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Literary analysis everyday use
Two kinds of literary analysis
Two kinds of literary analysis
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Literature helps give a different perspective to grasp knowledge from what is going on in other parts of the world. First They Killed My Father:a daughter of Cambodia remembers by Loung Ung, published by First Harper Perennial of New York in 2008 was evaluated by themes of geography, elements of culture, and literary analysis.
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.
The physical place of Cambodia described in detail the hardships that the Cambodians faced. The temperatures go up to 100 degrees by only midday, and let alone the scorching sun can cause excessive dehydration and delusions, but there is also an extremely long rainy s...
Walker, Luke. "Cambodian Genocide." World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
This genocide took place all throughout Europe. It started in Germany and spread all the way to Great Britain. (“Some of the things that are not). The Cambodian Genocide was an attempt by the Khmer Rouge to take over and centralize all Cambodian farmers (“Cambodian”). This genocide lasted from 1975 to 1978 when the Khmer Rouge was finally overthrown by the Vietnamese (“Cambodian”).
Anlungthmor Village – small hut raised three feet off the ground, bamboo leaves and straw for walls and roof, entire family sleeps underneath mosquito net in the hut, grows food in back of the hut to supplement rations, Khmer Rouge soldiers patrolling, Pa and the two oldest boys work from dawn to dusk, eventually, Meng, Khouy and other young men leave for three days a week to find food to ration to the village, flooding.
The contrast Huong provides between the reality of Hang’s impoverished life and the beauty of the scenery that she experiences, emphasise the powerful effect the landscape has on her. When describing the first snowfall she ever observed, Hang noticed that the snowflakes “flood[ed] the earth with their icy whiteness,” this observation “pierc[ing her] soul like sorrow.” The scenery had such a moving effect on Hang, perhaps because she longed for the familiar sight of a Vietnamese landscape. Then recalling a time when her mother took her to a beach, the exquisiteness of the scene at dawn was equally emotionally poignant to Hang, not because she wished for a recognisable sight, but because it was such an extreme difference from the slum in Hanoi where she grew up. The sensory details of her childhood remain with Hang even years later, acting as a reminder of her humble beginnings even as she advances in life. The stench of “rancid urine” that permeated the walls of the slum and the hut where she and her mother lived, with its persistently leaky roof “patched together out of…rusty sheet metal” ; build a vivid picture of poverty. To then be exposed to the breathtaking vista of a natural landscape, having experienced the scarceness of beauty in the slums that is her home, causes distress in Hang.
Bend low, bend low, then bend lower. The wind blow one way, you bow that way. It blow the other way, you do, too. That is the way to survive” (McCormick, 33). The brittle and weak grass represents “survival” in both, literal and metaphoric contexts. Before the reign of the rebel group, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia is described as a close knit ‘village’ of sorts, with children playing freely amongst nature alongside scenic patches of greenery. In a pre-genocide era, this greenery is a representation of safety and survival – whereby the Cambodians had autonomy over their affairs and security matters. Albeit, after the rebellious ‘revolution’, McCormick brilliantly juxtaposes the landscapes. Arn is keen to note the dirt, mud, dry terrain, foul odour and darkness in the fields. Thus, his formula for survival demonstrates a highly aware understanding of the circumstance. ‘Bending like grass’ depicts an erosion of self-will and the fragility of human life. Moreover, Arn’s heightened understanding can also be
“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.
Walker, Luke. "Cambodian Genocide World Without Genocide." Cambodian Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .
In “Why Literature Matters” the author, Dana Gioia, argues that literature is very important in today’s society. He talks about the decline of reading over the years and the effects it has on different companies and communities. Gioia uses many persuasive techniques, such as evidence, jingoism, and diction, to try and persuade the reader that literature is important.
Throughout the nation’s 2000-year history, Cambodia, a developing Southeast Asian country located on the Indochina Peninsula, has experienced a number of glories and tragedies; as a matter of fact, it was until 1993 that the democratic election, supported by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), were conducted to restore peace in Cambodia under a coalition government (CIA World Factbook, 2013). In order to transform from the negative peace which is just the absent of direct violence to the positive peace meaning the absent of cultural and structural violence, Cambodia, the younger member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been trying as hard as possible to address the problem of inequality with the obvious hope that if inequality is not natural, according to Hobbes, but rather constructed, there are probably chances to level down its impacts or even demolish its existence.
The Cambodian Genocide took place from 1975 to 1979 in the Southeastern Asian country of Cambodia. The genocide was a brutal massacre that killed 1.4 to 2.2 million people, about 21% of Cambodia’s population. This essay, will discuss the history of the Cambodian genocide, specifically, what happened, the victims and the perpetrators, and the world’s response to the genocide. 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.
Cambodians didn’t just appear in Long Beach, CA out of nowhere. Long before Long Beach, CA became the epicenter of a very large Cambodian population, Cambodians migrated from Cambodia, a country in Asia that sits next to Thailand and Vietnam. In the early 1960s Cambodians began arriving in various cities within California, Long Beach in particular witnessed mass numbers of Cambodians flooding into the area in Southern California. One year later, President John F. Kennedy established the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), which was the very first assistance/aid organization set up for a foreign country (Impact of U.S Refugee Policies on U.S Foreign Policy/Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). The USAID program sponsored students from Cambodia to several universities located all around the U.S, assisting these individuals in training for various industrial arts and agricultural practices. In fact, Long Beach State University welcomed four Cambodian students into the University, specializing in the Industrial Arts Program. Since the initial arrival of Cambodians in Long Beach, the Cambodian population has increased exponentially, allowing these Cambodian migrants to make a new home for themselves. In 1975, Cambodia was taken over by a harsh dictator, Khmer Rouge also known as “Pol Pot” by Americans, who was a radical communist regime (Khmer Rouge History/Cambodia Tribunal Monitor). Khmer Rouge was very much similar to Hitler, enslaving its country’s inhabitants into doing tedious tasks. Once again, there was another large flow of Cambodians pouring out of Cambodia. The
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
Civil war swept Cambodia from 1953 to 1993, demolishing political infrastructure and health care systems. Citizens and health care providers alike watched as their system toppled. Care in the rural areas became virtually nonexistent, while care in the large cities like Phnom Penh became limited and difficult to access. Not only were the buildings being destroyed, but doctors who could were fleeing and drugs were in short supply. Since the Ministry of Health was established at the war’s end in 1993, the outlook for Cambodian health care has improved, but slowly. No national health care exists. While general services are inexpensive, these services still exist mainly in the cities. Resources are too limited for most specialized care, thus most terminally ill must be treated in Singapore or Bangkok.
The study of Literature lends to an understanding of our history, our society and sometimes ourselves. With Literature, we see the Countries and People as they were. We experience the different climates,language and tone.
During the course of this class, I have had the opportunity to read literature from authors who come from different backgrounds and places in the world. Some of the stories and poetry we read were straight forward while others were confusing and sometimes required a second look. But one thing is clear, it changed the way I think about literature in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. Three works in particular stand out in my mind. “ I Wont Let You Go” by Rabindranath Tagore, “To New York” by Leopold Senghor, and Pedro Peramo by Juan Rulfo all had an impact on my thinking for similar yet different reasons. They all incorporate their cultural backgrounds into their work through the setting of their pieces. They also compose their pieces in a way that makes you want to research their history to find the deeper meaning. Finally, a couple of the authors write about things they are emotionally connected to. Some of the examples we will look at, really opened my eyes to going beyond a superficial understanding of literature.