When Broken Glass Floats

Athy provides background information about her parents, who had been promised to each other since they were children. Luckily, her parents love and complement each other. Athy’s mother, whom she calls Mak, is not a traditionally submissive woman, and her father, Pa, is similarly nontraditional. After their marriage, they leave their families in Year Piar and settle in Phnom Penh, where Pa is very successful. He and Athy’s mother have six children at the time: four girls, Chea, Ra, Ry, and Athy, and two boys, Tha and Than. They build a house in Takeo.

War comes to their family when Athy is four years old, in 1969. The Viet Cong invade Cambodia, and Athy and her family flee their home and take refuge at a military garrison. They stay there for two months before moving to their uncle’s house; his family has yet to return after the bombings that destroyed Athy’s own home.

Athy knows nothing of the forces at work as a child. She does “not know who owned the guns that night—only that they were aimed at [her]” (32). However, she subsequently unravels some of these issues. Cambodia was technically neutral during the Vietnam War but allowed the Viet Cong to shelter in Cambodia, and to transport supplies to its soldiers and allies through Cambodia. The United States and South Vietnam “launched a massive drive into Cambodia, making Cambodia a stage for war” (33). Athy and her family are, at this point, being affected by that “massive drive,” which will soon lead to even more violence.

Although Athy’s family is safe, for now, in her uncle’s home, conditions in Cambodia continue to deteriorate. Medical care is nonexistent, and Athy’s older brother Than dies from some sort of illness. Furthermore, the bombings continue.

Although the United States denied involvement in the Cambodian bombings, we now know that it participated in over 3,500 bombings using B-52 bombers, which Athy’s family call “B-cinquante-deux” (41). Athy and her family witness these bombings, which result in thousands of refugees pouring into the city. During this chaos, Mak gives birth to another child, a boy named Bosaba, but the baby dies within a few weeks. Athy witnesses other atrocities, such as the decapitated heads of two Khmer Rouge soldiers on the street.

Pa decides to move the family to Phnom Penh. Athy notes her father’s silence at this time, describing how it kindled “a burning desire. A desire to fight back, not with guns but with the mind—a desire to learn” (43). This desire “will come to affect [them] all” (44).