My Parents’ Bedroom

I’m nine years and seven months old. I’m at home playing peekaboo in my room with my little brother, Jean. (…)

 Source: Akpan, Uwem “My Parents’ Bedroom.” In: New Yorker, 12 June 2006.

Available at [🔗]

current affairs

The Guardian article “’When the massacres started, UN troops saved white people’” relates why the UN was ineffective and the UK and the US refused to intervene.

links

Chris McGreal “When the massacres started, UN troops saved white people.” Guardian, 18 December 1999. [🔗]

questions

1. Why is Maman willing to give up her life? Does she simply see no way out? Is she doing it for the children? For her husband? For the Tutsis who the family is hiding in the ceiling? Did she achieve anything by her self-sacrifice?

2. What do you think Papa’s role was in the death of Annette?

3. What is the role of religion in the story?

4. The UN is portrayed as being unreliable and ineffective in the story. How does this square with the actual events, following The Guardian article “’When the Massacres Started, UN Troops Saved White People’”? What was the position of the UK and the US?