John Character Analysis in Left to Tell

John is Immaculée’s boyfriend during her university years. He is Hutu and protestant, but this does not matter to Immaculée as he is kind and deeply religious. They get engaged, but John embarrasses her by breaking off the engagement at the last minute. John is Pastor Murinzi’s nephew and he visits Immaculée while she is in the bathroom. However, he is cold and callous during this time, and Immaculée realizes that their love is gone forever.

John Quotes in Left to Tell

The Left to Tell quotes below are all either spoken by John or refer to John. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

).

The beautiful campus where I'd formed so many wonderful memories and loving friendships was no more. There was garbage everywhere, and many of the buildings were charred and crumbling. Student records blew across the campus like tumbleweeds, and after all these weeks, there were still so many bodies on the ground. I couldn't bear to look, fearing that I'd see the corpse of Sarah or one of my other dear girlfriends. I tried to conjure the memory of the school dances I'd enjoyed, the plays I’d performed in, the romantic walks I'd

taken with John . . . but all were obliterated by the devastation I saw before me.

Related Characters: Immaculée Ilibagiza (speaker), Sarah, John

Page Number and Citation: 186

Explanation and Analysis:

Realizing that she will need her student records if she is going to be able to get a job, Immaculée has returned to the National University in Butare, where she spent her happy student days. The campus has been completely destroyed, to the point that Immaculée hardly recognizes it. Indeed, the place is so different from her original happy memories that Immaculée is no longer even able to access those memories. This shows how the genocide destroyed not only Immaculée’s world, but her image of that world—an added trauma. What is so particularly heartbreaking about her description of the university Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor

John Character Timeline in Left to Tell

The timeline below shows where the character John appears in Left to Tell. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...now that all their children have moved out. In Butare, she meets a student named John who is three years older than her and knows some of her friends from back... (full context)

...Easter vacation in 1993, Immaculée sees the Interahamwe for the first time. She is with John, visiting Sarah and her family in Kigali. While she and John are on a bus... (full context)

...greets Immaculée with a smile; he is a close friend of her family, and also John’s uncle. Immaculée once heard her aunt say that the pastor “resented” Leonard’s good actions, but... (full context)

In June, Immaculée is reunited with the man she dated for two years in university, John. They’d fallen out when John called off their engagement party at the last minute, but... (full context)

Late that night, John comes to see Immaculée in the bathroom and the two of them embrace tightly. John... (full context)

...feeling of being outside in the fresh air. Most of Pastor Murinzi’s sons, along with John, surround the women, carrying weapons to protect them. Suddenly, a group of 60 heavily-armed Interahamwe... (full context)

...kind, and asks if Immaculée has a boyfriend. She tells him the sad story about John, and the two begin spending lots of time together. One day, Pierre confesses his love... (full context)

John Character Analysis

John Quotes in Left to Tell

Chapter 22 Quotes

John Character Timeline in Left to Tell