Summary Of The Best We Could Do

The Best We Could Do illustrates frames that focus on a fragmentary and nonlinear history of Thi Bui’s family during the Vietnam War and the French colonial exploitation that followed it. Understanding that she is the product of war, allows her to not only convey the past, but also convey how that past will always be connected to the present. Thi Bui emulates how war and resettlement shaped her family’s experience through a narrative structure of illustrated frames that flash back and forth in time. By casting light her on family's refugee experience, Bui centralizes not just faces and names, but also how survival is deeply rooted in her origins.

1.) Topic sentence #1: In more than one way, war is the backdrop to Thi Bui’s family history. It’s evident that a lot of the dysfunction surrounding her childhood is a direct result of the war in Vietnam. In this context, the fiery shades used to illustrate experiences and events exude a somber mood that corresponds to the family’s arduous journey and origins.
“I keep looking toward the past… tracing our journey in reverse... over the ocean through the war seeking an origin story that will set everything right.” (39-41)
“In the decade of the First Indochina War, while my parents were still children learning their place in the world… an estimated 94,000 French soldiers died trying to reclaim France’s colony.”
Thi Bui illustrates her parent’s childhood during the war, particularly the contrasting elements of their lives growing up. Knowing their individual experiences not only served the image Bui had developed of her parents but also helped her see them not only as parents but individuals as their own