Summary Of ' Never Fall Down '

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

April 17th, 1975; the day that Loung Ung’s life changed forever. The Khmer Rouge marched through the city of Phnom Penh, ordering the evacuation of all those they believed to be “corrupted”. Loung and her family fled when she was only five years old, and thus their new life of terror, starvation, and hard labor began. It would have been easy for her to give in to the fear and despair, yet even as a young girl she showed great resilience. While planting rice in the fields of a child labor camp, Loung feels leeches crawling between her toes.

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.

barely any air, there was nothing to drink or eat, it was hot, and people had to

In less than a few months, Cambodia, once prosperous and vivacious, has transformed into a tumultuous nation filled with suffering and tribulations. The Khmer Rouge’s calamitous actions asunder families; however, because thousands of people are undergoing the same tragedies, many abiding friendships are established. Arn befriends several members of his band, including Siv, Kha, and Mek. Throughout their time at the camp, they are constantly supporting each other, always providing either nourishment or encouragement. Instead of working in the fields during harvest time, Arn and his band are busy muting the sounds of death by playing hymns that praise Angka. After the radio announces the Vietnamese are going to liberate Cambodia, panic and chaos rapidly spread throughout the camp. Many people, both prisoners, and the Khmer Rouge, seize this opportunity to flee. As Arn prepares to abscond, he realizes that despite their atrocious principles, he fears the

“The community broke into complete chaos. Everybody and everything was out of order. When the wave of painful memories hit, the people dropped to the floor and held their heads in excruciating pain. We should have thought this through more carefully Jonas. I would never have believed that such anarchy could become in such a peaceful community. But the memories were too harsh. Riots were started. Fires burnt down the buildings. Some jumped into the river and died just

His intentions may have been admirable or respectable in wanting to create an equal agrarian society, but the ways that he carried out these plans are considered to be some of the worst human rights violations of the twentieth century. In order to create an agrarian society, Pol Pot forced all people in the city Phnom Penh, into the countryside and out of their homes, in what is known as Year Zero (“Khmer Rouge”). All non-agricultural workers were forced to leave their jobs and homes, and work in the countryside, to accomplish the goal of a country comprised of only workers. But, the majority of the population was not simply forced to leave their homes, and change their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced into slave labor camps and concentration camps, where they eventually died from starvation, exhaustion and disease. Eventually, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge turned to straight executions of first his former allies, and then of anyone who portrayed the former Cambodian society. It became a complete purge of anyone, citizen, enemy or even ally of Pol Pot, that did not show the new ideals of the Khmer Rouge. In the end, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had executed hundreds of thousands, but had caused the death of over one million of his own people through labor camps, starvation, exhaustion and disease. Lastly, Pol Pot executed political, social, and ideological experiments on his

In this book readers see the way the the Cambodian genocide has tormented the lives of many soldiers and prisoners that had to follow the orders that they were given. The book explains that Arn had seen a toddler sneak out at night and go to the pile of dead bodies and he was eating the dead bodies so that he could survive. This little boy had to do this to survive, but in a few days he would be killed for sleeping in and he became one of the dead bodies in the pile for being lazy. If the readers look at the other side, some people didn’t have a choice. Once Arn becomes a soldier and has to become fearless like the guards at his camp. Later the readers find that when he moves to America that he cannot get used to our way of life and he keeps thinking about the people that he had killed and the lives that he had effected. The barbaric and traumatizing experience Arn went through changed him into an enforcer of the new regime, the same kind he used to hate.

He saw other kids turn into cannibals and eat each other. Arn had to fight to survive. Every time they did something wrong they got killed or punished, so Arn had to be nice all the time. The Cambodian was afraid all the time the Khmer Rouge to. “The Khmer Rouge, they do anything to stay alive. Same for all of us. Always trying to see which way the wind is going.” (page 99, Never Fall Down). This is why Arn is a real fighter, because he had to fight for his life all the time. Arn`s will to survive was strong. He had to let his friend die to save his own

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 Khmer Rouge believed in, "Year-Zero", where if you had any knowledge or training you would be killed. In the film Pran has to pretend to be a taxi driver before he was taken to camp, because if the Khmer Rouge found out how much knowledge he had he would be killed. In the film Pran tells the viewers a rule to survive when he was at the camp," if you argue, or tell the truth you die." The ways of the Khmer Rouge was what kept them in power. In order to survive at the camp Pran had to lie about his background, his job, and is education in order to

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.

Falling Down is a film about a man who we know very little about (at

In 1976, after massacring hundreds of thousands of former government officials and supporters of the previous government, the Khmer Rouge began purging their own ranks. They utilized brutal tactics such as, “’the victory pole’ where four people would be tied together, their backs to the pole, facing opposite directions. Then a guard would shoot one in the head covering the others in blood and brains.” (Dunlop 87). They converted city schools into prisons and arrested people for any slight charge perceived against the revolution. Distrust with each other became so rampant among members inside the party that “vanquishing the enemies” became the most important task of the Khmer Rouge Regime. Food shortages occurred, electricity became scarce, and disease became a major problem for the population. Even the most useful resource for the Khmer Rouge executioners became scarce; they sometimes ran out of bullets after a heavy night of prison executions.