First They Killed My Father Analysis

"From 1975 to 1779- through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor-the Khmer Rouge systematically kill an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the countries population."(Ung Author's Note). In First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung and her family were victims of Pol Pot's invasion of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. She, her parents, and her six brothers and sisters were all forced into labor camps to work for the Khmer Rouge and fight a battle that wasn't even theirs to fight. From 1975 until 1979, the Khmer Rouge held control over much of Cambodia. To keep the people under their control the soldiers used many techniques of terror. In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, the author describes how the Khmer Rouge used the techniques of intimidation, restriction, and isolation in order to keep people

Ung describes how the Khmer Rouge broke down their cultural and economic system and implemented their own form of communism. They began by getting rid of the "idea" of a caste system by telling everyone that everyone was to be considered equal; however, the Khmer Rouge and some people were given better treatment than others. Ung overhears Pa telling her brothers about what the Khmer Rouge are doing to the people. Pa says, "Anyone can be viewed as a threat to the Angkar-former civic servants, monks, doctors, nurses, artists, teachers, students-even people who wear glasses, as the soldiers view this as a sign of intelligence. Anyone the Khmer Rouge believes has the power to lead a rebellion will be killed"(Ung 54). The Khmer Rouge were taking everyone who was educated and had different views than theirs away and killing them. As a result of this fear the people including Ung's family were not truthful about who they were; This shows how the Khmer Rouge used intimidation to keep people from