Chola by K. Kvashay-Boyle, and the Film

Chola by K. Kvashay-Boyle, and the film The Killing Fields directed by Roland Joffe. Specifically, it will compare the film and the short story and discuss the issues and themes dramatized in the two works. Both of these works are studies of people in difficult situations, and they illustrate what can happen when cultures clash and people misunderstand or hate each other. While the two works may seem very different at first, they actually have many commonalities, including characters that make the reader feel their emotions and needs. They show that two different works might not seem to have much in common at first, but that a thorough examination can bring out commonalties that are important and even striking.

"St. Chola" is an amusing short story that tells the story of one young Muslim girl's struggle with her identity as a Muslim and a woman. She is just like all the other girls in her junior high school, until she adopts the headdress Muslim women wear, and then, she becomes a target for abuse and hatred. The author writes about her with understanding and emotion, and clearly shows how difficult it is for her to deal with the abuse she suddenly gets from the kids around her. Kvashay-Boyle writes, "Your dignity gathers and mounts as you readjust the scarf and re-pin the pins. You can't see anyone pass germs, you can't hear anyone say your name. You are stone. You are cool. You will not cry. Those are not tears. The bell rings" (Kvashay-Boyle 170). The reader can feel Shala's pain, and her sadness that simply because she has begun to wear a scarf she is suddenly different and open to ridicule.

The Killing Fields is a film set in Cambodia during the Vietnamese War, and it is a story of hatred. The characters are caught up in a horrible time when the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot were executing thousands of Cambodians that were "enemies" of the Communist regime. The area where they executed thousands of people was called "the killing fields." One of the characters in the film is captured and tortured by the Khmer Rouge, and his story is more horrible than Shala's, because he faces death, but he also faces hatred and prejudice, just as Shala does. During his imprisonment, Dith Pran writes, "The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angka are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive" (The Killing Fields). Just as in the short story, this character is not afraid to show his emotions and his needs, and it is easy for the viewer to feel has pain and fear.

Characterization is one of the most important techniques both of these works use, because the characters are the heart of both stories. The viewer understands Pran's pain and Shala's pain, and understand they both come from hatred, prejudice and misunderstanding. These people suffer because of it, and the reader or viewer suffers with them. The themes of prejudice, hatred, and war are prevalent in both works, too. Cultures clash in both works, too. The American reporter errs when he does not get Pran out when the other reporters leave, because he does not understand the culture and the danger Pran faces. Shala faces prejudice when her culture clashes with the American view of "foreigners," and people who do not understand or care about her religion and her culture. These are important themes in both works, because they provide most of the conflict the two main characters face, while showing the viewer and reader how difficult it is to be different, no matter where they are.

Both of these pieces take place during a war, which is another commonality they share. The Killing Fields takes place during the Vietnam War, and shows just how horrible war can be, not just for the people who fight it, but for the people caught up in the fringes. "Saint Chola" takes place during the first Gulf War, when Americans really began to hate Arabs and Muslims, and it shows how prejudice can build walls of hatred and misunderstanding, even among children. Both stories are painful, because they vividly show the pain of the characters and how prejudice and hatred affect them. They are both sad, but they both show the inner strength of the characters, and how they develop that strength so that they can survive. At one point, Shala thinks to herself, "Your inner reserves fill to full when Fernando stomps on your feet and your white Reeboks get all smeared up and your face doesn't even move no matter how much it hurts" (Kvashay-Boyle 172). Shala has an inner core of strength, and so does Pran. That is evident in his determination to escape the Khmer Rouge, and his final trek through the killing fields. He loses his family, but he lives, and he lives to tell the story. Both of these characters are strong, but that does not mean they do not have emotions and feelings, and it is their feelings that endear them to the reader or viewer.