40 pages • 1 hour read
GB TranA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
For many refugees, notions of the homeland evoke contradictory feelings of nostalgia and anguish. During his visit to Saigon, Tri Huu contends that he has no desire to remember the past. He claims, “I didn’t come here to be nostalgic. To go, ‘oooo…ahhh…this is where I did this and that’s where I did that.’ It’s in the past. What do I care?” (53). Weighed by the painful memories of the war, exile, and his personal sacrifices, Tri Huu chooses to move forward and not dwell on the past as a necessary mode of survival. GB comments on how little he knows about his parents because of his “family’s unwillingness to share the most basic facts” (98). Tri Huu willingly forgets or silences stories of his past and refuses to discuss his feelings with his family. In repressing traumatic events, he dampens any sense of attachment, longing, or positive memories of Vietnam as well, resulting in an existence characterized by coldness, aggression, and resentment.
The memoir repeatedly references a quote attributed to Confucius, which states, “A man without history is a tree without roots” (8). This quote captures the paradox of refugee narratives, in which individuals uprooted from their native land have an elusive sense of home entangled with traumatic events that are painful to revisit.
Asian American & Pacific Islander...
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fathers
View Collection
Graphic Novels & Books
View Collection
Immigrants & Refugees
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Loyalty & Betrayal
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
School Book List Titles
View Collection
Vietnamese Studies
View Collection
Vietnam War
View Collection