Rwanda by Stephan Minot - Characterization Reflection

     Rwanda, by Stephen Minot, is a short story about a group of Americans in various terms of employment settled in Rwanda, who are inconvenienced by the disappearance of a wallet. Francine, the main character, is a former peace corps worker, and her husband Frank is an advisor on behalf of the United States "establish[ing] order" in Rwanda (71). They happen upon their two less organized friends, Max and Katy, who are in Rwanda studying Topis. The group come back from a local market to find that while they were away, Max's wallet had disappeared. Frank interrogates the couple's house staff to find out which one of them must have been responsible for its disappearance. While Frank questioned the houseboy, Thomas, Max searched the boy's belongings and found the wallet hidden in his shoe. Francine was tasked with phoning the police, but had to pick them up since their only vehicle was unavailable. After Francine, with the police in tow, arrived back at the house, they detained Thomas. Francine tried vaguely to object when Thomas was brutalized following an attempted escape, but she quickly lost the thought. 

Thomas- Character Reflection

    Minot introduces Thomas as the group of American's Hutu houseboy who lived just outside the home in a hutch. Thomas cannot speak English or French, and can only communicate in Kinyarwanda (requiring Victoria, the house girl, to translate). Minot labels Thomas as a flat character in the Characterization portion of the textbook, and though I agree that his existence in the story is designed for the conflict to begin, I think it is important to note that there is more to his character than plot. Little is said in terms of his belongings, dialogue, appearance, and personality but he can still be identified through subtleties in his manner and action in the story. 

• Actions- Thomas's actions throughout the story are limited, but he does show some traits through what can be seen. By taking the extra initiative to wash the car after each trip and clean the American's house without being asked, he shows some affection for the value of hard work. He smiles often as a makeshift form of communication and takes a liking to the birds that Katy buys at the market. He appears, through these actions, to be a gentle person. His behavior during his interrogation is contained and soft, which comes as a shock given the reveal of his betrayal. The act of thievery itself shows that he must be desperate, and that he must not have planned to stay long with Francine and Frank.
• Reactions- Francine says he has a "penchant for order" (73), and her reaction to him being beaten by the police at the end of the story shows that she has a level of pity for him despite his infraction. 
• Backstory/ context- We get to know Thomas primarily through what is not said. Thomas's only backstory is that he is the sole survivor of his village. Given the rhetorical context for the story- the reader can fill in the details with their imagination as to what kind of traumas and violence he'd experienced. Knowing this piece of information is vastly important, because it shows that as a character, he is in part representative of the Rwandan civil war itself. 

    Thomas is a poor and desperate boy from a war-torn country, but he is not handled by the Americans in that context. Frank decides that the goals of his employment in Rwanda dictates his duty to law and order, which is why he is not keen to justify Thomas's actions. Thomas is a quintessential case-file character for colonization on a small scale. The Americans consistently justify their decisions on the pretense that they are there to help, and they owe Rwanda an example. Francine not only expresses displeasure at the Rwandan's handling of livestock but is also actively disappointed she is not promised a position in their government, and Frank believes he has a duty to impose order where American interests lie. Even Max and Katy behave ignorantly in their study of local wildlife (wantonly killing several, seemingly with no regard for how indigenous peoples had handled them before). The group immediately settle on the fact that one of their indigenous servants is responsible for the wallet's disappearance despite the fact that they have all shown examples of being irresponsible with their belongings and duties. If it was bad enough that the Americans assumed it must have been Victoria or Thomas who stole it, they also assume that they could become violent as soon as the theory that it was stolen presents itself. Each character is a condensed piece of the colonial project, and Thomas represents the indigenous victim who is made into an example by the new systems of power. Thomas is described as a gentle and happy person every time he is mentioned, and without the mercy of explanation, is thrust into the category of wrongdoer. The Americans show little to mild concern as to what will become of the poor boy, but their decision to let his imprisonment be cements their roles in their story of colonialism.