Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 3, 2023 September 26, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
“I will kill Pol Pot. I don’t know him, yet I am certain he is the fattest, slimiest snake on earth. I am convinced there is a monster living inside his body.”
In this passage from “Pa: December 1976,” Luong depicts the brutal dictator in an almost cartoonish way that people of all ages can understand. Historians agree that Pol Pot was a monster who orchestrated the murder of nearly 25 percent of the Cambodian population in just four years. Without access to historical records, Luong defines him as a hideous monster who is controlled by evil. She describes Pol Pot’s monstrosity in a way that is consistent with her age. Unable to fully grasp the idea of enormous moral evil, she explains his behavior by imagining a literal monster inside his body. Although this may be a child’s idea of radical evil, it accurately conveys the unworldly horrors of the killing fields
“Usually on a Thursday I would be in school, but for some reason Pa has kept us all home today. I stop playing when I hear the thunder of engines in the distance. Everyone suddenly stops what they are doing to watch the trucks roar into our city.”
Events that Luong, a child, experiences as surprising are anticipated by the adults in her life, and Luong Ung’s narrative choices foreground this. At the start of “Evacuation: April 1975,” Luong is playing in front of her apartment building, unsure why Pa has kept the children home from school but enjoying the unanticipated freedom. While everyone suddenly stops their actions when they hear the trucks, the child does not understand what the sound portends. Her confusion, heightened by the cheering of the people on the streets, creates a sense of suspense for the reader—although it is obvious that Pa knew precisely what was coming and acted accordingly. By using a child to tell this story, Ung introduces readers, especially those for whom these events are unfamiliar, to the feeling of chaos and uncertainty that Luong increasingly felt.
“We unpack the dried fish and rice and eat in silence. Gone is the air of mystery and excitement; now I am simply afraid.”
In this passage, from the end of “Evacuation: April 1975,” Ung shows the process of gradual realization that her younger self experienced, which her use of the present tense throughout the narrative heightens for the reader. Sheltered by her elder siblings and parents, as well as by her youth, it took time for the extent of the danger threatening them to become apparent to her. It is only as the family eats their meal in silence that dread fully grips her. Yet, at the same time, even those who knew how ruthless the Khmer Rouge were could not have anticipated the full extent of the horrors that would follow. The emphasis on the simple feeling of fear stresses that, no matter how complicated historical events might be, for the people who live through them, they can be absolutely uncomplicated.
Please wait while we process your payment