Conformity Vs Genocide

Loyalty to Self versus Conformity in the Rwandan Genocide & Cypriot Liberation
Remember that life is made up of loyalty: loyalty to your friends; loyalty to things beautiful and good; loyalty to the country in which you live; loyalty to your King; and above all, for this holds all other loyalties together, loyalty to God.
-Queen Mary, Buckingham Palace, March 23, 1923
On that day in history, Queen Mary had reminded her people to be loyal to their values during a time of savagery. The people who served under Queen Mary turned into savages. Later in history, in the mid-1950s in Cyprus, Greece, a liberation movement broke out, dividing the people into Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, seeking annexation from the British, and fighting against
unification between Turkey. This movement of war and political unrest became the Cypriot Liberation, and the movement lasted until March of 1959. A similar movement of unrest happened in April 1994, when the East African state of Rwanda was divided into two factions of the Hutu and the Tutsi people, of which the Tutsis were the victims of a 100-day massacre that accounted for 20% of the population’s death. The characters who lived through the Cypriot Liberation and Rwandan Genocide respectively are a nameless executioner who is forced to choose between his life or his friend’s life, a pastor who falters in his faith in the face of Hutu killers, and a hotel manager who gives himself to his family and the people of Rwanda. Both men are put on the fine line between life and death. Despite the situation at hand, when conflicted with the inner struggle between loyalty to self versus conformity, people lose traces of their humanity and self-identity, so holding on to their own values and beliefs show true character, regardless of the situation. As a means to start, Panos Ioannides, a Cypriot author, uses the protagonist of his short story “Gregory,” a nameless executioner, to force the reader to decide whether the choices that the executioner makes are justified in his sense of morality or duty. “Gregory” takes place during the Cypriot Liberation, and the executioner befriends a prisoner of war named Gregory, who had saved the executioner’s life from the sting of a scorpion. The nameless executioner goes through ups and downs in his perception of the “friendship” he has with his prisoner, like when they joke around why he didn’t “run away” or when they Gregory talked about “his girl” (Ioannides 16-20). He often curses him at the fact that he was oblivious to the idea of escape. “[Because] you didn’t escape yesterday when we sent you all alone to the laundry – we did it on purpose, you idiot” (Ioannides 41). This defines the conflict in the friendship that shows he is using duty as an excuse to forsake the connection he had with Gregory at one point, because the executioner states that “it ain’t right” and really wants to save Gregory against his order (Ioannides 22-40). This is all occurring at the time that the executioner must kill Gregory, and he has to empty out every single round in the barrel of his gun to make sure his job is done. “He died with a terrible spasm. His mouth was full of blood and so were my boots and socks . . . His hands were frozen and wouldn’t let my legs go. I still have their imprints, rend and deep, as if made by a hot knife” (Ioannides 42-45). The executioner is now mentally scarred with his decision of conformity to his duty rather than being at peace knowing he let his friend live. Now as a character, the executioner is broken and haunted by his lack of morality because “they didn’t care to know what happened to that Gregory, alive or dead.” Although Gregory is now dead, the executioner believes he still has a sense of humanity by breaking the rule of hanging prisoners who have been executed, and decides to bury him. Without hesitation, he believes his actions were justified by breaking away from only one part of conformity, which makes him even less of a character than Ioannides sets him out to be. Pastor Murinzi, a pastor who is reluctant to be true to his own moral values and his duty in the face of death, but ends up saving the life of one woman.
With the previous statement in mind, as the years progress, Immaculée Ilibigiza was a young Tutsi woman who was caught amidst the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. In an excerpt from her autobiography Left to Tell, Immaculée describes how she huddled with five other women in the 3-by-4 -foot bathroom of her pastor’s home, silently praying and clinging to her rosary beads as she heard Hutus shouting her name outside the door, full of bloodlust and ready to kill every single living being in that home. A pastor’s duty is to follow the word of God and harbor those who wish to seek Him. He is to also love and respect every living being as if they were his family. Although the man who hid her was a Hutu, he went against conformity to the slaughter of Tutsis, and instead hid these young girls and took a chance in his faith. Ilibigiza had him push a dresser in front of the bathroom door the second time a Hutu group came to search the house, and they lived through her stroke of faith in God, and his taking chance in a girls faith. “It was as if with crystal clarity that I saw the dresser in my mind, and I got down on the floor and begged, “Please, push the dresser in front of the door. It is tall enough to cover it, and it will be as if they were blind” (Ilibigiza 251). Initially, Murinzi is blind with his faith as well, hesitating to cover the door of the girls. However, through the same act of God and faith that defines his morality, he allowed the girls to live, and this story to be told. He was displayed as a character that allowed his morality to define him as he was strengthened by the newfound faith of
Imaculée. Lastly, a Hutu hotel manager risks his life by being morally true to himself, and turning his morality into something greater. In Terry George’s film Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina is a hotel manager who happens to be a Hutu, with a Tutsi wife and children. Caught in the middle of the Rwandan Genocide, Paul acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Paul’s loyalty to his family evolves into the care and loyalty to the people in the hotel as a whole, regardless of who they are. In addition, the morality Paul displays in the face of adversity shows that he is a truly well rounded character. Paul once said in the film “family is all that matters” (George), and although this line is said in context with the witness of a neighbor’s beating, Paul’s moral compass is on the correct path, putting his family as a priority. Paul’s duty to the people allows him to use the manipulation of words to keep these people safe, as stated in the original script of the film:
CAPTAIN (CONT 'D)
Shoot them now or you die first.

The Captain aims his pistol at Paul 's head. Cocks the hammer.

PAUL
Captain, what could I pay you not to do this?

The Captain laughs.

CAPTAIN
You want to pay me?

PAUL
Why not? These are not rebels, look at them. Soon they will be worthless to you.
Why not take some money, for your work?

He uses his position to sway the militiamen from killing innocent people, whether they are Hutu or Tutsi. Unlike Pastor Murinzi, Paul does not hesitate to jump headfirst into situations that that could cost him his life, but would save others. And unlike the nameless executioner, Paul’s sense of morality grows exponentially to the danger he faces, and to the duty he owes to his people, making him a character that constantly grows with his obstacles; the perfect character with a true moral compass. In conclusion, when one follows their morals against conformity and the obstacles in their path, they emerge better people and the people around them are affected in a positive way. The nameless executioner ends up mentally scarred and regrets his decision. Pastor Murinzi has to live with the fact of sending two boys away to their death and hesitating to save the lives of 6 girls in his bathroom. Finally, Paul not only saves his family, but also saved the lives of 1,268 Rwandan refugees. Morality is the only thing that separates savages and human beings.

Works Cited
George, Terry, dir. Hotel Rwanda. Lionsgate Entertainment, 2004. Film. 22 Oct 2013.
Ilibigiza, Immaculée. "Live to Tell." Trans. Array One World, Many Cultures. New York: Pearson Education, 2009. Print.
Ioannides, Panos. "Gregory." Trans. Array One World, Many Cultures. New York: Pearson Education, 2009. Print.