In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung. The theme is when it comes to life and death people will do anything to survive. Loung and her family faced many challenges when the Khmer Rouge takes over. They fought and killed to survive and did anything to make sure of it. This means the theme is no matter life or death people will do anything in their power to survive.
To start off, Loung had heard some stories about a woman from a nearby village who had turned out to be a cannibal. Most said she was a good woman but the Khmer rouge caused her to be like this monster. Evidence from the memoir Loung explains, “She was so hungry that when her husband died from eating poisonous food, she ate his flesh and fed it to her children. She did not know that the poison in his body would kill her and her children as well.” This evidence shows the theme that people will do anything to survive during the Khmer rouge. This woman was so hungry due to the Khmer Rouge making everyone's food ration smaller causing them to lack malnutrition. Due to the fighting with the Vietnamese, she ate her husband and fed it to her kids as well because they
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Loungs daily ” medication” ration was emaciated and she was always hungry. Evidence to prove this Loung says, “On my way back to the infirmary one afternoon, I see a rice ball left unguarded beside an old woman. My hand quickly grabs it and put it in my pocket. My heart pounds rapidly, and I walk away as fast I can before anyone notices.” This quote shows the theme that no matter life or death people will do anything to survive. Loung was sick in the hospital and the meals at the hospital were very small. She was still hungry so when she was walking she saw a grandma that was basically already dead so she decided to take her grandma's rice ball. Even though she felt bad she needed it to survive since an old lady was probably on her
Then sharing it with all of the camp what Louis provided help keep many people who are on the verge of death around on page 165, examples of the Louise vengeance are given. "Rations were slashed. Rabidness, Lee made reckless efforts to find food. He still concentration miso paste – a fermented Japanese seasoning meant to be deleted in water…he volunteered to starch the garnis he volunteered to starch the guards shirts with rice water, exposing himself to the guards volatility just so he could scavenge flex of rice from the water… He was so friendly to eat
Imagine being younger and forced to live in horrible conditions. In Loung Ung’s memoir, First They Killed My Father, she explains how she feels about the horrific conditions she was going through as a child of war. To begin with when Ung was younger her life was threatened on a daily basis because of her beliefs. For example in the the text explains ,“Capitalist should be shot and killed” (Ung #312).
The Cambodian Genocide occurred from 1975 to 1979. This genocide was executed by the Khmer Rouge which was lead by Pol Pot. According to the article “Pol Pot”, in 1953 a man named Saloth Sar entered a communist group under the fictitious name of Pol Pot and he took the role of a leader for this group in 1962. The Khmer Rouge’s goal was to completely erase the ways of Cambodia and create an agricultural based country. Anyone who didn’t agree with this would be killed.
“Torture and execution were frequent in the collective farms. The majority of the victims of the regime were killed in the farms giving rise to the phrase, ‘the killing fields.’” ( Terror, Museum of Communist), The killing fields are notorious in the Cambodia, similar to the Holocausts death marches, they both are exhausting systematic labour which resulted in
As clarified in a faculty essay, the title gives deep meaning to how this affected her. With the title literally talking about her father’s death, the weight of his killing is truly shown and what a high impact it had on her and her life. The loss of her father created an realization like no other; it was the moment when she knew she truly had to grow up. Growing up, Loung considered her father to be all knowing and a protector, she knew that he was the reason they all survived, “Pa was [their] strength and [they] all needed him to survive…” (108). And without him, she needed to find strength.
The Mai Lai massacre took place March 16, 1968 in the Mai Lai village of South Vietnam and is considered to be one of the most traumatic incidents of violence towards civilians of the Vietnam War. In the massacre, and estimated 347 Vietnamese civilians were brutally killed by American soldiers of the Charlie Company. Soldiers were sent to the village to capture and kill members of the Viet Cong, but when they arrived, they could only find villagers. Instead of retreating, they brutally raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds of civilians; mainly women, children and the elderly, all whom were unarmed. In the defense of these soldiers, many say that they were just doing what they thought was right, what they were ordered to do.
The Khmer Rouge was known for their brutality and violence, and Loung witnessed many atrocities during this time, including executions and
One example from the novel comes from Hong when she and Amah are reunited with the rest of the Ung family. Hong tells them about her own Khmer Rouge experience. Chou narrates Hong’s story and says, “ Hong tells them about how she saw a young boy beaten to death with sticks because the soldiers said he was lazy. Hongs words come out in spits and anger when she reports that the boy was slow with his work because he was sick and starving… After that Hong became the best worker in her unit even though she was many years younger than the others. ”(pg55)
They also shut down factories, schools, universities, hospitals, and all other private institutions because the Khmer Rouge considered it western advances. The Khmer Rouge also killed different The Khmer Rouge killed approximately one and a half to three million Cambodians lost their lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. On July 25, 1983, the Research Committee on Pol Pot’s Genocidal Regime issued its final report, including detailed province-by-province data. The data showed that the number of deaths was 3,314,768. About 25 percent of the population died because of the Khmer Rouge idea of relocating the people to
Loung and her sister end up at an all-girls camp where they preach pro-Khmer Rouge propaganda and anti-Youn messages. At her new camp, Loung gets bullied relentlessly because of her race. “The children despise me and consider me inferior because of my light skin. When I walk by them, my ears ring from their cruel words and their spit eats through my skin like acid. They throw mud at me, claiming it will darken my ugly white skin.
The pills dance in my palms, gleaming white and inviting…. Somewhere in Cambodia, I dream that Pa and Ma are sleeping together in the ground. I close my eyes and wait for Pa to come take me with him. In her crib, Tori cries but I ignore her.” (180-181) Loung has a deep need to kill herself not only because of her painful memories of Cambodia but also because of her grieving for Pa, Ma, Keav and Geak.
“Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” Nam Le’s “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” is categorized in “ethnic story” narrated his Vietnamese life in order to meet an upcoming deadline even though finally he can’t submit his story because his father burns his work. Throughout the story, Nam the narrator talks about “the past” which he experiences when he was young including the recent experience that he has got from his father reunion. Not only does the story tell us about the past which, but it also shows a connection of time between past, present, and future. Likewise, the story shows the relationship between son and father which is the main theme of this story; and shows how the past is important and affect to them differently. Also, the story of the past could lead to the end of the story that can be interpreted like a prediction of the direction of their relationship in the future.
Similarly, the Cambodians and Jews have both stood witness to the executions of one race. During the Cambodian Genocide, Pol Pot the leader, wiped out millions of educated Cambodians who were doctors, teachers, lawyers, bilingual, etc. His overall goal was to make the Kingdom of “Cambodia” a utopian society where everyone was equal and he reigned as king. In fact, the Khmer Rouge rounded up and separated family members to work in different villages in Cambodia. In addition, older men and young boys were sent to fight in the war.
This shows that Loung idolized her father and these special moments between Loung and her father were things that she held onto in order to survive the atrocities that she experienced. Loung’s father not only provided provided physical protection by moving his family to places where they would not be in so much danger but he also provided emotional protection by giving Loung hope that she would survive these hardships even after he has
“The Asians Dying” effectively shows readers the cruel manner in which lives are taken through war and shows how war is inhumane. His use of Gruesome imagery allowed him to show the reader just how inhumane the Vietnam war was and, his use of the archetype of death allowed him to get his anti-war message to almost all