Comparing Nam Le's Aegic All Encompassing, And The Boat

Poetry introduces the audience to the harsh reality of the refugee experience, where the hope of survival dies and the despair lingers behind trauma. The collections of Nam Le’s texts, “Asymptotic”, “Aegic All Encompassing” and “The Boat”, reinforce this traumatic experience, highlighting how their will to survive decays away like their hope and how their struggles continue to pile up. Furthermore, Le’s personal experience of the refugee journey from Vietnam to Australia strengthens his three texts, foreshadowing a trauma that continues to linger with them. The style in his poems captures a sense of despair, displacement, and hope. Le studies these barriers refugees face, exploring the different aspects of despair and the source of hope that
Le’s story represents struggles and despair through Mai, where she struggles mentally and physically on a boat to a new land. However, as her will slowly decays, she regains the aspiration to survive through remembrance of her family and a young boy to whom she fostered as her own child. The olfactory and tactile imagery of “Everywhere the stink of vomit”. Her stomach forced up, squashed through her throat,” illustrates the horrid environment and physical barriers Mai faced on her journey to a new home, conveying a sense of struggle and despair, something many refugees experience throughout their journey. Furthermore, the simile “.as though her body was made of paper” reveals how the refugees are always in a state of vulnerability as a result of malnutrition, highlighting the struggle refugees experience, leading to desperation and hopelessness. However, the symbolism “At one point a wind blew in and the boat began to sway lightly in the water. She was riding her father's shoulders. Her mother, “watching them happily,” demonstrates how Mai uses past memories to ignore the struggle in front of her, giving her hope of reuniting back with her family, revealing how even in between a perilous journey, their little glimpses of past memories bring hope and joy which gives them aspiration the to continue. This continuous
Le explores the memories of the refugees, highlighting how even though their self identity is left behind, their hope for a new life continues. The alliteration “the memory made mood”, expresses how the memories bring peace and calmness to the refugees, hinting at how important memories of past lives are to refugees. Additionally, the epiphora “but close enough”, reminds how refugees’ may not be able to relive their past life, however still be able to live and be happy, signifying the great value refugees see a new life to be. Furthermore, the metaphor “The memory is fire, of fire”, reveals how the memories can be destructive or purifying to the refugee as they continue their new life, serving as a final beacon of hope as they remember back to their past life and the struggles and hardships they faced to be here. Le’s poem illustrates how the memories of past lives serve as a beacon that drives refugees to continue, while also encouraging us as a society to acknowledge these barriers and show greater empathy towards