My Parent's Bedroom (A Story from Say You're One of Them)

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My Parent's Bedroom (A Story from Say You're One of Them)

4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 · rating details · 8 ratings · 2 reviews

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds,...more

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Published June 9th 2008 by Little, Brown & Company

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Apr 21, 2012 Jennifer M. Hartsock rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In Crispin Startwell’s op-ed entitled, “Genocide, You, and Me,” Startwell argues that anyone can be subject to participating in genocide if he or she is under the right circumstances. These conditions are common for a grouping of people, but are also unique to the individual. In the short story, “My Parents’ Bedroom” by Uwem Akpan, the nine-year-old narrator, and those involved, are not opt from this unfortunate truth—in fact, they are predisposed to it.

Startwell argues that if you respect autho...more In Crispin Startwell’s op-ed entitled, “Genocide, You, and Me,” Startwell argues that anyone can be subject to participating in genocide if he or she is under the right circumstances. These conditions are common for a grouping of people, but are also unique to the individual. In the short story, “My Parents’ Bedroom” by Uwem Akpan, the nine-year-old narrator, and those involved, are not opt from this unfortunate truth—in fact, they are predisposed to it.

Startwell argues that if you respect authority, you are subject to genocide. Monique respects her parents’ authority, while her parents abide by the harsh rules of their intermingled culture. Because Papa and Maman are inter-racially wed, and are accused of hiding Tutsis, a mob of Hutu villagers command Papa to take his own wife’s life. He resists killing her for the majority of the story—a natural and understandable reaction to such a crime; when the mob is in the very bedroom with his wife, Papa says, “My people... let another do it. Please.” However, though Papa loves his wife, and is morally against harming her, “Papa lands the machete on Maman’s head.”

Not only does Papa respect authority; Papa is also loyal to his family. After the mob first attacks Monique and Jean, Papa and Maman converse about her whereabouts the previous night. Maman knows she can’t explain her situation to Monique, because “if [Monique had known] where [Maman] was... [Papa’s] family would have forced it out of her and shed blood.” His brother, Tonton Andre, says, “...You were with us when I killed... my pregnant wife... You can’t keep yours.” These two scenes reveal that the mob consists of Papa’s own kin, and that this act of violence is thought to display loyalty—not only to the Hutu culture, but to his own family—which, in the end, Papa proves.

Startwell also argues that it is difficult to defy authority, especially if our life, or the lives of others, are threatened. The desire for security is a building block for possible genocide. Both Papa and Maman sacrifice their morality in order to protect their family. Maman accepts murder, and cries, “My husband, be a man,” and, “My husband, you promised me” in an attempt to protect her children. In this particular case, she is sacrificing herself, yet if she were Hutu and Papa Tutsi, Startwell might argue that her devotion would easily—if not easier—bring down the machete upon her husband.

At the end of the story, Papa “went off with the mob,” leaving behind his children—the very two people he and his fought to protect. It is clear that Papa’s loyalty still remains with his family, but it is hard to tell to which family. Does he leave his children out of fear for his own life, or to further protect them from this mob?

Deference to authority, a willingness to respond to a group, and the desire for security, are three of only four qualities that Startwell argues “are widely shared” and will “lead you to participate in genocide.”

For Monique’s family, this is an unfortunate truth that came to be their reality.
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Sep 19, 2012 Omefa Garraway rated it 3 of 5 stars

this part of the book say you are one of them had the worse ending .........it was so traumatic for me to read what this little girl had to go through with her family.......having to deal with almost being raped ,the brutal death of her mother by her father , being taunted by ghosts .......at only seven years old....it was sickening i could have cried for her........ she was the most inspiring character in the whole book because inspite of all that she went through she stayed strong for her and...more

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Shelves: africa, short-stories

Mar 13, 2012 Metty Markwei rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Uwem Akpan

Uwem Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. "My Parents' Bedroom," a story from his short story colle...more

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