Running For His Life By Michael Hall

"Running for His Life"

In the story "Running for His Life", Michael Hall explains the genocide Gilbert Tuhabonye experienced when he was in high school in East Africa and how he managed to escape and relive his life in Austin, Texas. Tuhabonye's teachers and the Tutsi teenagers were burned alive and beaten to death by friends of theirs. A couple of students tried eluding, but we're caught and killed by the killers. The building was on fire, burning corpses, and burning to death any students who remained alive.
Tuhabonye tried to commit suicide since he could not bear the situation he was in but he did not succeed. He breaks a window and jumps out expecting to be killed, but no one visually perceived him. He took the opportunity to elude. A

In the first place, Hall notes that Gilbert says, "There weren't that many of us left" (601). This quotation shows that Gilbert believes he is likely to die soon himself because his classmates are all dying. With less people to cooperate and revive support from, his chances of survival decrease. The weight of his classmates being dead discourages Gilbert's faith in staying alive.
Second, Hall states that Gilbert thinks, "My thinking was, I wanted to kill myself. I wanted to be identifiable" (602). This quotation shows that Tuhabonye considers suicide so that his corpse can be identified when found. Gilbert considers suicide so he could be recognized when his body is found. He will die regardless either from burning or suicide and he is aware of that. If he chooses to kill himself, he will have the added benefit of becoming identifiable. He succumbs to his fate, knowing death is imminent and accepts it. Finally, Hall remarks that Gilbert believes, "There was a fire underneath the window, set as an obstacle to escape" (602). This quotation shows that Gilbert realizes he has a chance to elude and have a different outcome from the genocide than he expected. Although the fire was preventing Gilbert to jump out of the window, he knew that it in order to evacuate the building, he had to go through