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 into power. As stated in the author’s note, “From 1975 to 1979, through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor, the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country’s population.”
There are several reasons why Luong wrote the book “First They Killed My Father”. One reason would be to show how people struggle to survive against all odds. Another reason for writing this book would be to show how the government's intentions and its actions can differ. She is also attempting to show how important family is and the effects that war can have on a person.
When the Khmer Rouge overthrew the Cambodian government and took over, Luong Ung was only five years old. She lived through the entire period of the Khmer Rouge being in power, which is why she can provide first hand evidence of the war and its effects on the people of Cambodia. She had to live through the harsh conditions and had her innocence stolen by the new government and its...
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...Why did the government instantly use force instead of finding some other method? Why couldn’t the Lon Nol government fight off the Khmer Rouge?
The story “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers” is a riveting tale about life during the Khmer Rouge’s takeover of the Cambodian government. Luong Ung has said, "As I tell people about genocide, I get the opportunity to redeem myself ... It's empowering; it feels right. The more I tell people, the less the nightmares haunt me. The more people listen to me, the less I hate." I believe that the more Luong Ung is able to spread her story to others and cause them to become aware of the tragedy that transpired, the more it becomes less likely for a catastrophe like this to ever take place again. Hearing Luong Ung’s story will encourage readers to triumph over any obstacle that they may face in life.
Between 1975 and 1979, Pol Pot-the leader of the Khmer Rouge followed Maoist communism, which they thought they could create an agrarian utopia. Agrarian means that the society was based on agriculture. They wanted all members of society to be rural agricultural workers and killed intellectuals, who had been depraved by western capitalist ideas. A utopia means a perfect society. This idea went to extremes when The Khmer Rouge resumed that only pure people were qualified to build the revolution. They killed Cambodians without reasons by uncivilized actions such as: cutting heads, burying alive… There were about 1.7 million people killed by the Khmer Rouge.
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
“The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s Regime”. Mtholyoke.edu. 11 May 2005. Web. 7 May 2014.
“First they killed my father” is a powerful and touching story. It highlights the horrifying and painful cambodian civil war. It dramatically impact the readers and also informs them about sacrifice, and that it is necessary in hard times.
The Khmer Rouge was a murderous group, and their plan was to change the Cambodian society. On April 17 of 1975, the group marched into Phnom Penh, and forced all residents to evacuate into the country side. The members of the Khmer Rouge were mostly uneducated boys who had no idea what they were doing. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, sent these people
Marks, Stephen P. "Elusive Justice For The Victims Of The Khmer Rouge." Journal Of International Affairs 52.2 (1999): 691. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. .
“The bones cannot find peace until the truth they hold in themselves has been revealed” This quote, said by Deputy Military Police Chief Nhim Seila, means that the deceased persecutors of the Cambodian Genocide cannot rest well until the reason for their actions has been told to the public. On April 17, 1975, soldiers of a communist group known as the Khmer Rogue, stormed into the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, and attacked the city, forcing all the citizens into the countryside to work vigorously for the Khmer Rouge. The stories of Samnang Shawn Vann and Sisowath Doung Chanto paint a picture of what it was like to live under this cruel group.
The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...
Have you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a war time. In “First They Killed My Father” she is talking about what her and her family went thru when she was little. In “First They Killed My Father” Ung discusses the impact of war Ung was forced to work as a kid, lost her childhood memory, and she doesn’t have any ownership of her possessions.
First They Killed My Father is a memoir of a survivor who is one of seven children of a important government official. Loung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of 5. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse or separate. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Loung Ung, the main character and the author of this thrilling yet depressing memoir takes us on an unforgettable journey of being a childhood survivor of the Khmer Rouge killing fields, emphasizing the human capability to survive even at times of crime and war. Innocent children that live in a country torn apart by war are forced to grow up much too quickly because they have to face experiences and bear burdens that no human being ever should.
The book, First They Killed My Father was written by the Loung Ungs. Ungs was a survivor of the killing which took place in Khmer Rouge Killing Fields. At the time she was writing the book, she was an adult but was looking back at her life when she was between the age of five and nine years old. The story begins with the author’s pleasant life in Phnom Penh city of Cambodia. The author was a young girl from a middle-class family. The author’s father was working in the government of the Cambodia; therefore, the author’s family was living a good life. That is, there were plenty of food stuff, expensive clothes as well as quality schooling for the children. When Khmer Rouge took over the country on mid-April 1975 all the good life the author’s
In the book First They Killed My Father, Loung Ung is a five-year-old girl living a prosperous middle class life in Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge army charges into the city. They forced all citizens out and persuaded them the reason was the U.S. would be bombing Phnom Penh and killed those who stayed back. They sought to enforce a classless Agrarian society. Unable to return because of the danger, Loung and her family of 9 walked a disturbing amount in the hot sun and uncomfortable conditions. Developing a painful starvation, they attempted to survive the harsh circumstances of the camps they were put in by the Angkar. Throughout the brutal journey of working day to night, receiving little to no food each day, being stripped of multiple identity
In the memoir, “First They Killed My Father” the author, Loung Ung recounts her experiences living under the control of the Khmer Rouge regime and the Angkar government
First They killed My Father is a Memoir written by Loung Ung; it details her story of surviving the Cambodian genocide. Loung, now a grown woman, was but five years old at the start of the narrative. The Cambodian genocide took place from 1975 to 1979. During this time more than two-million Cambodians perished due to torture and extreme starvation. This story spans her adolescent life from age five to around the age of nine. Her account begins at her home in Phnom Penh, the Cambodia capital city. Here, she and her family lived a comfortable life being that they belonged to the middle class. Her father, Sem Im Ung, worked for the Cambodian Government. He was able to support the family with any means that he could to make sure they had nice
First They Killed My Father:a daughter of Cambodia remembers emphasized on the importance of the themes of geography. It is essential to understand where the story was taken place. Cambodia is located between Vietnam and Thailand. The relative location of Cambodia is important because to flee to America, many Cambodians travel through Vietnam, to Thailand because it is a safer route. Also, during the Khmer Rouge’s control several families fled to Vietnam illegally to escape the communist control.