Lucky Child Sparknotes

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“...between 1.5 and 3 million people killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a communist political group.” According to the University of Minnesota. Between 1975 and 1979, the communist political group “Khmer Rouge” ruled by Pol Pot invaded Cambodia and caused a mass genocide of between 1.5 and 3 million people. Loung Ung was alive during the time the Khmer Rouge invaded and caused the “Killing Fields”. Loung Ung’s family suffers throughout the invasion of the Khmer Rouge and her older brother, Meng decides to take Loung and his wife to leave the country and immigrate to America to save their family. Throughout the story of Lucky Child, we see how the effects of the Khmer Rouge invasion affected her greatly and how she overcame them. Loung overcomes the obstacles of dealing with her Cambodian past, depression, and acceptance of her identity shows that perseverance can help …show more content…

Though Loung disagrees and thinks this “In my mind the war rages on, even though I know I live in a peaceful land. There’s no way I can explain that to Meng” (69). Ever since the invasion of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Loung Ung can't think of anywhere being peaceful and instead total war zones. Throughout the story, Loung deals more with her Cambodian peace and finally decides to visit her home, Cambodia. Whilst in Cambodia, Loung visits her family and stands outside her old home where she was when the Khmer Rouge invaded and says “I’m not afraid anymore,’ I smile and whisper to him. Chou reaches out and takes my hand as we drive away” (253). Loung finally overcame her PTSD and no longer thinks of Cambodia as an active war zone where she watched her family suffer and be taken away from her. Loung is no longer afraid of Cambodia and finally thinks of it as her home

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