“It was a place in which death cried in familiar voices. I can still hear the wailing coming past our rickety gates, as mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, lamented for the person they loved, lying heavy and stiff in the clothes of the dead, being carried someplace on the surrounding hillside, to be buried in graves unmarked, mounds of earth covered by a few toppled stones.” (Pg. 64) This quote demonstrates the suffering of Kao’s family in Ban Vinai and the ubiquity of death around them. “Hmong men and women were beaten, raped, and killed when they ventured too far from the safety of their families and friends.” (Pg. 65) This shows that the suffering and oppression of the camps were common to all of the Hmong refugees and that Kao’s family was not alone in their…
Ha’s life is negatively affected by where and when she is living. For instance, in the poem titled Mother’s Days, Ha’s mother says, “People can barely afford food.” (Page 15) This shows that in the time that this book takes place, the people of South Vietnam don’t have very much money to spend, even on necessary items. To add to that, in the poem titled Current News, Ha says that every Friday in her class, the students talk about current news, but most of the news is bad. The teacher says “From now on, Fridays will be for happy news,” (Page 18) but no one has anything to say. This shows that, at this time, there is not much good news going around. Additionally, in the poem titled TV news, it says, “A pilot from South Vietnam bombed the presidential…
Thanhha Lais verse novel shows the reader the struggles of being a refugee, a 10 year old girl and her family. Ha was to be tutored by someone because she struggles with speaking there language in Alabama. It shows the struggles of Ha and her family needing to leave there country because of the war and needing to go from Vietnam to Alabama. They struggle with the neighbour’s inadequate behaviour showed towards Ha’s family. Lai also highlights that Ha struggles with finding friends and trying her hardest to cope with being bullied by a kid in her class at this new school she moved to.…
People struggle to deal with change as it is scary and presents its own challenges to adapt to new circumstances; however, it is change that often sparks important growth. In the poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, the author uses a third person point of view, specific dialogue, and a creative structure in order to illustrate the growth in the relationship between the father and son and the complexities that are anticipated to arise as things change.…
In the novel Inside Out and Back Again, there’s this girl named Ha who is 10 years old who lives with 3 older brothers and her mother. She lives peacefully in her hometown in Saigon. Now the Vietnam War has reached her home, so Ha and her family are forced to flee home as Saigon falls to the Communists. Ha moves to Alabama where she will soon faced a lot of challenges because she is a refugee, but will soon overcome these challenges. Ha was a girl who was stubborn and sneaky. When she was still in Vietnam, she did lots of things that she wasn’t supposed to do like placing her big toe on the floor on Tet or secretly buying things she wasn’t supposed to buy. A refugee’s transition to another country is hard, because they can’t speak the language…
Andrew Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala, is on a journey of self-exploration. Family dysfunction, the illusions of the past, and the inability to move forward and find meaning to life when living between two cultures, are all catalysts’ for Pham return Vietnam. Contrary to being welcomed with open arms, Andrew is referred to as Viet-kieu when he is in Vietnam, a derogatory term meaning Vietnamese-American. Vietnamese people feel that the Viet-kieu abandoned everything about their culture when transplanted to America. This is an additional layer to the struggles Andrew faces.…
The book, The Latehomecomer, is a fascinating story about a Hmong family and their struggle to get out of Laos and come to America as refugees. The Hmong people are a very proud people and they do not want to forget their culture. One can clearly see that the Hmong people hold close their identity and do not want to conform to the Vietnamese way. They take pride in their culture, their society, and the way they view how government should run. Hmong people did not agree with the Vietnamese communist government and were willing to join forces and help the United States as much as possible so that they could fight for what they believed in. Even though most of the young men and boys that fought in the war died in battle or were tortured and killed after the war they still wanted to fight for their way of life and for the Hmong people. The family’s journey to the United States was not an easy one and once the family arrived here they faced much adversary as well.…
In the movie Inside Out there is a girl named Riley. She has 5 emotions living in her head which include Anger, Fear, Disgust, Sadness and Joy. She has 5 core memories and if they are lost then that trait will be lost forever until it is learned back. Core memories are created when an important event takes place. The structure of Riley’s brain shows how memories are connected to our core, and that we need memories.…
A 21-year-old man by the name of Tom O’Brien was drafted into the American War in Vietnam merely one month after graduating from college. Tom speaks of his journey of living with the shame of events that took place the summer of 1968. War to Tom is sickening and revolting; there was no unity or purpose. The 1960’s were a period of social disturbance with both the feminist and the civil rights movements occurring. In addition, the United States’ was divided by those who agreed and those who did not agree with the US’s involvement in the Vietnam war. When he received his inauguration, Tom was trapped and felt hopeless. “All around me the options seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing in tight. There was no…
In the novel “Inside Out and Back Again” by Thanha Lai, the universal refugee experience is expressed through the title, and Ha’s individual experience of fleeing and finding home. This essay will show the hardships of turning inside out and how hard it is coming back again. In “Inside Out and Back Again” an independent, determined girl named Ha flees her home in Vietnam because of war and poverty. Ha and her family flee to Alabama to start a better life. In Alabama, Ha faces challenges such as bullying, and racism that make her stronger to come back again.…
The feeling of regret can weigh a person?s emotions beyond normalcy. As the story unfolds and the plane arrives in Chicago from San Francisco, Bohdan becomes immediately unsocial from an expected level. ?We stood apart, unlike the other soldiers and their families who were hugging and crying on each other?s shoulders in a euphoric delirium,? said Bohdan?s dad. Mentioned briefly in the beginning of the story was the fact that Bohdan?s dad was also in a war and had never spoken of it to anyone. As little words are exchanged, Bohdan?s dad finds himself wondering why his son has not told him any details of his journey. This is a realism that the father has had before in his own experiences. Zabytko then begins to tell the father?s story of regret in a lengthy description, including all of his war efforts. When regret is established one tends to dwell on that incident searching for a resolution.…
growing up in China during the second world war, and her story of being an unwanted daughter. This novel conveys a sense of not belonging as Adeline does not feel accepted within…
“Refugees are everyday people who are forced to leave their homes because they are afraid to stay in their home country.” Before Ha flees home she was sly, stubborn, and selfish. She would pinch the little girl next to her when she didn’t get her way at school, she would buy less for her family to buy more for herself, and she would do stuff just because she wanted to do it before one of her brothers. Ha is the main character from “Inside Out and Back Again” by Thanhha Lai. Ha is a refugee just like just like other kids from Saigon South Vietnam. Refugee lives are turning “Inside Out” and “Back Again,” and are forced to flee their home and find a new one.…
In Inside Out, Peter Docter gives Riley Anderson (the main character) several emotions. The emotions/characters that Riley deals with throughout the movie are Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger. Joy played a major role in Riley’s life while she was growing up. In the beginning of the movie, Joy was in most of her core memories. According to Pixar, “the core memories are objects of major importance in Inside Out. Like all memory orbs, core memories represent past events of Riley's life. However, they have a much greater importance than usual memories. They represent key moments that have defined Riley's current personality.” Professor Dacher Keltner from the University of California was the key researcher advising the Pixar team on which…
In the novel Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai is set in South Vietnam in the year 1975. In this novel, Ha, her mother, and three brothers, Quang, Vu, and Khoi are Vietnamese refugees that travel to America. In America they find semi-permanent shelter in the state of Alabama. The family goes through challenges almost all refugees go through, such as devastation in loss and frustration in learning a new language. Ha is brave, persistent, and happy. Her traits change as her journey continues onward. Other refugees’ traits change as well while fleeing their countries. Ha was herself in Vietnam and was turned inside out as her travels began and continued. She was then back again to a normal and mostly permanent routine.…