Analysis Of Luong Ung's First They Killed My Father

Daniel Goldhagen (2009) states that in less than four years, Cambodia’s political leaders induced their followers to turn Cambodia’s backwards and regressing society into a massive concentration camp in which they steadily killed victims. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of the Cambodian genocide is provided within Luong Ung’s personal narrative, “First They Killed My Father” (2000). Ung’s memoir is a riveting account of the Cambodian genocide, which provides readers with a personalized account of her family’s experience during the genocide. She informs readers of the causes of the Cambodian genocide and she specifies the various eliminationist techniques used to produce the ideological Khmer vision. Nonetheless, she falls short because

Unlike Goldhagen who attempts to create a framework to explain the causes of genocide and a broad category of various eliminationist techniques, Ung’s (2000) narrative is “a story of survival” (xi) dictating her families’ personal experience during the genocide. Ung (2000) mentions that victims, including herself and her family, experienced depersonalization; whereby, all members in her camp system were forced to dress and style their hair the same way to rid themselves “of the corrupt Western culture of vanity” (Ung 2000:58). The compliance to the orders guarantees their safety for the time being (Ung 2000). Furthermore, all victims were forced to adopt a suspicious attitude. In fact, Ung (2000) mentions that “hunger and fear make people turn against one another” (54). This exemplifies a culture where “[f]riendship does not matter” and all victims must take their own precautions to keep themselves safe (Ung 2000:46). The need to guarantee one’s security was constantly reinforced by Ung’s father who warned that disclosing information regarding their

Ung (2000) mentions that the Cambodian genocide is a product of a perfect agrarian vision that can be built by eliminating Western influence. More specifically, the Angkar perceives peasants and farmers as “model citizens” because many have not left the village and were not subjected to Western influence (Ung 2000:57). Moreover, the Khmer Rouge emphasized the ethnic cleansing of individuals from other races who were not considered “true Khmer” and represented a “source of evil, corruption, [and] poison” (Ung 2000:92). Lastly, the ideology centered on obtaining lost territory was based on a “time when Kampuchea was a large empire with territories” (Ung 2000:78). In essence, Ung successfully demonstrates that multiple causes encouraged the Cambodian