Letters From Burma

Title: Letters From Burma
Author: Aung Sun Suu Kyi
Genre: Non-Fiction, Autobiography(letters)

     Currently we are doing a living histories project in Language A. The project will culminate in an event featuring every student performing as a certain person. They shall give a detailed account of that person's life and achievements. My chosen is Aung Sun Suu Kyi. She is a Burmese activist and politician. She has published several autobiographies, each on a different subject. The one I chose Letters From Burma is a selection of letters she wrote to her husband, colleagues and family.  The letters are organised like a story would be. The first set describes Burma and the situation. The middle describes her captivity and build up to a larger event, the rebellion. The end is the time of peace and sorrow, as the rebellion was a failed action. The writing in ALL of the letters is very descriptive and invokes powerful emotion and describes a war torn Junta as a beautiful paradise on Earth. Is it difficult, no. It's simple yet beautiful. One unique thing I learnt about her is that she has hope. Frankly, if I was stuck in my home for 15 years I wouldn't have any. Many of her letters are about what she hopes for, and she speaks about her hope like she knows that it will happen. Of course, she has a long way to go, given Burma's current situation. The way she also describes the landscape of Burma is also quite hopeful. I'll explain as best I can. What she does is she weaves little hints of how this could all be destroyed, or has been, by the junta. She then also weaves in what it could be, without the junta. In one letter she talks about how Burma has so much wildlife, and is so beautiful, yet has no national parks because the government is reaping it for it's resources. Her situation is sad, yet very, very beautiful.