Essay Questions

‘Children of the River’ is essentially a story of Sundara’s estrangement from her people and Cambodian culture. Illustrate the truthfulness of this statement.

As a child, Sundara is forced by circumstances in her home country to leave. She is not given a chance or choice to choose whether or not to leave for the United States. After she arrives in the US, Sundara is forced away from her own culture and people and has to become accustomed to an entirely new way of life. As a result of the continued teasing by the American school kids, particularly due to her broken and weak English language speaking skills, she entirely feels incredibly homesick. She misses her life back in her own country. However, later she gradually emerges strongly slowly accustoming to the American way of life.

Despite being quite far away from home and her culture, Sundara finds a way to hold onto her culture. Illustrate the statement using an illustration from Linda’s ‘Children of the River.’

Sundara, having been alienated at a young age strictly holds onto some aspects of her culture, arguably an attempt at staying connected with herself, her personal identity. Implicitly, Sundara believes in superstitions, a concept that is nurtured by her grandmother in the novel. Sundara’s grandma is convinced that a ghost has possessed her and as such convinces the other women to pray for her deliverance. In the novel, while the superstitious beliefs play a pivotal role in Sundara’s life, they also set new ground and act as a backdrop for her ordinary life experiences. She is able to metaphorically address and engage her difficulties using religious principles derived from her people’s culture and way of life.