Hotel Rwanda Reflection

The Movie was about Rwanda massacre in 1994. It was a fight between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. There are no big differences between Tutsis and Hutus. They were friends and a family like the main character’s family. Paul was Hutu but his wife was Tutsi. Hutu killed Tutsis very violently. I couldn’t believe that it was a real massacre.

There was a radio, Hutu Power Radio Station, which helped Hutu to connect to each others. The radio station was the main mean for the propaganda for the Hutu ethnic group. It warned the Hutu president be careful for the Tutsi rebels. When the president died by Tutsi rebel Hutu started to kill the Tutsis. “Cut the tall tree” was a signal for the Hutus to kill Tutsis. It showed that advanced technology can be destructive when it is misused, especially for the uneducated people.

A reporter took a video of massacre scenes and send to western world. The western army came but they didn’t help and withdraw the most of existing army. The western politicians ignored them because they don’t even worth as a one vote. United Nations representative said we are here as a peace keepers, not as peace makers. UN didn’t have enough forces. I realized heartless international politics.

After the war all the war criminals got caught and went to prison. I think the justice is still alive. This movie made me think a lot of things. I was quite confused. It was a chance for me to think about human being.

Hotel Rwanda

We had to do a little bit of research on Rwandan genocide history. Some cites were linked in the Edline and I got related information easily.

Before I watched “Hotel Rwanda,” I didn’t know about Rwandan genocide of 1994. It was the most rapid genocide in twentieth century. According to the movie almost a million Rwandans died in 100 days. Ninety percents of victims were Tutsis. It was a massacre between two ethnic groups. The reprisal massacres started when the Hutu president was killed by Tutsi rebels. The radio propaganda escalated the bad situation so fast. The Hutu ethnic group tried to sweep out the Tutsi ethnic group. The western world didn’t pay much attention and the United Nations force was helpless.

This movie showed the roles of the radio and video Medias. The movie started with the radio propaganda that urged that Hutu ethnic group united as a political power. Hutus power radio station warned the Hutu president to be careful for the Tutsi rebels. When the Hutu president was killed by Tutsi rebels, the radio broadcasted a signal, “Cut the tall tree,” which tells Hutu to kill Tutsis. In this movie many important situations were controlled by the radio. When some Tutsis tried to escape from the hotel, Hutus communicated through the radio and attacked the UN trucks. Western reporters took a video of massacring scenes at the risk of their lives. They sent out the records to the western world. It helped the western people to know what is happened in Rwanda.

A Girl

Ezra Pound

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast-
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child - so high - you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

The title of this poem, ‘A girl’, caught my eyes. When I first read it I couldn’t understand it easily. I think the tree is a metaphor of a child who is growing. The author describes how a tree grows as how a child grows.
I don’t understand the last part. ‘And all this is folly to the world’. Is the author criticizing the world? Why the violets and moss randomly came out? Why the title is A Girl? Can’t it be a boy?

Bear In There

by Shel Silverstein

There's a Polar
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

This poem is funny. I think the author regarded the loud sound from a refrigerator as the polar bear's roar. The author’s idea was clever. No one will think the sound from the refrigerator is the bear's roar. I like the vocabularies that the author used, like nibbling, munching, and slurping, etc..Our refrigerator was so old that the sound was extremely loud. So I used to hate the refrigerator noise too.

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

　　　

　I heard of this poem previously. I knew this poem is very famous. After I read it, I realized that it was about making a decision. I always felt hard when I am making a decision. This poem appealed to me a lot. I shouldn’t take easy way.