One example from the novel comes from Hong when she and Amah are reunited with the rest of the Ung family. Hong tells them about her own Khmer Rouge experience. Chou narrates Hong’s story and says, “ Hong tells them about how she saw a young boy beaten to death with sticks because the soldiers said he was lazy. Hongs words come out in spits and anger when she reports that the boy was slow with his work because he was sick and starving… After that Hong became the best worker in her unit even though she was many years younger than the others. ”(pg55)
The pills dance in my palms, gleaming white and inviting…. Somewhere in Cambodia, I dream that Pa and Ma are sleeping together in the ground. I close my eyes and wait for Pa to come take me with him. In her crib, Tori cries but I ignore her.” (180-181) Loung has a deep need to kill herself not only because of her painful memories of Cambodia but also because of her grieving for Pa, Ma, Keav and Geak.
Character development is the most crucial element of a story, as it urges the reader to analyse the motives or the emotions that character may convey, therefore making the story immensely impactful. Wayson Choy effortlessly and deftly develops the character of Sek-Lung in his renowned short story, “The Jade Peony.” Sek-Lung, who is also the narrator in this story, is six years old and he’s struggling dreadfully to cope with his grandma’s upcoming death. The protagonist’s affectionate yet sorrowful feelings during this emotional crisis are clearly delivered, “Her palm felt plush and warm...
In The First Betrayal Josan, a man who works in a lighthouse finds himself in the midst of a violent storm. Consequently the disheartening storm threatens to destroy the light in the tower, causing the ships to crash into the rocks. In the passage- The First Betrayal, Patricia Bray’s use of harsh diction and vivid imagery creates a mood of suspense. For instance, the author’s use of word choice illustrates a tone of fear.
Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father is a vivid, detailed memoir of a young girl’s experiences in Cambodia throughout the Khmer Rouge era. It records in expressive detail the horrors suffered by the Ung and her family while living under the oppressive rule of the insane Khmer Rouge. Meanwhile, First They Killed Her Sister by Soneath Hor, Sody Lay and Grantham Quinn is a lengthy criticism in direct opposition to the aforementioned memoir. Although the authors of First They Killed Her Sister made some excellent points throughout their assessment of First They Killed my Father such as showing how Ung having misrepresented some aspects of Khmer culture and history, they completely and utterly failed in their attempt to discredit her based on the claims that she perpetuated racial tension and distorted what really happened in 1970s Cambodia, which breaks down the few good points they did have. The critics correctly assert and prove that Ung misrepresented certain aspects of Khmer culture and history, showing that at times, Ung’s description of what had happened was distorted or partially fabricated.
The novel focuses on coping with the death and horror of war. It also speaks volumes about the true nature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the never-ending struggle of dealing with it. In the
This shows that Loung idolized her father and these special moments between Loung and her father were things that she held onto in order to survive the atrocities that she experienced. Loung’s father not only provided provided physical protection by moving his family to places where they would not be in so much danger but he also provided emotional protection by giving Loung hope that she would survive these hardships even after he has
“Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” Nam Le’s “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” is categorized in “ethnic story” narrated his Vietnamese life in order to meet an upcoming deadline even though finally he can’t submit his story because his father burns his work. Throughout the story, Nam the narrator talks about “the past” which he experiences when he was young including the recent experience that he has got from his father reunion. Not only does the story tell us about the past which, but it also shows a connection of time between past, present, and future. Likewise, the story shows the relationship between son and father which is the main theme of this story; and shows how the past is important and affect to them differently. Also, the story of the past could lead to the end of the story that can be interpreted like a prediction of the direction of their relationship in the future.
In Duong Thu Huong’s Paradise of the Blind, Hang has been placed on a path of self-sacrifice and duty by her family. Her life unfolds in stages- childhood, young adulthood, and her eventual role as an exported worker in Russia. With each of these shifts in her life comes a shift in setting and a shift in her emotional state. Hang’s changing emotional state depicts her “coming of age” and her growth as a character. Setting is important to creation of shift in the novel, and is often described in detail.
The short story “The Handsomest Drowned man” shows a broader development of identity through a society. One of the important characters in the “The Chinese Seamstress” is the narrator, who is not only vital because he is the main character but also because he goes through a lot of development and evolution based of the narratives he reads. Four eyes, the narrators friend, had a stash of foreign books that he had received from his mother that were banned
In the novel Spilled Water, Si-yan met many hardships and difficulties. Some of these were minor. Others were major. However, at last she managed to overcome them all with the help of other people who she met in her travels. Here we consider what these difficulties were, how she coped with them, who helped her, and what she learned from her difficult experiences.
Trolley Problem- week2 “Utilitarianism -A consequentialist ethical theory that holds that morally right actions, laws, or policies are those whose consequences contain the greatest positive value and least negative value compared to the consequences of available alternatives. (Thames, 2018.). " With this being said do we really believe its okay to sacrifice the greater good of a person, meaning to kill five and save one?
This presents a development of characterisation when we meet Ling in the first paragraph of the extract. The description of Ling’s wife follows straight after. In the second paragraph , we encounter Wang-Fô whom inspired Ling to have a new perspective of the world as “Ling avait grandi dans une maison d’où la richesse éliminait les hasards.” The passage is written in an omniscient third person narrative. It is predominantly narrative
The different techniques to explore literary works all lead to new meanings behind the same piece. In Ursula LeGuin’s short story “She Unnames Them,” a Formalistic analytical approach can be taken to find a deeper meaning within the text. By examining the different elements within the text instead of trying to understand the outside influences on the author, the characters, plot, and setting all transform into vital parts of telling her message. The theme that LeGuin is now able to express is that a person’s or thing’s importance does not lie in its name, rather what they do with themselves is their defining features. Through developing her characters in a unique way, LeGuin is able to best lead the reader to find the central message in her
In the poem, “A Hymn to Childhood,” Li-Young Lee talks about having fragmented individuality from childhood due to war. He is lost in perception of a traumatic childhood caused by war and a normal naïve childhood. Lee depicts the two diverged childhoods from his memory through the use of antithesis to emphasize the world perceived by a self fragmented individual. Throughout the poem, he consistently presents two opposing ideas to show what it feels like to grow up with emotional trauma.
