Priscilla the Cambodian - Close Passage Analysis

There has always been prejudice in the world. Everyone has had experience with prejudice at some point in their lives. Some, sadly to say, have had more experience with prejudice and worse experiences with it. Some people live in a life full of prejudice that is far beyond name calling and mental bullying. Some people have the unfortunate experiences dealing with a harsh physical abuse as well. In “Priscilla the Cambodian” a short story in Sightseeing written by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Priscilla and her family represent some of the prejudice that occurs all over the world. This passage shows just how violent and insensitive people can be towards people who are not their own. It’s a deep, intriguing passage in the story that is important and has a lot of meaning; that without it, this story would not be complete. It was the middle of the night when the boy woke up to his father and friends making noise. His father and friends had “high, excited voices.” (Lapcharoensap 114) The men were actually excited and looking forward to what they were about to do. They were hyped up. The boy gets out of bed to watch the men. He is curious what is going on. With the talk earlier before he went to bed, about the Cambodians, he knew what may be about to occur. The men are standing in the yard, “nodding their heads in unison.”( Lapcharoensap 114) The men are all agreeing on something they were apparently debating on. Everyone else is “standing around my father in the yard” (Lapcharoensap 114) which meant that his father is most likely the one initiating the plan and making sure it is being seen through. In this context, it seems his father is the leader for what is about to happen. This is making the boy uneasy. When the men get into the pickup truck, the narrator now says “the men climbed in, their deep, drunken voices murmuring up to my window.”( Lapcharoensap 114-115) The narrator went from saying the men had “high, excited voices”( Lapcharoensap 114)

Cited: Lapcharoensap, Rattawut. “Priscilla the Cambodian.” Sightseeing. New York: Grove Press, 2005. Print