95 pages • 3 hours read
Immaculée IlibagizaLeft to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Quiz
Reading Check, Multiple Choice & Short Answer Quizzes
Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Foreword-Chapter 4
Reading Check
1. Who wrote the foreword to Left to Tell?
2. In what province is Immaculée raised?
3. Where do Immaculée and her brothers sometimes go swimming as children?
4. What do Immaculée’s parents do for a living?
Multiple Choice
1. What religion do Immaculée and her family practice?
A) Islam
B) Roman Catholicism
C) Judaism
D) Buddhism
2. Who is Damascene to Immaculée?
A) her older brother
B) her younger brother
C) her uncle
D) her friend
3. When she is in fourth grade, what notable incident makes Immaculée’s teacher scold her?
A) Immaculée does not know if she is Hutu or Tutsi during roll call.
B) Immaculée whispers to her friend that she fears Hutus.
C) Immaculée forgot to do her homework for math class.
D) Immaculée stands up to her teacher and says she is a proud Tutsi.
4. In 1990, what is the name of the rebel group that wants to win back the country upon returning from exile in Uganda?
A) the Rwandese Nationalistic Force (RNF)
B) the Rwandese Police Faction (RPF)
C) the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF)
D) the Rwandese Neo-political Foxtrot (RNF)
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What event happens around Christmastime that triggers the president of Rwanda to release thousands of Tutsis from Rwanda’s jails?
2. To what university does Immaculée receive a scholarship, and what does she intend to study there?
3. What violent act does Immaculée witness when the Interahamwe first come to Kigali?
Chapters 5-8
Reading Check
1. What is the “ultra-popular radio station” among Hutu extremists while Immaculée is in college?
2. What does Damascene want the family to do when he first notices the Hutu extremists in their village?
3. What event on April 7, 1994, officially begins the Rwandan war?
4. The assassination of what political leader makes Immaculée’s family decide that they must make a major decision about how to proceed?
Multiple Choice
1. Why do Tutsi refugees gather outside of Immaculée’s house in Chapter 6?
A) They hear that the family has a surplus of food.
B) Immaculée’s family has weapons that they can use to defend themselves.
C) They want to raid Immaculée’s house for the family’s supplies.
D) Immaculée’s father leads the group in prayer for strength.
2. Who sends Immaculée to Pastor Murinzi’s house?
A) Immaculée’s mother
B) Immaculée’s brother Damascene
C) Immaculée’s brother Vianney
D) Immaculée’s father
3. Whom does Immaculée try to hug at Pastor Murinzi’s house, who “stiffens” at Immaculée’s touch?
A) her friend Janice
B) her friend Janel
C) her friend Janet
D) her friend Jill
4. What unfortunate event does Damascene and Vianney report to Immaculée when they arrive at Pastor Murinzi’s house?
A) They tell her that their farm animals have been slaughtered.
B) They tell her that their house has been burned down by Hutu extremists.
C) They tell her that their father is ill with flu.
D) They tell her that their mother broke her leg.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What mode of transportation do Immaculée’s parents use to flee their burning house? Where does Damascene suspect they are going?
2. What does Pastor Murinzi plan for the Tutsi people who have gathered at his house?
Chapters 9-12
Reading Check
1. What is the main rule of conduct for the Tutsi women living in Pastor Murinzi’s bathroom?
2. How old is the oldest woman of the group of women in hiding?
3. What idea comes to Immaculée in a vision to better hide the women in the bathroom?
Multiple Choice
1. How does Immaculée cope with the constant stress that the Interahamwe may search Pastor Murinzi’s home at any time?
A) Immaculée counts tiles on the bathroom ceiling.
B) Immaculée reads the back of a shampoo bottle.
C) Immaculée prays every waking moment.
D) Immaculée traces the veins on her wrist.
2. What is the chant that Immaculée hears the Interahamwe reciting outside the bathroom window?
A) “Kill them, kill them, kill them all; kill them big and kill them small!”
B) “Hutus forever, down with the Tutsis.”
C) “Rwanda, oh Mother Rwanda – we do this for you.”
D) “In the name of the Interahamwe!”
3. What non-Rwandan radio network gives the women hope by reporting that a group of Tutsi rebels are en route to Kigali to put a stop to the killings?
A) NPR
B) BBC
C) FOX
D) APM
4. How many Hutu militiamen does Immaculée estimate search Pastor Murinzi’s bedroom?
A) 5-10
B) 20-30
C) 40-50
D) 60-70
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What traumatic incident happens involving an infant in Chapter 11 and how is it resolved?
2. What does Immaculée begin to understand about the Interahamwe when she realizes they too are “God’s children”?
3. What is the rumor about Immaculée’s father that angers Pastor Murinzi, and how does Immaculée respond?
4. In what way does Janet betray Immaculée’s friendship in Chapter 12?
Chapters 13-16
Reading Check
1. What is the main form of media the women use for information about the genocide?
2. What does Pastor Murinzi intend to do with the women when the war is over?
3. Of Pastor Murinzi’s children, which two are the only ones who know about the Tutsi women hidden in the bathroom?
4. In mid-May, how many other Tutsi women join Immaculée in the bathroom?
Multiple Choice
1. When Immaculée overhears villagers talking about the brutal murder of a young Tutsi man, how does she know that they are talking about her brother Damascene?
A) The villagers said the young man cried out Immaculée’s name before he died.
B) The villagers said the young man had a master’s degree.
C) The villagers said the young man had a name that started with “D.”
D) The villagers said the young man was the eldest son of Immaculée’s father.
2. What two illnesses afflict Immaculée after seven weeks confined to the bathroom?
A) She gets acne and develops a cough.
B) She gets a cut on her arm and develops a cough.
C) She gets a 105-degree fever and a urinary tract infection.
D) She gets a 105-degree fever and breaks her arm.
3. What entity does Pastor Murinzi say might help rescue the Tutsi by sending peacekeeping troops to help control the situation?
A) the South African army
B) the United States army
C) the United Nations
D) the Zimbabwean army
4. What book does Immaculée ask to borrow from Pastor Murinzi?
A) an encyclopedia
B) a textbook about war
C) a book of fairy tales
D) a French-English dictionary
5. Why does Immaculée fall out of love with John, her college boyfriend?
A) John acts like nothing is wrong and does not seem to care that Immaculée must hide.
B) John was one of the villagers who helped burn Immaculée’s family home.
C) John told the angry mob where Damascene was hiding, thus leading to his death.
D) John has a new girlfriend.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What is the good news that Immaculée receives in mid-June?
2. What special treat does Pastor Murinzi arrange for the women, and why does he do it?
3. When Immaculée faints, what happens in her dream that gives her peace?
Chapter 17-Epilogue
Reading Check
1. Where do the French make their camp in Rwanda?
2. What bad news does Jean Paul, a friend of Immaculée’s family, deliver to her?
3. What precious object does Esperance (Immaculée’s aunt) give to her?
4. What is Immaculée’s main role at Camp Comfort?
5. When the French deliver Immaculée and Jean Paul to the RPF camp, what does Immaculée credit as getting them through safely?
Multiple Choice
1. What initially makes Immaculée’s heart ache upon opening the letter from Damascene?
A) She smells his cologne on the letter.
B) She sees her family’s seal on the corner of the letter.
C) She realizes that her brother used her father’s favorite pen to write the letter.
D) She immediately recognizes her brother’s quirky handwriting.
2. Mid-way through the letter from Damascene, he reports what tragic news to Immaculée?
A) that he’s not going to make it out of Rwanda alive
B) that he just learned that John has a new girlfriend
C) that he just learned that their mother, father, and Vianney have been killed
D) that the Hutus are torturing Vianney as he writes this letter
3. In Chapter 21, why is Immaculée impressed with Aloise, a village girl who lost the use of her legs due to polio?
A) because of her unshakable optimism
B) because of her incredible faith
C) because of her cool thinking under pressure
D) because of witty sense of humor
4. What institution hires Immaculée for a job in Chapter 22?
A) the United Nations
B) the Catholic Church
C) the Rwandan Patriotic Front
D) the United States Army Corps
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Immaculée begin to cry when a Senegalese officer asks her where she is from?
2. Why does Immaculée feel peace after visiting Felicien in prison, to tell him she forgives him for killing her family?
3. What does Immaculée see as a positive aspect of being a genocide survivor?
Quizzes – Answer Key
Foreword-Chapter 4
Reading Check
1. Wayne Dwyer, a self-help author and spiritualist (Foreword)
2. Kibuye, in the village of Mataba (Chapter 1)
3. Lake Kivu (Chapter 1)
4. They are educators. (Chapter 1)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. The RPF attacks the presidential palace, but with international pressure on the Rwandan government, the president decides to release the Tutsis—Immaculée’s father included—from the prisons. (Chapter 3)
2. Immaculée receives a scholarship to the National University in Butare, and she plans to study psychology and philosophy. (Chapter 4)
3. She sees a group of boys attack an elderly Tutsi woman; they beat her and steal her shoes. (Chapter 4)
Chapters 5-8
Reading Check
1. RTLM (Chapter 5)
2. Damascene thinks the family should flee the country to Zaire. (Chapter 5)
3. President Habyarimana is assassinated by Tutsi extremists. (Chapter 5)
4. the assassination of the Rwandan prime minister, Agathe Uwillingiyimani (Chapter 6)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Immaculée’s parents fled on a motorcycle, and Damascene thinks they left for their aunt Cecile’s home. (Chapter 7)
2. Pastor Murinzi says he will tell everyone that he sent the women away, but in secret he will hide them in a secret room in his home. He unfortunately cannot keep Immaculée’s brothers because it is too dangerous to harbor men. (Chapter 8)
Chapters 9-12
Reading Check
1. They must always remain quiet. (Chapter 9)
2. 55 years old (Chapter 9)
3. that a wardrobe should be pushed against the bathroom door, to conceal it from the Interahamwe who will come to search Pastor Murinzi’s home (Chapter 9)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Immaculée hears an abandoned baby crying on the side of the road. Once it stops crying, Immaculée hears from God that the baby is now with him. (Chapter 11)
2. Even though “their minds have been infected with the evil that had spread across the country,” the Interahamwe’s souls weren’t evil. (Chapter 11)
3. The rumor is that Immaculée’s father had been hiding an enormous quantity of guns and ammunition in their home. Immaculée does not believe a word of what the pastor says and tells him that he must be mistaken. (Chapter 12)
4. Immaculée overhears Janet calling her a “liar” and denouncing her friendship with Immaculée. She says that Immaculée’s father was planning to kill Janet’s family, so now she does not care if they find and kill Immaculée. (Chapter 12)
Chapters 13-16
Reading Check
1. radio (Chapter 13)
2. He will send them to live on a remote island in the middle of Lake Kivu with Abashi tribesmen. (Chapter 13)
3. his two youngest children, son Lechim and daughter Dusenge (Chapter 13)
4. two women (Chapter 13)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. The French will be sending troops to Rwanda to provide aid to the Tutsis, in an operation called “Operation Turquoise.” (Chapter 15)
2. He arranges for them to have a movie night, because he thinks that staying confined to the bathroom may be affecting the women’s brains. (Chapter 15)
3. She is visited by Jesus, who tells her that he will save her from the Interahamwe, and he stretches a giant cross of “brilliant white light” across the bathroom door to protect the women. (Chapter 16)
Chapter 17-Epilogue
Reading Check
1. at an abandoned Protestant nunnery (Chapter 17)
2. that nearly her entire family—her mother, father, and her brothers Vianney and Damascene—are all dead, killed at the hands of the Interahamwe (Chapter 17)
3. a letter from her brother Damascene (Chapter 17)
4. caretaker (Chapter 19)
5. the power of prayer (Chapter 20)
Multiple Choice
Short-Answer Response
1. Thinking of Rwanda (and especially her hometown province of Kibuye) brings back many painful memories and makes her miss her mother, father, and brothers. (Chapter 23)
2. Holding onto the hatred is more toxic and more painful for Immaculée. Following in the footsteps of Jesus, she offers Felicien forgiveness and therefore is released and now capable of finding peace. (Chapter 24)
3. She is able to have a profound effect on people’s lives, and she spends her days telling her story and spreading a larger message of forgiveness. (Epilogue)
