The color blue recurs throughout the memoir. Sandra recalls the “sparking blue waters of Lake Tanganyika,” the navy-blue skirt of her school uniform, and her blue jersey, which her younger sister, Deborah, was wearing when she died (6). Sandra mentions the color both when she recalls tranquil moments and reflects on personal tragedies. The pale blue dress occurs in both contexts. It’s a symbol of a time in her youth when she enjoyed a degree of normalcy. Thus, when the dress is ruined, it symbolizes the rupturing of the happy life Sandra enjoyed in the Congo when her family was still intact.

When Sandra first mentions the dress, she describes it as her favorite because it makes her “feel like a princess” (8). She packed this dress before heading to the refugee camp, where her family had fled for safety, despite knowing it would be of no use to her there. While at the camp, she considered wearing it to church, which was held outside, but was afraid of getting it dirty. Later, she unsuccessfully tries to use it as a tourniquet after her aunt Nyarukundo is shot during the massacre. Sandra later recalls how her mother had bought her the dress to wear during a local youth procession, for which she played the role of the bride in a facsimile of a wedding.