The book Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick is about a young boy who had to suffer through the loss of his parents at a young age and the struggles that he had to endure during the Cambodian Genocide. This book gives us a clear demonstration of the suffering of those victims to the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge while demonstrating the themes that it is important to adapt towards different situations in such a way that you do not show your weakness as well as dehumanizing other people. An example of the theme, adapting to different situations, is when it was written in the book, "You show you care, you die. You show fear, you die. You show nothing, maybe you live." This quote demonstrates how Arn, the main character in the book was forced to learn and adapt into not showing fear so that he will able to stay alive. Upon first arriving to the agricultural camps Arn, witnessed the deaths of many as this is shown in the book when it is written, " Then this guy he take the ax, small ax like for chopping, and he hit one knelling guy on the back of the head. The guy fall down, like just a pile of rag hitting the ground very fast. Then the Khmer Rouge, he go down the line, hit each one. Terrible sound, like cracking coconut, only its a human head." This shows how many people would always be killed ruthlessly and evidently Arn, describes in the book that people would cry every time they would see someone die in such manner which would then bring them to the same fate. Therefore, as Arn observed what happened to those whom showed emotion he realized that if he wanted to live, he would have to adapt into being able to suppress his emotions or better yet, numb them. This is an effective theme as if teaches the readers the that situations in life will become difficult to deal with, however, it is important to adapt depending on the situation in order to deal with and be successful during the time of adversity. The theme of dehumanizing people is shown in the story is shown when it is written in the book, "'These people, they no good,' says one Khmer Rouge. 'They old; they don't work so hard. They gonna die soon anyway.'" This example shows how the Khmer Rouge don't treat every human as equals and think that they're life is not as important as the lives of other. Killing them is just like killing a bug and they go to the extent to urinating on them once they are dead to show that they are filth. For example, this was shown in the story when it was written in the story, "It's time for your job. You pee on them. You pee on their head." This theme demonstrates how cruel people must have been to treat people like this without even feeling any source of remorse.
In this book, the author used various conventions to allow the reader to even feel the slightest bit of emotion that the innocent victims of the genocide felt. These conventions also allowed the reader to better understand the themes of the story. A technique that the author used is writing the story without the rules of grammar and syntax to give the main character his own distinct voice. An example of when the author wrote the story in this way is when she wrote, "Also never he yell at us." This was also shown when it was written in the book, "Wherever I go, this guy he show up." By using this technique the author let the reader understand the voice of Arn, and let us know what he is thinking. This is an effective technique because it allows us to understand that even though Arn did not go to school and may not be able to speak properly he was able to understand quickly that he had to adapt to his situation. It shows how it is important to adapt to be successful in different situations. This technique was also effective because it allowed the reader to hear his own distinct voice of what he thinks when he see all that is happening. It allows us to understand from his own individual perspective of how he was becoming desensitized to the dehumanizing of people. They told him to pee on people because of how much they dehumanized these people and when he was forced it allowed us to understand how he did not want to do it however he was already doing it without thinking because of how desensitized he became.
Another convention which the author decided to use in this story is symbolism. An example of when symbolism was used is when it was written in the text, "Be like the grass. Bend low, then bend lower. The wind blow one way you blow that way. It bend the other way, you do too." This demonstrated symbolism because it symbolizes how Arn, must adapt to the situation to survive the genocide. The grass symbolizes Arn and the wind would symbolize the Khmer Rouge. Therefore, it demonstrates that he should do whatever will not get him killed and that it would be wise of him to do as the Khmer Rouge tells him to do. This is an effective technique as it shows us how Arn must adapt to whatever comes his way during the war to be successful in his quest to survive the genocide. It also shows that in order for Arn to adapt to all situations he must desensitize himself as the inhumanity is to extreme. Therefore, it shows us how much the Khmer Rouge must dehumanize people to have to become desensitized to all of this injustice.
I was able to relate this book to the memoir titled A Childhood Under Fire by as both books have the theme that adapting to different situations is important to be successful. The author of this memoir endures the torture of the Bosnian Genocide and therefore, must adapt differently in order to survive. She did not have to adapt to not showing fear, like Arn however, she did have to adapt to trying to suppress her emotions in order for her to continue help keep her family alive. She similarly to Arn was forced to adapt when coming to a foreign land to escape the genocide. They both cam here without any family and had to first off adapt from not seeing people die everyday while also adapting to the new lifestyle which they will begin to live. Therefore, these two novels clearly articulate the theme that it is important to adapt depending on the situation in order to be successful by demonstrating the different situations in which they were forced to adapt and came out successful in the end.
In this book, the author used various conventions to allow the reader to even feel the slightest bit of emotion that the innocent victims of the genocide felt. These conventions also allowed the reader to better understand the themes of the story. A technique that the author used is writing the story without the rules of grammar and syntax to give the main character his own distinct voice. An example of when the author wrote the story in this way is when she wrote, "Also never he yell at us." This was also shown when it was written in the book, "Wherever I go, this guy he show up." By using this technique the author let the reader understand the voice of Arn, and let us know what he is thinking. This is an effective technique because it allows us to understand that even though Arn did not go to school and may not be able to speak properly he was able to understand quickly that he had to adapt to his situation. It shows how it is important to adapt to be successful in different situations. This technique was also effective because it allowed the reader to hear his own distinct voice of what he thinks when he see all that is happening. It allows us to understand from his own individual perspective of how he was becoming desensitized to the dehumanizing of people. They told him to pee on people because of how much they dehumanized these people and when he was forced it allowed us to understand how he did not want to do it however he was already doing it without thinking because of how desensitized he became.
Another convention which the author decided to use in this story is symbolism. An example of when symbolism was used is when it was written in the text, "Be like the grass. Bend low, then bend lower. The wind blow one way you blow that way. It bend the other way, you do too." This demonstrated symbolism because it symbolizes how Arn, must adapt to the situation to survive the genocide. The grass symbolizes Arn and the wind would symbolize the Khmer Rouge. Therefore, it demonstrates that he should do whatever will not get him killed and that it would be wise of him to do as the Khmer Rouge tells him to do. This is an effective technique as it shows us how Arn must adapt to whatever comes his way during the war to be successful in his quest to survive the genocide. It also shows that in order for Arn to adapt to all situations he must desensitize himself as the inhumanity is to extreme. Therefore, it shows us how much the Khmer Rouge must dehumanize people to have to become desensitized to all of this injustice.
I was able to relate this book to the memoir titled A Childhood Under Fire by as both books have the theme that adapting to different situations is important to be successful. The author of this memoir endures the torture of the Bosnian Genocide and therefore, must adapt differently in order to survive. She did not have to adapt to not showing fear, like Arn however, she did have to adapt to trying to suppress her emotions in order for her to continue help keep her family alive. She similarly to Arn was forced to adapt when coming to a foreign land to escape the genocide. They both cam here without any family and had to first off adapt from not seeing people die everyday while also adapting to the new lifestyle which they will begin to live. Therefore, these two novels clearly articulate the theme that it is important to adapt depending on the situation in order to be successful by demonstrating the different situations in which they were forced to adapt and came out successful in the end.