Social Justice Inquiry Based Essay

In the book that I just finished, Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick, the Khmer Rouge takes Arn along with his village captive in Cambodia. To survive, Arn plays music for the Khmer Rouge so they won’t kill him. Later on, Arn is forced to be a child soldier for the Khmer Rouge fighting against the Vietnamese. Various characters have power in different ways. Arn has power and he uses it to help him stay alive.

Early on in the book, the Khmer Rouge ask for volunteers for the band. Arn volunteers thinking he will get a little more food or the Khmer Rouge will like him and not kill him. He learns the music so well and leads the band, everyone knows him around the camp. When he steals food, the Khmer Rouge notice but do not say anything because they need Arn to lead the band and play music. This gives Arn power. He can bend the rules more because the Khmer Rouge will not be so quick to kill him.

Later in the book, Arn and everyone else in the camp become soldiers for the Khmer Rouge. Many of the other kids look up to Arn. This gives him power over the Khmer Rouge. In order to win, the Khmer Rouge need the children to fight and as spies. The Khmer Rouge need Arn to set a good example and be loyal so the other children will follow and they can do better in the War.

At the end of the book, when Arn is in a refugee camp, he is one of the wealthy donators favorites and gets extra food and clothes. This gives him power over the other kids because he has a way to leave the refugee camp and escape to America. The other kids have nothing.

This relates to humanity because although it may not be this extreme, everyone does things to better their life or stay alive. As humans we want not only to live but also to have important meaningful things that make us happier. In Arn’s case, it is to escape to a better place and reunite with his family. 

Social Justice in My Reading Life

There are many social justice issues all around the world and especially in books of all genres. The book I am currently reading, Never Fall Down, is about how Arn, a young boy living in Cambodia is sent to a labor camp and forced to work against his will. All around him, he sees children his age die from starvation, malaria, or sheer exhaustion. Although I am not finished with this book, it is clear that it has a lot of social justice issues. The main issue is about social injustice- Arn and his village are in labor camps and many are being killed.

There are many examples of how this book is about social injustice. Arn and other children along with him are forced to work all day under the blazing sun in labor camps. This is completely unjust because they hadn't done anything wrong to deserve this treatment. Everyone at the labor camp is in horrible conditions and so many people are being killed because the Khmer Rouge think they have "poor character." The soldiers have no right to do this. They are taking away peoples lives because they believe in a different way of living than the citizens of Cambodia. This is only one story out of millions and millions of stories of social injustice in the world.

This book has really opened my eyes to the struggles that people face in their everyday lives and made me feel lucky about my life. What really amazes me is even after Arn has gone through so much and has been a child of War, he is still able to give back so much to his community and has dedicated his life to humanitarian causes around the world especially young people in need. He has founded Children of War, an organization that helps aid children of war and violence. He is also the founder of Cambodian Living Arts, a group that helps preserve the traditional art of Cambodia. Seeing how much someone could do to help others after being through as much as he was really makes me want to make an effort. I want to do more things around my community like help out at shelters and soup kitchens. But this also makes me want to go outside Brooklyn and New York. I want to go to Africa and build a school or join Doctors Without Borders. My mom and my brother met Arn and he has influenced them too. We were thinking about doing a volunteer vacation and do work helping others. I feel like I have many opportunities and am privileged but others are not. I want to help others that are facing social injustice.