Loung Ung Book Report

Childhood wartime experiences have an impact on Ung’s life. Loung Ung is a Cambodian-born American human-rights activist and lecturer. She wrote a memoir called “First They Killed My Father” and talks about the war in Cambodia and experiences. As a result of the war in Cambodia, Ung’s childhood was impacted because she experienced no freedom of religion, a lack of privacy and a lack of individuality .

“She begged me to translate for the policeman her desire to go back to her own jungle” (Page 82). This quote uses tone, Kim Thuy really creates a serious mood for this passage. An Tinh also remembers how she was also an outcast before she achieved the “American dream”. Without the orphan, An Tinh would not have been reminded of her past and who she truly was.

In First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung talks about the downfall of Cambodia when the country is being taken over by the Angkar soldiers and Khmer Rouge during war. Loung Ung’s childhood wartime experiences in Cambodia impacted her life in multiple ways.

...between 1.5 and 3 million people killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a communist political group.” According to the University of Minnesota, Between 1975 and 1979, the communist political group “Khmer Rouge” ruled by Pol Pot, invaded Cambodia and caused a mass genocide of between 1.5 and 3 million people. Loung Ung was alive during the time when the Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia, causing the “Killing Fields” which was a mass genocide of smart and rich Cambodians. Loung’s family was part of the targeted groups, and her family endured unimaginable suffering, which led her older brother Meng to flee the country, immigrate, and seek refuge in America to save his family. Loung in her life overcomes the obstacles of dealing with her Cambodian

Ever since the actions in Cambodia occurred, it has been debated whether it was an actual genocide. The general definition of genocide is the purposeful and methodical execution of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia demonstrated that a government can be guilty of genocide against its own nation. The radical communist party led by Pol Pot took over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. After 1979, the Khmer Rouge left a traumatized Cambodian culture that continues to undergo the repercussions of the genocide. People over the age of forty in Cambodia have stories to tell of fear, cruelty, hunger and the loss of family members. However, the Cambodian government is not making an effort to recognize the negative occurrences that have posed itself in the history of their culture.

To become a member, she ventures on a thousand mile journey. Along with her other comrades she travels harsh lands and even harsher bandits. After one night of crying her comrades began to declare that she was “‘A precious lady from the exploiting classes’”(Chang, Page 144). To avoid any further discrimination, she kept all feelings inside, even the feelings of resentment towards her husband, who did not give her as much affection as she desired. De-hong’s change is her treacherous climb, and to not display her pain to others.

Later that same year, Pot and the Khmer Rouge took control over Cambodia. Pot wasted no time in starting his mission to reconstruct Cambodia. He thought that all the educated people needed to be killed (Melicharova). Also he thought that all noncommunist aspects of Cambodia needed to be wiped out. All rights you had were now gone. Religion was banned and if you were any kind of leader among the Buddhist monks, you were killed instantly (Melicharova). All kids were taken away and sent to work in the fields (Melicharova). If anyone was currently working and had a job, they were immediately killed along with their family members. It got so bad that you could be killed for just laughing, crying, and knowing another language. The Khmer Rouge motto was “To spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss” (Melicharova). If you were lucky enough to escape death, you were put into the fields working usually from 4am to 10pm unpaid (“Pol”). From lack of food and sleep, people often became very ill which sadly led to death.

In 1975, The Khmer Rouge became the ruling political party of Cambodia after overthrowing the Lon Nol government. Following their leader Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of social engineering on Cambodian society. They wanted to form an anti-modern, anti-Western ideal of a restructured “classless agrarian society'', a radical form of agrarian communism where the whole population had to work in collective farms or forced labor projects. The Khmer Rouge revolutionary army enforced this mostly with extreme violence. The book “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers”, written by Luong Ung, is the author’s story of growing up during this time period. She was five years old when the Khmer Rouge came

The organization of the story follows Loung Ung’s life from the day they left their home to the day she left for America. Since, this story is from a child’s point of view there is less of a political importance and more emotional based. Each chapter contributes to Loung Ung 's main point because as the story develops so does the affect on Ung. Each chapter Loung becomes more aware with her surroundings and forced to grow up quick.

Even though she is free from the camps and control of the Khmer Rouge the thought of Pa is still pushing her through the smallest tasks and this just continues to prove how important he is to Loung. The thought of Pa pushes her even more then when he was there right by her

The Khmer Rouge wanted to start over and isolate the country from western ideas and to create a classless society for all who resided within. They aimed to reteach and reform the minds and lifestyles of Cambodian people. They would separate children from their family’s and sometimes separate men and women into different camps. To be separated from parents at a young age plays a huge role in the psychological development of a child. Children are vulnerable and the Khmer Rouge took advantage of them.

The Problems of the Khmer Rouge In First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung remembers the horrors of Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge. She survived, but half of her family was killed or died due to disease or malnourishment. The Khmer Rouge destroyed many lives in the pursuit of an equal agrarian society and, although equality is still a necessary topic in America, it is vital to understand how it could potentially be more harmful than helpful.

The killing fields of Cambodia were bursting with bloodshed. The killing fields were a genocide that arose due to the takeover of the Cambodian people by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge establishment. The Rouge party leader “Pol Pot” sought to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming of Cambodia essentially overnight, in unity with the Chinese Communist agricultural model. This stemmed in the gradual devastation of over 25% of the country’s population in just three fleeting years. In the foregoing years of the genocide, the population of Cambodia was just over 7 million, almost all of who

The Cambodian Genocide happened between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge, a guerrilla group, over threw the government and started a regime to bring Cambodia back to year zero . The Khmer Rouge called this the Democratic Republic of Kampuchea . Their aim was to purify society from the influence of the west, and to create a communist country . The Khmer Rouge started this by destroying what was left of the old society and executing the wealthy, educated and military people. They banned all outside languages and religion. An estimated figure of 1.7 million Cambodians where killed during this period by the Khmer Rouge .

“There is no doctor who can heal me. But I know that a man like Pol Pot, he is even sicker than I am. He is crazy in the head because he believed in killing people. He believed in starving children. We both have the horror in our heads."-- Upon the death of Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, in 1998, quoted in The Times. The Cambodian genocide is the greatest injustice. Between the years of 1975-1979, complete annihilation happened inside the nation of Cambodia. A socialist named Pol Pot had assumed control over the administration with his armed force, Khmer Rouge, and was persuaded that transforming Cambodia into an entirely comrade nation was crucial. The reason to sort out a socialist gathering was to acquire influence, however to acquire