First They Killed My Father

by

Loung Ung

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on First They Killed My Father makes teaching easy.

Pa Character Analysis

Loung’s father is a generous man with dark skin, a stocky build, warm eyes, and a broad smile. Born in a rural village in 1931, Pa joined a Buddhist monastic order at the age of eighteen but left upon falling in love with Ma. Ma’s parents did not approve of the match, citing Pa’s skin color and poverty at the time, so the two eloped. While Ma often scolds Loung for her adventurous behavior, Pa praises his daughter as clever and brave. He and Loung often have conversations on the family’s balcony in Phnom Penh, where he tells her stories and, at one point, tries to explain what bombs are. Having been conscripted into the army of the Lon Nol government, Pa works as a military police captain in Phnom Penh—a position that puts his family in jeopardy under the Khmer Rouge, which is intent on exterminating anyone associated with the former government. As such, Pa orders Loung and her siblings to pretend they are peasants from the countryside. Pa does whatever he can to protect his family and is a loving, steady, yet increasingly somber presence in Loung’s life. He is eventually taken by Khmer Rouge soldiers and executed. Loung imagines his death in horrific detail, picturing him being brutally beaten by a hammer but finding comfort in thoughts of his child before he dies. Loung continues to speak to Pa after his death, and to find strength in the lessons he taught her. When her foster mother tells Loung she will amount to nothing, for example, Loung thinks back to Pa calling her a diamond in the rough. Before boarding a plane for America, Loung dreams of Pa’s spirit saying he will always be with her. With this assurance, she is able to leave Cambodia behind.

Pa Quotes in First They Killed My Father

The First They Killed My Father quotes below are all either spoken by Pa or refer to Pa . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Price of Survival  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Ma saw that he was kind, strong, and handsome, and she eventually fell in love with him. Pa quit the monastery so he could ask her to marry him, and she said yes. However, because Pa is dark-skinned and was very poor, Ma’s parents refused to let them marry.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

The explosion from the bomb in our trashcan knocked down the walls of our kitchen, but luckily no one was hurt. The police never found out who put the bomb there. My heart is sick at the thought that someone actually tried to hurt Pa. If only these new people in the city could understand that Pa is a very nice man, someone who's always willing to help others, they would not want to hurt him.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa (speaker)
Page Number: 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“The Khmer Rouge are executing people perceived to be a threat against the Angkar. This new country has no law or order. City people are killed for no reason. Anyone can be viewed as a threat to the Angkar—former civil servants, monks, doctors, nurses, artists, teachers, students—even people who wear glasses, as the soldiers view this as a sign of intelligence. Anyone the Khmer Rouge believes has the power to lead a rebellion will be killed. We have to be extremely careful, but if we keep moving to different villages, we may stay safe.”

Related Characters: Pa (speaker)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

"Capitalists should be shot and killed," someone yells from the crowd, glaring at us. Another villager walks over and spits at Pa's feet. Pa's shoulders droop low as he holds his palms together in a gesture of greeting. I cower at the edge of the truck, my heart beating wildly, afraid to get off. Fearing that they might spit at me, I avoid their eyes. They look very mean, like hungry tigers ready to pounce on us. Their black eyes stare at me, full of contempt. I don’t understand why they are looking at me as if I am a strange animal, when in reality we look very much the same.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Ma is proud of her heritage but has to hide it before it proves dangerous to us all. Pa says that the Angkar is obsessed with ethnic cleansing. The Angkar hates anyone who is not true Khmer. The Angkar wants to rid Democratic Kampuchea of other races, deemed the source of evil, corruption, and poison, so that people of the true Khmer heritage can rise to power again. I do not know what ethnic cleansing means. I just know that to protect myself, I often have to rub dirt and charcoal on my skin to look as dark as the base people.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

In Phnom Penh, Pa once told me the Youns are just like us but with whiter skin and smaller noses. However, Met Bong describes the Youns as savages who are bent on taking over our country and our people. I do not know what to believe. The only world I know beyond this camp is the one Met Bong describes to me. Sitting in the dark, I find myself starting to believe her message about the enemies.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Met Bong
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

"No one knows how precious you are. You are a diamond in the rough and with a little polishing, you will shine," Pa whispers softly. His gentle words bring a small smile to my lips. The mother may not give me the love I crave, but I know what it feels like to be loved. Pa loved me and believed in me. With that little reminder from him, I know the foster mother is wrong about me. I do possess the one thing I need to make something of myself one day: I have everything my Pa gave me.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa (speaker), Foster mother
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

One by one, people return to their homes, leaving me standing there alone, staring at the corpse. My mind plays back images of my parents' and sister's murders. Again my heart tears open as I stand there and wonder how they died. Quickly, I push the sadness away. The slumped over corpse reminds me of Pithy in her mother’s arms. Pithy’s head bled in much the same way. His death will not bring any of them back.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma , Keav, Geak, Pithy
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire First They Killed My Father LitChart as a printable PDF.
First They Killed My Father PDF

Pa Quotes in First They Killed My Father

The First They Killed My Father quotes below are all either spoken by Pa or refer to Pa . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Price of Survival  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Ma saw that he was kind, strong, and handsome, and she eventually fell in love with him. Pa quit the monastery so he could ask her to marry him, and she said yes. However, because Pa is dark-skinned and was very poor, Ma’s parents refused to let them marry.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

The explosion from the bomb in our trashcan knocked down the walls of our kitchen, but luckily no one was hurt. The police never found out who put the bomb there. My heart is sick at the thought that someone actually tried to hurt Pa. If only these new people in the city could understand that Pa is a very nice man, someone who's always willing to help others, they would not want to hurt him.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa (speaker)
Page Number: 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“The Khmer Rouge are executing people perceived to be a threat against the Angkar. This new country has no law or order. City people are killed for no reason. Anyone can be viewed as a threat to the Angkar—former civil servants, monks, doctors, nurses, artists, teachers, students—even people who wear glasses, as the soldiers view this as a sign of intelligence. Anyone the Khmer Rouge believes has the power to lead a rebellion will be killed. We have to be extremely careful, but if we keep moving to different villages, we may stay safe.”

Related Characters: Pa (speaker)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

"Capitalists should be shot and killed," someone yells from the crowd, glaring at us. Another villager walks over and spits at Pa's feet. Pa's shoulders droop low as he holds his palms together in a gesture of greeting. I cower at the edge of the truck, my heart beating wildly, afraid to get off. Fearing that they might spit at me, I avoid their eyes. They look very mean, like hungry tigers ready to pounce on us. Their black eyes stare at me, full of contempt. I don’t understand why they are looking at me as if I am a strange animal, when in reality we look very much the same.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

Ma is proud of her heritage but has to hide it before it proves dangerous to us all. Pa says that the Angkar is obsessed with ethnic cleansing. The Angkar hates anyone who is not true Khmer. The Angkar wants to rid Democratic Kampuchea of other races, deemed the source of evil, corruption, and poison, so that people of the true Khmer heritage can rise to power again. I do not know what ethnic cleansing means. I just know that to protect myself, I often have to rub dirt and charcoal on my skin to look as dark as the base people.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

In Phnom Penh, Pa once told me the Youns are just like us but with whiter skin and smaller noses. However, Met Bong describes the Youns as savages who are bent on taking over our country and our people. I do not know what to believe. The only world I know beyond this camp is the one Met Bong describes to me. Sitting in the dark, I find myself starting to believe her message about the enemies.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Met Bong
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

"No one knows how precious you are. You are a diamond in the rough and with a little polishing, you will shine," Pa whispers softly. His gentle words bring a small smile to my lips. The mother may not give me the love I crave, but I know what it feels like to be loved. Pa loved me and believed in me. With that little reminder from him, I know the foster mother is wrong about me. I do possess the one thing I need to make something of myself one day: I have everything my Pa gave me.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa (speaker), Foster mother
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

One by one, people return to their homes, leaving me standing there alone, staring at the corpse. My mind plays back images of my parents' and sister's murders. Again my heart tears open as I stand there and wonder how they died. Quickly, I push the sadness away. The slumped over corpse reminds me of Pithy in her mother’s arms. Pithy’s head bled in much the same way. His death will not bring any of them back.

Related Characters: Loung Ung (speaker), Pa , Ma , Keav, Geak, Pithy
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis: