Left to Tell: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Immaculée retreats into prayer, and this becomes her sanctuary in the bathroom. She spends hours at a time thinking about the meaning of a single word such as “forgiveness” or “hope.” By the end of the first month that the women spend in the bathroom, Pastor Murinzi’s patience appears to be running out. He accuses Leonard of being “a very bad Tutsi,” saying that he was helping the RPF to plan. civil war. He then tells the other women that if they are killed, it will be because Immaculée is there. The pastor adds that the killers found 600 guns, grenades, and a death list of Hutu names in Immaculée’s house. He says that the massacre of Tutsis was indeed self-defense, because otherwise Tutsis would have murdered Hutus.

Immaculée is in disbelief that Pastor Murinzi has been duped by the government’s propaganda campaigns. In the back of her mind, Immaculée believes that the lies about her father probably mean that he is dead. However, she suppresses the thought. Eventually, she cannot help but cry out in protest. She asks why, if her father had so many weapons, would he not have used them against the killers who attacked his house? Everyone in the bathroom is astonished that Immaculée stood up to Pastor Murinzi. The pastor meekly continues to recite the “evidence” criminalizing Leonard, but it is clear he is embarrassed and realizes that he is wrong.

Before Pastor Murinzi leaves, Immaculée asks if she can borrow a Bible, and he agrees. Immaculée worries that the pastor’s outburst means that he thinks the women will die soon, because Rwandans are normally private about their emotions. Later, Immaculée hears on the radio that more Tutsis have been killed in her own province, Kibuye, than anywhere else. The president expresses his pride over this fact, and explains that he is sending money to buy food and beer so the killers can celebrate. After, Immaculée hears Janet standing outside and saying that she is a liar. Janet adds that she doesn’t care if Immaculée is killed. To make matters worse, Immaculée then hears on the radio that over 500 Tutsis and “their Hutu traitor” friends have been killed at her university.

Immaculée begins to pray, but is interrupted by the sound of another woman’s voice. It is a kind, elderly woman Immaculée knows named Sony, whose husband was killed in the massacre of 1973. Sony begs Pastor Murinzi to let her in, but he tells her he cannot hide Tutsis and shuts the door. Immaculée knows that Sony now faces certain death and prays for God to receive her soul in heaven. Pastor Murinzi opens the bathroom door and gives Immaculée a Bible. She immediately reads Psalm 91, which ends: “Though a thousand fall at my side, though ten thousand are dying around me, the evil will not touch me.”