Refugee In Inside Out And Back Again
Anyone who flees their home country due to war or persecution is referred as a refugee. In Inside Out and Back Again, we are introduced to the narrator, Ha. Ha is a refugee who fled her country, Vietnam, because of political warfare. In the novel, she explains her experiences being in the middle of the war feeling confused and sad at most times, not knowing what’s going on. This causes her brother needing to explain everything to her. Ha, and her family, after fleeing from the North Vietnamese Communists, soon end up in Alabama, living normal lives and going to school there. Like Ha, Tom Lantos, a Hungarian refugee, fled imprisonment and hid within his country due to political warfare. He joined a resistance group to fight the Nazis. This shows that while their life after fleeing had some differences, they can relate on one aspect: the reason to flee.
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Every refugee usually has similar reasons to flee.
For Ha, it was because she and many other Vietnamese families were being driven out by the Communists who left them with two choices, stay and die, or flee. Ha recalls, “South Vietnam no longer exists. One woman tries to throw herself overboard, screaming that without a country she cannot live” (85). A statement that addresses passengers that were shocked, having to become refugees, knowing that they may never be able to come back. This shocked feeling had also come to Tom Lantos when he needed to flee and when his reality was changed as a young teen: “Lantos was 16 when Nazi Germany occupied the Hungarian capital on March 1944, He was sent to a labor camp in Szob.”(Biography.com) Lantos and many others were sent to labor camps where they would ultimately die. However, Lantos couldn’t accept that fact so he escaped the labor camp. Ha and Lantos may have had similar reasons to flee, but their outcomes were
contrasting. After fleeing, both Ha and Lantos had different outcomes and experiences. When Ha and her family reached an American refugee camp, they were sponsored by a man who would take care of them. According to Ha, “Our cowboy in an even taller hat finds us a house on Princess Anne Road, pays rent ahead three months.” (124) Ha calls the man who will be taking care of them a “cowboy” who had found them a house they can live in since their home was taken over by the Communists in Vietnam. On the other hand, Lantos, before fleeing the country of Hungary, joined a Nazi resistance group which helped save countless lives. Lantos soon fled to America and received a Ph.D. in economics at UC Berkeley, which led him to a successful life: “In 1980, Lantos was elected to California’s 11th congressional district, which included the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a small portion of southwest San Francisco.”(Biography.com) Even though he entered America as a refugee he became the only Holocaust survivor elected as a congressman working for the people of his district. Ha, having taken refuge in America, began living a normal life. They both were former refugees, living different lives, but were successful in their own way in America.
America, being the place both Ha and Lantos took refuge in, helped them cope with their knowledge that they may never return to their homes. Ha and Lantos both became different people after their experiences as a refugee. Even though Ha and Lantos lived life differently after being chased away from their country, political warfare was the cause for them needing to flee their homes.
Every refugee usually has similar reasons to flee.
For Ha, it was because she and many other Vietnamese families were being driven out by the Communists who left them with two choices, stay and die, or flee. Ha recalls, “South Vietnam no longer exists. One woman tries to throw herself overboard, screaming that without a country she cannot live” (85). A statement that addresses passengers that were shocked, having to become refugees, knowing that they may never be able to come back. This shocked feeling had also come to Tom Lantos when he needed to flee and when his reality was changed as a young teen: “Lantos was 16 when Nazi Germany occupied the Hungarian capital on March 1944, He was sent to a labor camp in Szob.”(Biography.com) Lantos and many others were sent to labor camps where they would ultimately die. However, Lantos couldn’t accept that fact so he escaped the labor camp. Ha and Lantos may have had similar reasons to flee, but their outcomes were
contrasting. After fleeing, both Ha and Lantos had different outcomes and experiences. When Ha and her family reached an American refugee camp, they were sponsored by a man who would take care of them. According to Ha, “Our cowboy in an even taller hat finds us a house on Princess Anne Road, pays rent ahead three months.” (124) Ha calls the man who will be taking care of them a “cowboy” who had found them a house they can live in since their home was taken over by the Communists in Vietnam. On the other hand, Lantos, before fleeing the country of Hungary, joined a Nazi resistance group which helped save countless lives. Lantos soon fled to America and received a Ph.D. in economics at UC Berkeley, which led him to a successful life: “In 1980, Lantos was elected to California’s 11th congressional district, which included the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a small portion of southwest San Francisco.”(Biography.com) Even though he entered America as a refugee he became the only Holocaust survivor elected as a congressman working for the people of his district. Ha, having taken refuge in America, began living a normal life. They both were former refugees, living different lives, but were successful in their own way in America.
America, being the place both Ha and Lantos took refuge in, helped them cope with their knowledge that they may never return to their homes. Ha and Lantos both became different people after their experiences as a refugee. Even though Ha and Lantos lived life differently after being chased away from their country, political warfare was the cause for them needing to flee their homes.