“We are the lost, we are the lonely
So far from our beloved land We are the children of the Mekong Who will not see the mighty river again O Kampuchea The blood of our people Has stained you The bones of our people Lie in unmarked graves But the love of the ancient Khmers Will live in our hearts We will not forget you Even from this new place On the far side Of the earth. (Crew 10-11) |
This poem was written by the main character Sundara for her English class. This poem shows Sundara’s inner feelings and how the war affected her. It is evident that Sundara was extremely traumatized by the effects of the war. Her reference to the “mighty river” symbolizes life and hope. By using this symbolism in her poem, Sundara was able to portray how disastrous the war was for the Cambodians to have no hope for life.
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“She glanced at Ravy again. He knew perfectly well she wasn’t supposed to talk to boys. Hadn’t he heard Soka say it often enough? Strange. That rule never bothered her before. It had been her protection against loud, overly bold American boys, made it easier to smile away their advanced. But now, somehow, looking at Jonathan McKinnon, she felt constrained by Soka’s admonition. They were discussing flowers, yes, but the way he was drawing it all out…” (Crew 29)
“These poor Americans with their light skins, How easily they colored with every emotion. No wonder they never seemed to remain properly composed” (Crew 30).
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These two passages show how Cambodians view Americans. They viewed Americans as sly, rude creatures. Soka, Sundara’s aunt even forbids her from talking to the boys as she feels they will have a bad influence on Sundara. However, Sundara is beginning to realize that Soko's view of American boys is greatly mistaken. Sundara starts to recognize that she has developed romantic feelings towards Jonathan and now the ‘rule of not being able to talk to boys’ starts to bother Sundara. This shows how she is starting to assimilate into American culture as she feels more attracted to American boys. The first passage foreshadows that soon some sort of romantic relationship will develop between Jonathan and Sundara. As later found in chapter four, Sundara goes to the football game to see Jonathan with an excuse of just wanting to watch the game.
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“Just yesterday, it seemed, she’d been swinging on a breezy porch in a Cambodian fishing village, now she was sweltering in an armed camp guarded by rifle-toting American soldiers” (Crew 60).
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The passage above gives a solid understanding of how Sundara feels about fleeing Cambodia, even after four years of living in America. She cannot led go of the memories of her peaceful Cambodian life with her family before the invasion of the Khmer Rouge. Sundara sees Cambodia as a place where she belongs to, while she views the United states as a foreign land. These specific, concrete details such as “breezy porch” and “rifle-toting American soldiers” gives readers a clear image of what she is thinking in her mind, that contrast on how she views the two places. The tones of the two images mirror how positively she feels towards Cambodia and how negatively she feels towards America.
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“His mind was full of Star Wars, pocket calculators, and organizing another touch football game with his many friends” (Crew 57).
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Constantly throughout the book, the topic of what it means to be American comes up. This passage shows how Ravy, Soka’s son, is Americanized with his love of American activities and interests and his development of an American lifestyle. The concrete details of “Star Wars” and “football” lets the reader see to what extent Ravy is Americanized. Without these images, the reader would have a less clear understanding of how Americanized Ravy has become.
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“But Jonatan, I’m shock!” (Crew 95)
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In this sentence, Sundara mispronounces Jonathan’s name and makes a grammatical mistake, saying “shock” instead of “shocked.” She makes these mistakes all throughout the book. These mistakes illustrate how she still struggles with English even after four years of living in the U.S. They emphasize how different she is from the other American kids.
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“’But then, his feelings are not our concern. Their ways are not our ways. Even with a good family, he is not good for you. You must not think of him anymore. You must forget him.’ The words Soka demanded caught in Sundara’s throat” (Crew 116).
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Soka says these words to Sundara after finding Jonathan in her. Soka admonishes Sundara for allowing such a relationship to develop, scolding Sundara about the great cultural difference between their family and Jonathan’s family. The author uses personification by describing the words as being “caught in Sundara’s throat.” (Crew 116). Words are not physical and cannot be caught in one’s throat, but the author does so almost hinting that these words were so harsh and surprising that they could cut off one’s breath.
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“’I will forget him.’ This humble promise seemed to reduce the last embers of Soka’ anger to ashen weariness” (Crew 117).
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Soka forces Sundara to promise to not have anything to do with Jonathan. When Sundara meekly complies, Soka calms down. The author uses metaphor to compare Soka’s raging anger to a raging fire. As Soka calms down, her anger turns to “ashen weariness” signifying that Soka has now released her ire. The author compares Soka’s anger to fire because like fire, Soka’s anger was sudden, raging, and destructive, yet at the same time, easily extinguished but with a chance of being reignited just as easily.
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“Oh, what a sea of trouble. Better is she’d never spoken to Jonathan, never made place in her heart for him. Now that place would be so empty” (Crew 118).
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After promising to end her relationship with Jonathan, Sundara reflects upon her previous actions with sadness and regret. The author uses an idiom to describe Sundara’s situation as a “sea of trouble”. This is fitting because the author highlights how the troublesome situation surround Sundara like a sea and like the sea, there seems to be no end to the scandal that is brought by Sundara’s relationship with Jonathan.
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“The air had been hot and still, no break of breeze. Sleepless, she’d heard muffled voices from the garden. Rising from her wooden bed, she’d drawn aside her mosquito netting, crept to the window, and unlatched the shutter. Against the black sky, red fires glowed on the horizon” (Crew 124).
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This passage describes Sundara’s memories of the moments before sneaking out at night and meeting her brother and her childhood sweetheart, Chameroun. The literary technique that the author uses here is flashback. She uses the past perfect tense to describe an action that had been going on in Sundara’s past. Crew mainly uses verbs such as “rising” and “unlatched” to begin her sentences in this passage to help bring the audience into the action of Sundara’s memories in Cambodia. Crew also uses the literary technique of imagery to further draw the audience into Sundara’s memory. Crew uses contrasting colors of black and red to give the audience a clear image of Sundara’s surroundings.
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“For the next few days, she wore Jonathan’s love like a warm cloak around her. The way he’d just come right out and say it! I love you, Sundara. Leaving the hospital in a daze, she had realized she couldn’t remember anyone ever saying those words to her before- not even her parents. She liked this American way of being so honest. If she were honest with him… No, she mustn’t think of it. She was not allowed to love Jonathan McKinnon. Still, whatever happened, it was a wonderful feeing, knowing he loved her” (Crew 159).
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This is the first passage in chapter 16 of the novel and it is already extremely strong. It starts with a simile to help us visualize what Sundara would be feeling when a Jonathan tells her that he loves her. Sundara’s raw excitement could be seen in the second and third sentences with the use of the exclamation mark and her flashback to Jonathan expressing his feelings to her outright. This passage also indicated that Sundara is becoming American and becoming accustomed to American ways as she expresses her liking for them. Furthermore, this passage foreshadows that Sundara will express her now secret feelings to Sundara in the future due to the fact that she expresses that she wishes to tell Jonathan that she loves him.
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“Well, one thing he doesn’t want to hurt his knee.”
“Hurt his knees!” Hackenbruck made a face, “What kind of talk is that?” Sundara tossed her hair back, “Maybe that smart talk. Why he want to break his good body for a game he doesn’t like?” “Doesn’t like?” the assistant said. “But he’s a very talented player.” “Maybe, but that make no matter. He not happy about it,” (Crew 163-164). |
This passage indicates Sundara actually understands Jonathan as a person, unlike the other people who only see the superficial aspects of his world. Linda Crew succeeds in giving us this impression when she shows us through this dialogue that Coach Hackenbruck, his assistant, and Sundara. It is obvious by Coach Hackenbruck’s anger and confusion that he has not bothered to understand his players on a deeper level. This seems rather immature and even ironic since he is supposed to be an educator. On the other hand, Sundara seems to be mature beyond her years and shows that even thought she has known Jonathan for only a short time she has been able to see past the superficial and see deeper down. Sundara’s maturity is even more apparent in the fact that she has to say such few words in order to express this.
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“Sundara thought how she would feel sitting in a refugee camp with her children after a harrowing escape, finding out that her husband had started a new life in America without her, a new life with a new woman. She remembered the song that always brought her to tears” (Crew 203).
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This particular part of the novel serves as a parallel to Sundara’s hard life. It gives Sundara hope at a time when she thinks that she has lost everything. This part of the novel shows us a steady climb in Sundara’s spirit from when she was depressed from the death of Chamaroon to a point where she realizes that perhaps her life is not that bad after all. It also foreshadows that something is going to happen in the near future. At this point we do not know whether it will be good or bad, but it is certain that Sundara will be receiving some news from Cambodia.
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