First They Killed My Father By Loung Ung

First They Killed My Father In the memoir, First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, the author explores the idea of family to develop the theme in hard times its important to keep family first. Loung shows a lots of examples throughout the book which gives you (the reader) the opportunity to pay close attention to them. One way that Ung shows that family is important and should always be first in hard times is when Pa lies about their status in the society. The Ung family is in line to go through the checkpoint where the Khumer Rouge is checking people's belongings. Loungs family is actually really wealthy and upper class. Pa lies to the Khumer Rouge soldiers because he feels its better to send his family to a better place. As Pa is gathering the family together, Loung begins with, "Pa quietly gathers our family and stands us in the line with the peasants." Pa then says, "remember we are a family of the peasants give them anything they want and don't argue." (Pa31). The above example illustrates that Pa is willing to lie and risk his family's life to

Kim is just walking around the camp but he makes friends with the chefs children. They play together everyday and become good friends enabling them to have extra food on their table. Loung expresses how they get extra food and states, "over the next few weeks, him and the chefs children become friends and they allow Kim to bring us left overs every night." (Loung64). The above example illustrates how in desperate times, you should put family first by showing how making friends with privileged people in society and bringing extra food back so that no one is hungry. Kim chooses to help out his family and keeps their health in his mind. Making friends and keeping your family in your mind can make a big difference in the survival of your