Who Is Loung Ung

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 .

Imagine if you were five again living and growing up in the 1960’s-1990’s. Well Loung ung didn't think anything like what she went through would happen but it did just when she was five. I have been reading “First they killed my father” by Loung Ung. This book is a non fiction book. It takes place when there was a war,This year happened to be in the time period of 19565’s to the 1980’s. The little girl named Loung was just five years old. Mrs.Ung has had many different things that had happened in her life.

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.

Loung is a ten-year-old girl living in the town of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Loung was once a normal village girl. She had friends and went to school. All that changed when the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975.“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.”(1). Loungs life takes a sudden turn, Her once luxurious life has turned

1.5 to 3 million cambodians died in the Cambodian Genocide. These tragic events are shown in In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. In this novel the reader is in the perspective of a seven-year-old princess, Raami, as she lived through the genocide. As the Khmer Rouge a heartless group destroyed Cambodia. The group Dehumanized people, took everything from it’s citizens, and split up families.

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

It can turn the kindest people to a cold hearted person. (Insert fight between Chou and Lounge sisters). Even Chou who used to be a smart, gentle girl turned on her sister in a fight. It even has people stealing from their own blood, like loung did. (insert Loung stealing rice). She feels guilty but she feels the need to survive more then she feels the need to follow her conscience. They also steal from the corn fields, eventually they are found out, and the merciless people are turned on kim. Later on in the book Loung is at the river and a body of a Khmer Rouge Soldier stuck on the bank. Her and another girl push the body back out. “He was a Khmer Rouge Soldier. He deserved to die. Too Bad they are not all dead.” She never thought of wanting someone dead but the war changed her into someone who does. People feel the need to survive or die

On the one hand, Youk Chhang was a survivor when the Khmer Rouge came to power in Cambodia. One of his opinions was “Some Cambodians are anxious to forget and forgive. Others are angry and searching for justice” (Hyde 2). Chhang lost everything, and tells us this story. He was 13 years old when the Khmer

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.

“First They Killed Her Sister: A Definitive Analysis” by Soneath Hor, Sody Lay, and Grantham Quinn is an article criticizing Loung’s book. They argue and claim that Ung perpetuates racial tension, misrepresents Khmer culture and history, and ultimately distorts what really happened in 1970s Cambodia. Even though the authors of “First They Killed Her Sister” were right about Ung misrepresenting Khmer

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.

Throughout the book the setting of the novel is always changing, causing its own slew of problems. In the beginning they live in Phnom Penh, where they’re pretty much revered by the public, until the Khmer Rouge come along. They try to escape, leaving to their weekend house, Mango Corner, and where Raami’s uncle lived. They went to a couple different areas to escape the Organization, until they were caught and sent to Prey Veng. ”A door, riddled with moth-shaped holes...swung down from the belly of the boat...One by one people trudged past the lit entryway and disappeared into the dark within”(Ratner, 56). This was a temple they stayed at for a little while, until Papa got sent away and Raami and Mama soon followed suit. When they were sent away and where they were taken was never under their control, and the details Ratner adds into the book make the reader feel the same kind of isolation and powerlessness. “Our driver clicked his tongue, shaking

“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

CAT 1: Animal Farm Text Response Statement of Intention: In this essay I will discuss how Squealer can get what he wants through deception and lies in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Topic: Lies and deception are essential tools in order to maintain power. Discuss the role of Squealer in the novel as an excellent example of propaganda advertising.