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Summary Of Lucky Child By Loung Ung

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The book Lucky Child by Loung Ung tells The story about Loung who was fortunate to escape the terrifying invasion of the Khmer Rouge and find a safe haven in America. The pressure of dealing with assimilation and trying to fit helps support Loung in finally embracing who she really is.

Loung is a ten-year-old girl living in the town of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Loung was once a normal village girl. She had friends and went to school. All that changed when the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975.“When Pol Pot’s communist Khmer Rouge stormed into the city April 17, 1975, my charmed life came to an end. On that day, Cambodia became a prison and all its citizens prisoners.”(1). Loungs life takes a sudden turn, Her once luxurious life has turned …show more content…

When Loung starts her first day of school, she is excited because she had spent most of her summer watching T.V and learning new words every day. She hopes that it would be enough to help her make some new friends. She imagines herself with friends that have blonde and brown hair. “I just know that if I'm friends with them, I’ll be normal and happy too!” (Ung 59) Loung doesn't want Asian friends, she believes that if all her friends were Asian she will be seen as someone who is an outcast and is not open to being friends with any other race. Loung sees Caucasian as the dominant race in America and if she can make friends with them, she can blend in with the common people of America.Heading to school with the typical pink dress and barbie backpack that she has seen the other neighborhood girls wearing, Loung enters her classroom with an optimistic mindset, but that all comes to a complete halt when she sees the frowns and glares of her classmates. When her teacher begins to tell the class to open up their notebooks and journal what they did for the summer Loung is very confused because these words were not said on the T.V. In order not to avoid looking like a fool she copies the little girl next to her. Loung copied the girl next to her because this moment was the pivotal moment she could show her teachers and classmates that she was just as American as them. Once the teacher realized that Loung …show more content…

Loung is tired of hearing how women are supposed to be sweet, kind and delicate. She wants to be independent and wild like the girls she sees on T.V. One day when Loung was playing with some friends she had accidentally hit Li and cut her lip. After she went home she sat in her closet so angry and ashamed. Meung sits outside the closet doors and consoles her. Telling him it was an accident Muang proceeds to tell Loung “You are not a boy, You don't need to play so aggressive” (58). Loung acts a different way at home than she does at school. Being a proper girl is a very important aspect of the Cambodian culture. Being proper and having the best etiquette is a way to show how high your status is. “Women demonstrate their high status through proper behavior. This includes both proper comportment and correct actions. Women are to walk slowly and softly, be so quiet in their movements that one cannot hear the sound of their silk skirt rustling”.(Ledgerwood 112). Loung starts to wear more revealing clothes as she grows older. She puts on makeup and flirts with boys as she sees the other girls in her class doing. When her brother starts to notice he gets angry at Loung, Accusing her of throwing herself away to impress the kids at school. This causes all of Loungs Cambodian friends

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