwanda conveyed news that the Interahamwe were drawing up plans that would allow themselves to kill one thousand Tutsi's every twenty minutes, three months before the genocide began.
To Paul Rusesabagina, The West embodies everything that he respects. Order, comfort, safety; everything that his government is unable to offer him, he respects Western powers for giving to its citizens. The West carries authority, the UN can do no wrong. In an intense conversation between Daglish and Paul, Daglish apologizes to Paul for taking footage of violence outside of the Mille Collines. Paul, embodying our debate from our last blog topic on reporters and their culpability, thanks Daglish for taking the footage and making sure that the outside world will see what is going on inside of Rwanda, so that help can be provided. Daglish tells him that he really does not believe that the world gives a damn about Rwanda and that the footage will only serve to temporarily discomfit them before they return to their dinners. Shaken, Paul begins to doubt his former hero worship of the West and it's so-called values. As all of the white hotel visitors are evacuated from the Mille Collines, you really see Paul's world crashing down around his ears.

One of the chapters from Murambi, Book of Bones that most struck me was the little girl Marina Nkusi's memory of "Tonton Antoine." This short chapter illustrates a a young girl who remembers when her father took up his machete in defense of his family. Her father's friend, Tonton Antoine, somebody who the little girl had formerly cavorted with gleefully, tries to convince Marina's father to join him in fighting at one of the barricades. The Hutu family was harboring several young Tutsi children and the father had heretofore managed to avoid joining in the killing which the Interahamwe expected of every good Hutu. Tonton Antoine manages to convince Marina's father to join the fighting, possibly by threats and certainly be some kind of coercion, as Marina remembers hearing shouting coming from the room where the two men are talking. Her father has serious moral conflict with killing people who have never done him any harm. But to protect his family from the wrath of the Interahamwe he takes up his machete. He tries to convince himself that war is fleeting, "Don't you watch television? It's like all wars, you kill people and then it's over!" Marina tells us that that the killing he engages in strikes him to the heart; every night when he comes home from wielding his machete, he visits the little Tutsi orphans and gives them treats. This chapter illustrates how nobody was left unaffected by the Tutsi Genocide. It is impossible to ignore and everybody, even innocent people like Marina and her family, becomes culpable.

Tregre: Week 7, Murambi and Hotel Rwanda

Bones from the Rwandan Genocide. This could have been stopped.

After reading Murambi and watching "Hotel Rwanda," it was clear that it is believed that Western powers could have stopped the genocide. In 100 days, between April and July of 1994, 1 million lives were taken. It was one of the bloodiest atrocities in the twentieth century, and no Western powers even tried to intervene. There was clear early warnings about what was to happen, but they were ignored. The articles by Murigande and Moller made me be embarrassed of living in the West. A great point was brought up, and was the same thing that was brought up by Elie Wiesel, "silence and indifference in the face of such horrific crimes only emboldens the killers and makes worse crimes possible." The Western powers turned a blind eye on Rwanda and was worried about other political matters, instead of 1 million innocent people who were brutally slaughtered. This was by far the most impactive genocide on me. However, Murigande took what was left of the genocide and viewed it as a learning experience. This was a fantastic way to look at it. One cannot change the past, and the Western powers know that they did not interfere to help stop this genocide. However, Murigande took a bold and empowering step, he learned from the genocide. Rwanda was rising up and he stated that Rwanda "rose from the depths to which it had fallen, and continues to rise today, then I believe there can never be a hopeless case in terns of postconflict recovery." Yes, one can spend their entire lives thinking about how each of these genocides should have been stopped. However, instead of letting those 1 million die in vain, it is important to not allow this to happen again and to recover and rebuild. Rwanda's experience can be used as a teaching tool to help prevent further genocides, let's hope that people can learn from the past.

In "Hotel Rwanda," one can truly see the horrors of this genocide. If one was a Tutsi, then they had a death sentence marked on them. It is important to still realize at how well thought out this genocide was. When the Western powers were not looking or paying attention, that is when Hutu extremists slaughtered the Tutsi people. The manager of the hotel, Paul was the main character in the movie. He was a Hutu and his wife was a Tutsi. The movie was about how he would bribe others in order to save his wife and other Tutsis. He had a strong influence and with the urging of his wife, he uses it. As violence escalates, one can see the horrors of this genocide. Paul could not just stand and watch the innocent people get slaughtered and puts his own life in danger for the good of mankind. While the rest of the world was not eager to intervene, Paul made his hotel a refugee camp. He diverted the Hutu soldiers when everyone was evacuated, except the Tutsis, the targets of the genocide. After ambushes and attempted bribes, Paul was able to blackmail the Rwandan Army General and get everyone to safety. This made me think, Paul was one person who as reported to save 1,268 people at the end of the movie. Now imagine if Western powers and others would have stepped in. The 1 million death toll would have dwindled down. There is strength in numbers and silence and indifference is what allows these types of tragedies to happen. Western powers were always known as the "power houses" of the world. When they would rather focus on politics instead of intervening with mass homicide, it is disturbing and infuriating. Rwanda did not stand a chance. They had a corrupt government and did not have self-sustaining powers to stop the genocide. It was one versus the other. This is when other countries should interfere.

Now, after making these points, I will answer the blog post question. In Murambi, the truth, innocence, genocide, and tragedy were all evident throughout the writings. It was also evident that people tried to coverup the genocide. This is an outrage. I believe that this assignment envoked more emotion in me than any of them. I believe because tis genocide was one of the most current ones, the most gruesome, and no one intervened. It was 1994, people should have known better than to let this happen! There is a resounding theme that I keep catching onto. Only humanity can save everyone. That is relying on the good of mankind and expecting people to do the right thing. This does not happen and it is evident all over the world with these genocides that we learn about. Like the Jews, relying on one's neighbor who is German, or in this case Hutu, to keep them alive usually ends up in death. This is the most disturbing thing about the world in which we inhabit. Relying on someone else to keep you alive is as good as relying on a dog to feed and take care of its owner. Disturbing. Murambi is about Cornelius who is a Rwandan teacher. He comes back after exile in Djibouti in order to come to terms with the death of his family. However, coming back shows that life is not black or white. Cornelius learns that there is not only victims or perpetrators, there are also people in between. This is a hard lesson to learn. Diop, who wrote the novel unveils and unmasks the truth of this genocide which is hard to face.

The character, Uncle Simeon Habineza revealed many truths in this novel. He was the Uncle of Cornelius. Diop used this character to explore victimhood in the violence of Rwanda. When the villagers of Murambi set out to destroy the home of a man who organized their relatives massacre, it was Simeon who told them that every act of vengeance in Rwanda's history enabled new acts of revenge to occur. It was a never ending cycle. It was interesting to see this viewpoint. One wants to root for the victims and see the bad guy lose and suffer, however, it is important to see that even victims can make matters worse and keep the cycle going. Simeon sees the victims suffering but does not want their morals to become corrupt and to act on vengeance to help heal their grief. My favorite quote I found was, "I want to tell you this: you have suffered, but that doesn't make you any better than those who made you suffer. They are people like you and me. Evil is within each one of us. I, Simeon Habineza, repeat, you are not better than them. Now, go back home and think about it: there comes a time when you have to stop shedding blood in a country. Each one of you must have the strength to believe that that moment is here. If someone among you is not strong enough, then he's no better than an animal." Simeon is wise beyond his years. He does not excuse their victimization for them to disregard their ethnical responsibility to not act out of retribution. This feeds the roots of hatred and keeps the cycle going. This is the spark that ignites genocide. If the characters rose up and killed every person who killed them, then it would be two genocides with many more lives lost. This does not make it right. Simeon recognized how victimhood could turn into a cult-like experience. Simeon helped explain why there was such intense celebrations over death by the victims. Simeon discovered the key to recovery: forgiveness. Ending violence and rebuilding societies come from forgiveness and moving forward. Forgiveness is not so much as an act to please God, or whoever one's higher power might be, but a survival method. It demands victims to not retaliate in a violent way in order to redeem themselves. When they kill in response, empathy disappears and one is just as bad as the other. Simeon's role was to distinguish this. Anyone can learn from this character and see how helped stop a vicious cycle instead of fueling. He was probably my favorite character in any book that I have read. The most important part of the novel was when Cornelius discovers that the perfect Rwandan is "both guilty and a victim" and that it was absurd that victims kept proclaiming their innocence so obstinately." The most tragic part was the fact that Cornelius' father was the one who orchestrated of one of the worst massacres in the Rwandan genocide and that included his mother and two siblings. Simeon helped Cornelius find peace with what happened. The tragedy did happen, the West did not interfere, but one should forgive and rebuild, not fuel it.

** Sorry for the long post, this just had so many items essential to discuss.
*** The most interesting fact that I found was that Tutsis were distinguished from the Hutus by their taller, slimmer bodies, longer noses and lighter skin.

Baudot- Week 7: Hotel Rwanda and Murambi, The Book of Bones

Rwandan genocide-- Innocent children one of its greatest victims 

In the film Hotel Rwanda, we see what mass genocide was like for the Rwandan people. In only roughly about three months, millions of people were killed by this persecution. What is most striking about this film, and as Dr. McCay mentions in her lecture, is that there seemed to be a complete lack of willingness to help Rwanda during this by by most all other countries. Despite occurring during a time when media and news was able to rapidly spread, this news had no effect. Fortunately, Paul Rusesabagina is able to help save over a thousand people by keeping them shelter in his hotel. The reason behind the Rwandan genocide was the ever longstanding competition between the Tutsi who were typically more powerful and Hutu who were greater in population and finally took away the power from the Tutsi around the 1960s. The assassination of Habyarimana unfortunately resulted in the Hutus' execution of mass killings of the Tutsi people and anti-hate Hutus who were very unfavorably labeled as traitors to their people and for not wanting to kill the "cockroaches" and the Tutsi were renamed.

The Hotel becomes a very significant aspect of the movie, other than reasons that are not so obvious, including the idea that very quickly Rwanda was in a state where they needed more and more refugee camps because of the greater danger that was being imposed on them and the number of people that were being killed as well as the importance of it keeping its reputation as a 4 star hotel. This is important, as Paul states, because it is the only thing keeping them alive, which I interpreted to represent their lives as well as their people as a whole, their culture, their business, their economy, their land, etc. This idea is supported as there are many more economic and social references made to the Hotel as the film goes on. When the Hutu army comes and orders all of the refugees and Paul out of the Hotel (and Paul tells his family to hide on the roof) there are over 900 people who will be forced to most likely face their death. Paul ironically calls from the hotel phone is order to receive help from the UN who then tells Paul no one will assist Rwanda because they do not feel it is worth saving, as this includes Americans, Europeans, and especially the French. They reach out for assistance but keep getting denied. Western powers, at this time, are not willing to take a risk and save these people. A UN soldier in the movie even claims, at one point, that he is a "peacekeeper not a peacemaker." But what line is being drawn there, and where is there even a distinction? To what extent is someone even being a peacekeeper but ignoring all of the death and mass murder that is going on around them? To maintain peace there must be action if there is evil present. To keep peace, you make peace. This notion even relates back to a quote earlier in the film by a media recorder who states, "I think people see this footage at home and say 'Oh my God that's horrible' and then go on eating their dinners." Passiveness can be genocide's greatest support. Meanwhile, Paul is being told that the rich cockroaches he is keeping in his hotel will no longer have any need for their money; that it will  be no good to them anymore. Soon "all the Tutsis will be dead." He even challenges Paul when he asks, "How can you kill us all?" As mentioned, there is a continuous decline for overall outlook for the people of Rwanda in every sense of the word.

Paul tries to remain encouraged, however, and asks the people to try to get as much outside help as possible and imagine passing the sentiment to them through the phone that if they are to let go of our hand asking for help, we will die. I found this to be one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. As Dr. McCay mentions in her lecture, it is ironic how the World Cup is going on at the same time as the Rwandan genocide. It is so sad to think that so many people turned a blind eye to what was going on in Rwanda-- and yet, you assume, too, that not only was it just people, but exposure to what was going on was minimal as well due to the probable. complete lack of media attention this genocide was receiving on the news, etc. This crisis was not even important enough to make it to television. One other striking scene, to me, was when Paul gets told, "You aren't even a nigger. You're an African. Because of that, they aren't going to stop this Paul." There is just a complete mentality of hatred, disregard, and ignorance.

This theme continues in the novel Murambi, the Book of Bones. The story recounts the life and sentiment of a Rwandan history teacher, Cornelius, who was living in Djibouti at the time of the genocide. he returns to Rwanda to try to comprehend the death of his family and to write a play about all the events that he has seen and witnessed for himself. As the novel continues, Cornelius begins to understand one of the most important lessons concerning genocide: only our own humanity can save themselves. Cornelius takes it upon himself to bear witness to all of the atrocities going on around him and the lack of what humanity is doing to help themselves. At one point in the novel it states in reference to talking to people about Djibouti, "Djibouti had fascinated him. he explained to Stanley and Jessica that it was an immense expanse of stone, a country of vivid colors, often red or black. He told them that Djibouti had made him experience a strange emptiness and that no country in the world offered itself up so immodestly to the curiosity of strangers. There, everything was visible to the naked eye, including misery, which everywhere took so much trouble to escape attention... Cornelius had a lot of reasons to love Djibouti but the strongest was perhaps this: it was the only place in the world where he had the feeling that one could start something new (Diop 37)." In this quote we see the importance of having faith in humanity and that there could be hope for a place that experiences great genocide. Misery and trouble are everywhere, but it all must be overcome.

The character Jessica seems to keep this same sentiment. Throughout the text she is described as thin and frail and weak with the effects of starvation and hunger. In the text she says, "Should we just sit back and wait for our killers or try to do something so that our country can go back to being normal? Between our futures and ourselves, unknown people had planted a sort of giant machete. Try as you might, you couldn't ignore it. The tragedy would always end up catching you. because people came into our house one night and massacred all your family. Because in our country where you live in exile, you always end up feeling in the way (Diop 31)." Jessica struggles with the elements associated with tragedy, including loss of family, the uncertainty of the future, and her memories that haunt her (as mentioned around page 30). Ultimately, she is a character who has her own personal struggles and feelings she must overcome that are associated with the genocide, but she is aware of the "greatness" that is behind what is going on--people needed to embrace the tragedy, try all that they could to fight against it and resist, and see hope. In both Murambi, the Book of Bones and Hotel Rwanda, we see these actions as the ultimate redeemers.

Trujillo, Hotel Rwanda and Murambi

Young Tutsi boy bearing machete scars

Genocide is horrible across the board. No matter what the genocide, what the war, who the opposing people are, the fact remains: innocent people are being killed. There are humans killing humans with no mercy and with the intention of stamping out a people that are devout to a particular culture. It's disgusting no matter how you look at it, and every single genocide we have looked at is equally as disgusting. No one deserves being killed in cold blood, no one deserves having their culture forcefully and violently taken away from them. These people are all innocent.

The Rwanda genocide was, in the simplest way, a method of revenge, of the underdog (the Hutus), a people who, long ago, were deemed different and of a lower class in Rwanda. This is a constant battle, a constant war between the Tutsi's and Hutsu's. Long ago, this division of people was decided by the Belgians and the decision was made because of lightness of skin, daintiness of the nose and long limbs. It was said that the Tutsi's were a tall, light and regal people. While I don't think that this genocide can be placed on any one people or any one event, the separation of the people of Rwanda was the turning point.

In Murambi: The Book of Bones the man who made my skin crawl would be Dr. Joseph Karekezi (a Hutu) who was manipulative, self-interested and cruel. This was a man married to a Tutsi woman and who had fought passionately against the cruelty shown to the Tutsi people. He had been a strong advocate for equality amongst the people and had come to have a position of trust and power. However, all the tables turned when people had found out that he had been secretly funding the Hutu movement. He then used his position of importance among the Tutsis to build a shelter for them so they would be safe from the Hutus. This is where 50 thousand people died because of him. Where 50 thousand people's blood was spilled when this man called in the Hutu killers.

He then also led his wife and own two children into the 'safe camp' and into their deaths. They were Tutsi were they not? They also deserved to die did they not?

Tran: The Rwandan Genocide

The aftermath and cleanup of the genocide.


Of all the genocides I have studied, Rwanda has always been the hardest to learn about or even to comprehend. I think is because of the short amount of time it was executed in and the number of murders that took place. Beyond the figures though, the worst part was the way in which the genocide was carried out by neighbors, friends, and even families. How could once lovely neighbors and families suddenly turn on their Tutsi loved ones literally overnight. It is hard to imagine that it was ordinary Rwandans that picked up machetes and clubs to chop and hack at innocent Tutsis. Even under the house of God, no one was spared and churches were actually where most of the mass murders happened. It was an unspeakable event and worst of all, no one came to help.

Studying Rwanda this time around, it has been shocking to find out how involved France was in the genocide. France didn’t personally kill anyone, but they backed the Hutus and also helped war criminals sneak across the boarders during Operation Turquoise. I have studied the Rwandan Genocide before, but I don’t remember learning about France’s involvement and I think it is important to be aware of its part in the genocide! In the article by Murigande, he states how there are reports that there would be a killing spree that was to occur and goes further to say that the French didn’t like the RPF and weren’t going to allow them to take control of Kigali. There were signs that things would happen and the UN didn’t take a bigger stance to prevent it. As much as I am angry at the French for assisting the Hutus murderers to escape, it was really the Belgians who started it all. They socially constructed two different ethnic groups (more so a caste system) in Rwanda when there wasn’t a difference between them at all. I was also surprise that on identification cards, there was either Hutu or Tutsi on it. They created this tension and hatred between the two groups and added to it by favoring the Tutsi because they thought that group had better traits.

I think the West had a huge part in Rwanda and should have done more about it. Sarajevo was happening at the same time and though it lasted a long time, media attention and some kind of action was used to try to help it. With Rwanda, I feel that because it wasn’t a white country, it didn’t get the same treatment. I think it is also because Africa didn’t have anything to offer the West. The Holocaust had to be stopped because it was already part of the war. The Native American genocide was over land and resources. Then in Bosnia and Serbia, the UN was very involved in that, but why not Rwanda? In the film Hotel Rwanda, Colonel Oliver tells Paul that the UN weren’t coming and the French only came to evacuate the whites of the hotel. Paul and other guests at the hotel try to call all the Western people they know to see if anything could be done or if they could find a way to leave. The lack of intervention from the West allowed more of the killings to happen and the rebels didn’t feel a sense of consequences for doing so.

Docter Joseph Karekezi is Cornelius’s father and his time during the genocide was a peculiar one. From the outsider, he seemed to be uninvolved with politics and what the rebels Hutus are doing. He seemed like a moderate Hutu and someone would was trying to lessen the divide and discrimination between the two groups. He was also secretly meeting with the Hutu interahamwe and Colonel Musoni to tell them to come to Murambi to carry out the massacre. He actually felt that some of the interhamwe were getting a bit lazy and sloppy because they were drinking and not killing everyone in sight. During the genocide, Karekezi reflected on his life and his beliefs and he realizes that this was his opportunity and duty to rid the country of the Tutsi. Since he is quite trusted by his community, Tutsi feel like they can look to him and trust him when he advised them to go to Polytechnic School. He was very calculating in his plans because he decided to bring his family to the school too to show the other that it would be safe there since his family was there too. His family would have been easily safe in their house, but he decided to get rid of them too. There is part in the book where it says he has a cold indifference; he neither hates anyone nor does he love enough. They were all expendable to him. Gerard says how though Karekezi seemed like he was a moderate Hutu who tried to be equal, but in actuality he hated the fact that Tutsi had better jobs and pay and he never had those chances because he was a Hutu. After the genocide, Karekezi is able to leave Rwanda through Operation Touquoise and Colonel Etienne takes him away. On the surface, Dr. Joseph Karekezi is shocking and sinister, but if you look collectively at the events in Rwanda he wasn’t that much different from half of the country. People like him could be found all over Rwanda, although most of them didn’t organize a mass murder the size he did. He turned on his village and especially his family, but that happened over and over again in Rwanda where friends and families would kill their own because they were Tutsi. When Cornelius comes back to find out the truth, “He had suddently discovered that he had become the perfect Rwandan: both guilty and a victim” (Diop 78). He was left to pick up the pieces of his father’s actions and face their aftermath.

Ramon: Week 5, Powwow Highway and "Saint Marie"

The characters, Buddy Red Bow, Filbert Bono, and Marie all deal with cultural subordination in vastly different ways. However, the constant within these three character’s paths of subordination is the destruction of their Native American culture.

We will start with Filbert Bono of PowWow Highway. Filbert is an interesting character in this situation because he is somewhat naïve to what is truly going on around him. He is of middle age from what I could gather in the film, but he has a child-like mind. Filbert has the goal of becoming a great Native American warrior. In Filbert’s mind, all he has ever known is the Native American culture. The ironic thing about Filbert’s character is that he tries so hard to become a warrior, but he still is sucked in by Americana. Two large examples of this is his “pony” and his eating styles. His “pony” is a beat up car and the only things that Filbert eats, according to Buddy Red Bow, are hamburgers and fries. When one thinks about Americana, the automobile industry and the fast food industry are the two distinguishing factors of Americana. It I ironic that this Native American warrior journey is laid side by side with two of Americana’s major elements.

We now move to Buddy Red Bow. Red Bow’s situation is also quite ironic. He is so gung-ho about preserving the reservation from the mining scheme and keeping Americana away from the Reservation. He goes so far as to park violence towards the white-man. However, when he and Filbert attend the Powwow, Red Bow states his hate of the Powwow. Granted, Red Bow does partake in ceremonial dancing at the Powwow, but in my examination of this scene, Red Bow joins in the dancing to make Filbert happy.

Lastly, Marie’s character in “Saint Marie” is partnered with another large element in Americana, the Christian religion. This nation was founded on religious principles, but the native inhabitants of the “New World” were pushed back and lowered to third class citizens. This short story made me think about my time in Belize. In Belize, young Mayan women are taken under the wings of multiple religious orders, such as the Palatine Sisters. This is not a knock on the Palatines at all and I am not saying that the Palatines are taking the Mayans away from the Mayan culture. In this story, Marie simply deals with the treatment she undergoes from Sr. Leopolda. I am in full support of the Mayan youth being taken in by the sisters. However, are the Mayans (and Native Americans) being “forced” to do these things and tricked into thinking that doing dishes is for God? I do not know and will not know