Short Story : First They Killed My Father By Loung Ung

The Cambodian Genocide was the result of imperialism, ethnic supremacy, ultra-nationalism, anti-colonialism, a power grab, and religion. It began with the Cambodian people struggling against French colonization and grew in inspiration from Vietnam (end genocide). The French believed that Cambodia was a gateway into China to expand their trade with Southeast Asia. The French occupied southern Vietnam and wanted to expand their territory. There were many civil wars and invasions in Cambodia fought between the Vietnamese and Thai, and it greatly affected Cambodia. While the French did help Cambodia become independent and grew their infrastructure, while exploiting Cambodian labor, they failed to educate Cambodian people and establish a solid and effective judiciary system (Cambodia tribunal). Thus began their feelings of anti-colonialism. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. used Cambodia as a base to regroup, but also bombed the country to kill suspected Viet Cong targets. This began their feelings of imperialism and ultra-nationalism. The Khmer Rouge began feeling great animosity towards the West for their influenced corruption to Cambodian land and its people. Between January and August of 1973, 300,000 Cambodians were killed by American bombers that had joined forces with Lon Nol, head of the Khmer Republic.

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 the late 70’s, nearly 2 million Cambodians died of overwork, starvation, torture, and execution in what became known as the Cambodian genocide. A group known as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country in April 1975. Over the course of

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 .

Between the years of 1975 and 1979, an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian genocide. First They Killed My Father is the story from the perspective of a five year old girl, Loung Ung, and how her life was changed by the Khmer Rouge. Her and her family were forced out of their home, and into labor camps where they were to work for food in order to survive. They relied on each other, and pushed through the Hell that they were unfortunately placed into. In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, the author demonstrates how the Khmer Rouge use the techniques of confiscation, dress regulations, and food rations in order to remain in control of the citizens.

Loung Ung 's First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers follows her struggles as a child during the Angkar rule. Children in Cambodia directly suffered from trauma, which obviously dismisses the myth that children experience less pain than adults. The importance of Ung 's book is the emotional impact she has on the reader because she gives a voice to the victims and to the dead. As Americans, this topic, the Cambodian genocide does not get taught commonly in education. It shows the trauma that the citizens went through and how it affected the country.

The main themes in this novel are family and friendship. For Liang it is the monkey man, for Jung it is Frank Yuen, and for Sekky it is his grandmother. For Chinese-Canadians in the 1930s and 40s, family is more than blood ties, close

The grandmother in this story symbolises Lin’s Chinese heritage. She is not very fond of taking

“When Pol Pot’s communist Khmer Rouge stormed into the city April 17, 1975,my charmed life came to an end. On that day, Cambodia became a prison and all its citizens prisoners.”(Ung,1) That is the first flashback that comes to Loung’s mind when she is on the plane headed to her new home, America. She recalls the time she had spent in a vietnam houseboat and the Lam Sing refugee camp before climbing aboard the plane.Leaving her siblings behind to accompany

There is a thin line between living and surviving. In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, it is evident that one’s ability to live a comfortable life is often times thwarted by factors that force many to try and survive. Cambodian-born American human rights activist, Loung Ung, is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide that took place from 1975 to 1979. While under the influence of Cambodia’s new communist government, the Khmer Rouge, around 1.5 million men, women, and children died from exhaustion, starvation, and disease. As the daughter of an old democratic government official, Ung and her family were forced to abandon their old life in hopes for survival. A reoccurring theme within Ung’s memoir is that suffering,

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

Did you know that one and a half to three million people died in the genocide by the Khmer Rouge which was led by Pol pot? The Khmer Rouge was a organization that took over the country of Cambodia and forced their people to live in villages, that were controlled by them. The Khmer Rouge had beliefs that modern day items such as technology, jobs, and other necessities were a negative stimulus to a person's life. In the memoir, First they killed my father a young girl named Loung Ung tells her story of how the genocide affected her life. The book starts off with her and her family in Phnom Penh, before the Khmer Rouge takeover, which occurred in 1975 from 1979.

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.

People during the Khmer Rouge were simply following orders and dealing with people and the situation because they had no other choice to do anything in that time, many deaths and massacres were occurring and the lucky ones to secure jobs had to deal with the gruesome torture of others for their own survival in this period of war. In The Article "Cambodia: Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge", a soldier explains his experience at S21 prison camp: "I did not volunteer to come work here or commit these crimes intentionally. I was forced to follow orders... those who could not follow orders would be dead", there is no other option for the soldier to follow, otherwise they would inevitably end up dead like the rest of the people who were either against the Khmer Rouge, dying from starvation or bombings, and those who were strait out executed for having education. In The Article "New Year Baby", Mom Tep says "How could I apologize if that's what they told us to give the patients?" (Poeuv), they are told to do these things because the Khmer Rouge oversees the whole operation of soldiers and workers.

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.