Ha Was In Vietnam Analysis

When Ha was in Vietnam, she showed traits of being brave (Similar to other refugees), and caring. In Vietnamese tradition, a male must wake up extra early on Tet (The Vietnamese equivalent of New Years’) to bless the house with his luck. Ha decided to wake up even earlier than her brother, to bless the house instead. “Tap my big toe to the tile floor” (Thanhha Lai, pages 2-3) This quote shows How incredibly brave Ha is. By tapping the floor first, she goes against all of her family’s traditions because she is bitter that her brothers get to bless the family with their luck. Analogous with Ha, the Bosnian refugees also are very brave. One teenager named Emir, talked to Scholastic about life before the war, during the war, and afterward. While
In Ha’s story, she was brave enough to go against her family traditions to get what she wanted. Emir went against all thoughts of giving up so he could live, getting what he wanted. Moreover, Ha is also very caring, because she has her very own papaya tree, that she grew by accident. “I love my papaya tree.” (Thanhha Lai, pages 6 and 7) This quote shows that Ha is incredibly caring because most people would not nurture some tree they grew by accident. Average people would cut it down, or just ignore it. Ha taking care of her accidental tree shows a high amount of caringness. In conclusion, these quotes show that Ha is brave, like other refugees, and caring. By contraries, Ha is nothing like this on her way away from
Things such as clothing, money, and food are some of the many things that Ha and her family are missing from Saigon. In the poem “American Chicken’’ on page 120 it talks about how Ha’s family in not accustomed to the fast food that they eat for dinner one night. “we are used to” (Lai) The “we are” in the quote is referring to their family, which shows that it is not just Ha, but everyone. Likewise, the most important part of that quote is the “used to” section, which portrays the family as being acquainted to their lifestyle in Saigon, not the life they live in America. Correspondingly, other refugees feel “Inside out” as well, because of their longing for home. In the article “Refugees: who, where, why?” It explains how refugees are not always able to make it back to their homeland, because of war, or disease or whatever the cause may be. “Cannot return home” (Refugees: who, where, why?, Paragraph 9) This shows that the refugees are unable to return to their homes in the same way that Ha and her family also cannot return. The refugees talked about in “Refugees: who, where, why?” are likely very homesick, longing to return to their land, just like Ha. Coupled with feeling homesick, Ha is also getting bullied in her new school.”making fun of the Vietnamese flag.” (Lai, 144) This quote shows that in her new life, she