Transcript Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She

Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia
Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind
By Loung Ung
(C) 2005
Mr. Rustin / May 19, 2011 / 3rd Period
[Poem]
Cursed and Gifted
Lucky and troubled child
from a wounded landGrasping shiny promises
that splinter into broken glassAt first feeling helpless and hopeless
in the land of opportunity.
Tied to her memories of the homeland
by her own desperate struggle to escape,
Only fully learning to cut the chord
when finally accepting the need for return.
But the Shadow will always stayBlack Khmer clothing covering a part of her forever.
[Dynamic Characters]
Loung – During the course of the novel, the main
narrator changes both physically and mentally as
she blossoms past the ruined child of war into a
healthy, Americanized young adult.
Meng – Loung’s oldest brother dramatically
shifts his familial role during the course of the
novel. Though he already shoulders the
responsibility of guiding his young sister in
America, throughout Lucky Child Meng develops
into a loving husband and father. Additionally,
Meng takes on the role of the Father for his
entire family (in America and Cambodia) due to
his new position as the eldest male Ung.
Chou – Loung’s closest sister also undergoes
heavy transitions during her extended stay in
Cambodia. Always introverted as a child, Chou
must break out of her shell slightly to contend
with Cambodian life and to successfully take on
her new roles of loving wife and mother.
[Symbolism]
During her first years in America, Loung sporadically
reverts to her child-like view of the world in an effort
to cling to her withered sense of innocence. Minnie
Mouse, one of the cartoon characters on her new
sheets, becomes an imaginary friend and an
outward reflection of her lost inner Child.
The cemetery next door to the Ung’s new home in the
United States very quickly invades Loung’s nightmares.
Afraid of evil spirits, the young Loung marks her wrists
and ankles with black Xs to protect her from harm while
sleeping. The graveyard becomes an outer reflection of
Loung’s haunted past, her heavy Shadow.
While waiting for their departure from the refugee camp
to travel to the United States of America, Loung looks
up at the night sky and finds her father’s visage in the
face of the moon. The uninterrupted curvature of the
moon reminds her of her father’s full and healthy face
before the terrible reign of the Khmer Rouge. For these
reasons, the full moon acts as a symbol for the
departed (but not forgotten) Pa.
[Propaganda Advertisement]
America
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave
Join the millions of completely satisfied
citizens in this perfect utopian society!!!
Propaganda Techniques - Glittering Generalities, Transfer, and Bandwagon propaganda.
[Propaganda Technique]
Glittering Generalities
Propaganda
• When preparing to move to the United States while living in a
refugee camp in Thailand, Loung and some of her family members
are indoctrinated into the American life through exposure to
Hollywood films, “where each plot took place in a large, noisy city
with tall, shiny buildings and big, long cars racing down crowded
streets…I imagine myself walking among these people and living
an exciting life far from Cambodia” (Loung 8). But Loung quickly
finds that her expectations, generated by these gilded American
screen images, are far from the actual truth. Before coming to the
United States, Loung has been taught to expect an easy and
immediate insertion into the everyday flow of American life.
Instead she has to contend with her actual lonely American
experience, “I have been going to school for two weeks now but I
still have not made any American friends…I feel lost and alone in a
field of pale skin and white faces” (Loung 65, 66).