An ordinary man

Paul Rusesabagina, the author of the autobiography “An Ordinary Man”, turned from a hotel manager into a national hero during the violent conflict between two ethnic groups, Hutu and Tutsi that started on April 6, 1994 in Rwanda. An “ordinary man” as he called himself managed to save not only his family in the overall massacre, but provide the help of 1,268 people who hid in his hotel. However, was Paul Rusesabagina as ordinary as he wanted to be? What was the formula of his success? Paul Rusesabagina’s main weapon by which he managed to achieve success was his ability to persuade people with the help of ethos and logos rhetoric strategies. By reading Paul’s book “An Ordinary Man” we could not but admire his skillful use of rhetoric strategies (ethos and logos) for saving people who hoped for his help during the Genocide and for convincing the reader of the book in the truth of his thoughts.Ethos that included ethics and character of the hero played a crucial role in the results of negotiations of both parts. Ethos strategy shows how a person creates trustworthiness and credibility with other people (Daiane Scaraboto, 254). Paul Rusesabagina was one of the people who managed to inspire the confidence and respect to other people. His honesty and straightforwardness with ability to listen to other people and admit their right for different point of view helped the main character to convince others that the only thing that he wanted was to gain peace and safety for everybody. Even during the Genocide when he could be killed at any moment he did not start to ingratiate with opposition and honestly explained that nobody could trusted anybody that times.“I do not think anybody knows anybody anymore” explained Paul to one of his “guests” (Paul Rusesabagina, 157). When he started to work, there was a conflict with a one coworker who did not want to recognize that Paul was a boss. However, Paul decided to heal the rift by telling Mille Collins openly: “Listen my friend, today I am your boss and you must respect me” (Paul Rusesabagina, 60). On the other side, Paul’s equal behavior with everybody bribed the surrounding. When a person came to him to discuss, the manager talked to him or her at a banana beer, regardless to his or her position or status. Moreover, Paul Rusesabagina attracted others by his strength of spirit. In conditions when all people sank in craziness and grief, when human beings turned into barbarians, when everything was in mass and panic, he was the only person who had a lucid mind and managed to do anything to change the situation. He explained: “This is why I say that the individual's most potent weapon is a stubborn belief in the triumph of common decency” (Paul Rusesabagina, 113). Then, Paul Rusesabagina’s self-confidence and feeling of professional duty to protect people who lived in the hotel where he worked added the respect to his actions even among the …