Confusion. Safety.

The memoir First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung, tells the story of what her and her family went through during the Khmer Rouge. When I first began reading I was really surprised because Loung starts the memoir from when she was 5, before the Khmer Rouge. I realize that it must've been really tough for her to have to live the way she did at such a young age. It kills me to think that people had to go through that, especially at such a young age. Loung didn't even understand what was happening or why. When her father explains to her that the people in the Khmer Rouge are bad and 'destroyers of thing' she says, "[She'] does not quite understand what Pa means. [She] only hopes that someday she can be half as smart as he is" (18). I think that children should enjoy life, be free and silly, not have to live like Loung did. She must've been so scared and upset. I feel sad for her and angry towards the people who did that to her and to many others. The biggest problem for a child should be about what they are going to play with next, not whether they will get enough food to calm their hunger, or if their parents and siblings will come back home safe that night.


I also feel bad for her father. He had to make sue really hard decisions in order to protect his family. After they arrive at Krang Truop some of their old acquaintances arrive there too. Loung's father tells her that, "[They] don't want anyone to hear [her] crying. It is not safe for [them] to stay [there] anymore. [They] have to go, and [they] will ride on a truck to get there" (44). They are forced to live because of his job. He was afraid that if anyone in the Khmer Rouge found out who he was they would hurt his family. He knew that if they stayed close to people they used to know they could give away the secret in order to protect themselves or their own families.