The Roots of Tradition

                                     The Roots of Tradition

     In the drawing below the tree shows its roots deeply underground, the same way that culture and tradition are incorporated in Vietnamese culture. The green of the leaves is meant to be young and vibrant helping the reader to remember that the 1.5 and 2 generations live in different times and eras, whereas the roots are left colorless because they are meant to represent the fact that the older generations do not stray from tradition. Andrew Lam has shown us how deeply roots the Vietnamese culture is to their traditions. No race likes to dishonor their families, however this is a trait that is often times portrayed in families of Asian descent than in any other race. This being said, homosexuality is not socially accepted in many cultures yet. Up until recently, there we no words that could be used to directly translate the word gay from English to Vietnamese. Knowing this why is it that Ethan's parents do not accept the fact that he is gay? They love and accept him the same way most parents love their children, yet they refuse to acknowledge the fact that their son is gay, going to such extremes like speaking in code when referring to his sexuality? Is it because of their tradition, and is their tradition the very same thing that hinders them from accepting the fact that Ethan is gay and happy?  

Little Saigon Doll

In this drawing i selected the little saigon doll wearing the red ao dai dress as my subject and the pile of trash beside a brick wall as the setting. Migrating to the U.S. Vietnamese immigrants quickly recognized the necessity to adopt American consumerist behaviors and beliefs in order to attain a stable living. Those unable to adopt found themselves in impoverished conditions, forced to reside in ghettos. I used the trash surrounding the doll to depict their living conditions. The brick wall serves to show Americas rejection of invading Vietnamese customs displaying the external pressures to assimilate. The male protagonist in Everything Must Go throws the doll away, symbolism of him metaphorically tossing his beliefs away.

-Jose G.

Traveling the Red Sea

 
Hunger,” “Sister” and “Yacht People” are all stories that illustrate the atrocities immigrants endured while on their perilous journey to America. This drawing represents the pain most Vietnamese immigrants endured after the war as they crossed the sea on boats. The colors are important because they are each symbolic of specific situations. The sea has been tainted by the color red to symbolize the many lives that were lost at sea. The bright sun contrasted with the dark clouds represents the irony of their journey: they search for a brighter future but are tormented by their painful past. There are many black boats traveling this red sea, purposely drawn small to blur identity; just as the Vietnamese immigrants lose their identity struggling to fit in between a Vietnamese and American world. The thought bubbles are significant because they display the thoughts running through their minds. Almost all the thought bubbles represent horrifying thoughts. However, amidst all the negative thoughts, there is one that will save them—hope. 
-Gaby F.

Forced Assimilation

 

  This scene depicts a Douglas Kim in the position of the one being dominated by Roger Briggs (his "daddy") but then calls Mr. Le his daddy. This scene shows forced assimilation where Douglas Kim represents a group of people (the Vietnamese in this story) as being forced to assimilate. Kim's first "daddy" is the one he is used to and can be represented as the Vietnamese's culture, but as things change (Mrs. Le comes into save Kim) the group must move on to another culture/place because they can no longer go back (Kim cannot go back to Briggs and therefore, he moves onto Mr. Le, calling him his new "daddy" because he has been humiliated). Kim represents the theme of having or being forced to assimilate like the Vietnamese refugees who are forced to assimilate into American culture because they cannot go back to Vietnam.

- Ilene C.

Grandma's Return!

This drawing represents the magical realism story "Grandma's Tales," and is a depiction of Grandma herself post-rebirth, entering the party. Her dress is embroidered with a phoenix, a symbol of said rebirth, and she is clearly enjoying herself as an errant breeze musses her flowing freshly-loosed hair. Her shawl is white for purity, and the cleansing of rebirth. The picture (and the story in my opinion) signify the "rebirth" which immigrants have when they fully acclimate into the new society which they choose to be a part of. Her (somewhat) traditional gown suggests, however, that acclimation does not mean abandoning all aspects of a previous culture, but a perfect synthesis of the two.

Transcending Compassion

In the story “Show and Tell” the blending of cultures is epitomized with the introduction of Cao to the classroom of American students.  Billy is the main antagonist of Cao he constantly picks on him, making fun of anything he can manage, “my daddy said them VCs don’t wear shoes” (25).  Cao doesn’t even know that Billy is making fun of him but Robert and Mr. K understand that Billy is attempting to torment Cao.  When Billy starts to attack Cao accusing his dad of giving Billy’s dad a huge scar Robert stands up for Cao, “Leave him alone, Billy” (26).  A vengeful Billy then turns his torment to Robert accusing him of “protecting his new boyfriend” (26).  Robert ignores this insult and feels he is responsible for taking care of Cao and making him feel welcome in America instead of a stranger.  While Robert might not literally be Cao’s boyfriend he stands up for him like a family member someone closer than an acquaintance he just met.  Robert subconsciously takes Cao under his wing and teaches him how to tell people to leave him alone and how to combat the prejudices of those around him.  He treats Cao like his little brother, protecting, teaching, and guiding him along a path that will lead him to what he wants or what he desires, acceptance.  Their sibling like relationship is epitomized when Robert explains Cao’s story to the class as he points to each drawing on the board, creating an emotional but concise story.      

---Jeremy B. 

Making Amends

In "Slingshot," Tammy's relationship with Uncle Steve--- or, as Tammy calls him, "U.S."--- is conflicted, and drives the plot of the story. U.S. has served in the Vietnam War, and during that time has acquired an interest in Vietnamese culture, as shown when he interacts with Tammy and her family (42, 43). On one hand, one can interpret U.S.'s interest in Vietnam--- and Tammy's annoyance at it--- as a critique towards cultural appropriation. U.S.'s attitude towards Vietnamese culture bears similarities to when someone tries to embrace a foreign culture without fully understanding the complexities of said culture, which can come off as arrogant/annoying to people who are part of the culture (Tammy being the most vocal in this case). However, U.S. is shown to be deeply affected by the war; it isn't hard to say that his experience in Vietnam, having participated in a bloody war, made him want to learn about pre-war Vietnam as a way of atoning for his actions. U.S. is portrayed as a decent person, who only seems a little oblivious to Tammy's feelings regarding his constant visits to their restaurant; this can be a reflection of the Americans' involvement in Vietnam, in that their presence did more harm than good. Indeed, after Tammy vocally expresses her disdain for him, U.S. leaves for a while, which can symbolize America pulling out of Vietnam. However, he later tries to return Tammy's father's ashes, only to have Tammy unknowingly break the vase containing them with her slingshot, causing the ashes to scatter (51, 52). This, in turn, can be seen as an allegory of the United States trying to make amends for the war, only to be met with mistrust and violence; the overall message, it seems, is that no matter what, it will be hard to repair the broken relationship between the two countries, despite the US's well intentions.

--- Neil G.

Home or Residence

When reading Birds of Paradise Lost, I noticed the theme of home recurring. In "Sister," Ivory struggles with a sense of home after her brother calls to inform her that he called their childhood home, and got through to "an old lady. She had a Hanoi accent" (114). Ivory's brother is playful and excited about the call, but Ivory does not seem to share his enthusiasm. She is even surprised by her reaction, but does not, (initially) choose to try calling too. After this incident, the story reveals that Ivory is a realtor. Ivory's struggle with calling home reveals a potential longing to move forward. but a consistent pull toward the past due to her nightmares and flashbacks (116). Since Ivory's career involves showing and selling homes, this seems to reveal her unconscious need to feel at home in America, as well as her even more unconscious need to reconnect with her home in Vietnam. When she mentions "how can I? [...] Go back to what" (121); this shows that Ivory does feel a sense of loss towards her new home. However, her reluctance to call depicts her fear of knowing that life goes on, and that she must move forward.

-Kristen P.

Steps Toward Reconciliation

“Step up and Whistle” demonstrates the correlating lives of Randy Tran, a member of the 1.5 generation, and his uncle, Barry Le. Having lost his family upon steps, Uncle Bay travels for refuge without his family and is later heartbroken, learning of his wife’s arrangements. Nonetheless, he still continues to live life, with the desire to be with those that he loves. Suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, Randy Tran embarrasses him, yet he also embarrasses himself. From which point he decides to run. In the drawing above, the dress shoes and pants figure is Barry Le and the exploding lines represent his troubled past and sudden jerks due to his disease. The running shoes are representative of Randy as he decides to run regardless of the weather. The rain in his section is symbolic of the sadness he puts himself in. Regardless, they both climb in order to let go of their past. Barry Le is walking less steep stairs significant of his old age, and unlike Randy who is walking the steeper stairs in order to recognize his mistakes and the karma of having a child with TS.

By Alfredo R.

Growing a New Identity

Two of Lam's stories which discuss Vietnamese immigrants' passages of boats to their new homes are "Sister" and "Yacht People." The hardships they face influence their new identities as refugees. I was inspired by the woman in "Yacht People" who brought mango seeds with her on the boat. The mango seeds are a physical reminder of Vietnam for the woman; it is all she can manage to save from the home she is leaving. Despite (or as a result of) the hardship experienced, those seeds sprouted. I drew a mango tree growing from a boat in stormy seas. The storm represents both the physical and emotional turmoil which plague the refugees as they make the journey, their identities stuck in limbo between the past and their futures in a new country. Two children are by the tree, which symbolize these two stories. One child remains in the shade and protection of the tree. She represents a refusal to abandon traditions. For her, the tree represents strong-rooted tradition and culture which is worth saving. The other child is climbing the mango tree, looking to the sunshine above the clouds. This represents hope for the future in a new country and culture, as well as a departure from tradition and a Vietnamese past. The mango tree is symbolic of the growth of the children's new identities as a result of this boat ride to the United States; the direction in which each child's identity grows is dependent on the individual.

By Paige M.

Roots of Transition

The seemingly simple sentence, “I was seven when I came to America, old enough to remember, young enough to change” in the story “Close to the Bone" has profound significance (165). This quote speaks to the plight of the Vietnamese diaspora and encompasses the challenges of identity, homeland, and assimilation, which plague those who are exiled. The emotional effects caused by exile can vary by circumstance, but is often linked to age as evident in the lives of David, Ethan, and his parents. Those that are older when exiled often battle with a torn identity. Their roots and culture are transplanted onto new soil and only time can tell whether it will bear fruit. Those that are older when forced to migrate have a greater attachment to the life they lived, and the longing for their homeland engulfs literature with their stories of transition. For those that are younger, the ties felt are relegated to their parents, but assimilation often comes much easier as their new experiences enforce their sense of belonging in the new world. Being able to change and adapt to a new way of life while still honoring the past is easier for the younger generations where the memories and roots are not as strong and developed. The discrepancy between age and assimilation is interesting to observe throughout Lam’s collection of short stories, especially in “Close to the bone”. The generation gaps and familial tensions it raises reflect the challenges of exile.

By David T. 

The Power of Language

"Show and Tell" is about Robert and his new fellow student Cao, a Vietnamese refugee. Through Cao's inability to speak English, Andrew Lam stresses the power of language and communication. He links the impact of language barrier to the inability of expressing oneself which leads to being judged by society without knowing the person or one's background. 

At the beginning Cao is presented as quite primitive, "like he just found out for the first time that he was wearing shoes" (25). In addition, he cannot defend himself when he is attacked by Billy because he does not know English, "so he just bit[es] his lip and blush[es]" (25) and ignores Billy's offensive comments. However, Cao uses drawing as a way of communication with Robert and when Robert realizes that Cao's drawing "was really, really good" (28), his impression of the refugee changes: he starts respecting Cao more. 

The turning point comes when Cao is confronted with the horrors of the Vietnamese war because of Billy's presentation (29). At first, he cannot control his emotions, but he soon realizes that Robert - who understands him - and his own drawings are his way to communicate his sufferings, his story, thus who he is: "So I went on. And he went on. I talked. He drew. We fell into a rhythm" (31). Cao is able to regain control over the situation, to make the others listen to him and to "Show and Tell" the trauma he went through as a refugee. Thus, Lam represents in Cao the power of communication and how language is a tool to not only process trauma, but also to set your status in society. 

All in all, Lam is able to show the hardships of immigrants who do not only have to struggle with the trauma of war, but also with the trauma of exile. Due to language barriers, refugees are faced with prejudices and judged by people. But Lam does not only show how powerful language and language skills can be, as he also shows how powerful it can be to express oneself in order to process trauma.

By Storai K.

Sly Fox

In "Close to the Bone" after David's funeral, Ethan describes a moment where, "a mangy fox stood staring at me, its tongue hanging out. It was neither afraid nor surprised. If anything, it had an expression of bemusement" (Lam 182). The fox is symbolic of David's personality and characteristics. His trickster nature is shown throughout the story. 

In the beginning, David taunts Ethan's father with breaking the bricks in class, and later Ethan's parents by showing support for Ethan's sexuality during a discussion at dinner. Over and again he seems to push the envelope on what is considered proper, while at the same time showing respect for the ancestral culture. It is through this sort of wily and unpredictable behavior that he inspires both Ethan and his father to challenge themselves in different ways. Ethan's father seems to struggle to find purpose until David gives him a means to channel the life he feels that has been lost. Through David he finds the son he wishes he had, and at the same time in some ways connects to his own son. Ethan is inspired to find his voice and break down walls by standing up to the oppression he feels has been inflicted on him. He openly confesses who he is and sees himself to be because of David's support. 

David's wry actions caused the family to break down barriers and forcibly reevaluate their relationships. The fox's appearance reflects the irony of what is, as well as the potential hopefulness of what could be.

By Jennifer V.

A Storm of Nation

As I traced a running theme of homosexuality in Andrew Lam's Birds of Paradise Lost, I considered the struggle of sexual identity as a representation of the struggle of developing a national identity and the ongoing storm that Vietnamese refugees experience. In "Close to the Bone", Ethan recounts the development of his sexual identity as a storm which his partner, William, served as a safe port (174). By illustrating two conjoined men wrapped in both the American and Vietnamese flag, I meshed images of sexual and national identity. Choosing mostly pencil to create my illustration, I imagined the minimal color as representation of the often black and white singular view that a person must be of one nationality and renounce another, or that a person of must be of only one sexual orientation. Combining both flags and a conjoined image of a homosexual couple pressed against a stormy sky symbolizes the struggles and complications of duality and biculturality. 

By Lauren S.

The Jaws of War

After digesting Lam’s short stories “Hunger” and “Birds of Paradise Lost,” I realize how much they reflect the capacity of mankind to face depravity and the ensuing struggle to avoid being engulfed by it. The stories portray their characters’ continued efforts to resist the sociological aftereffects of a war, though each story is driven by its protagonist’s psychological war against consumption.

In “Hunger,” Mr. Nguyen grapples with his past: having been forced to turn to the depravity of cannibalism, he is disgusted by the prospect of eating meat again. A physical reminder of the horror he unwillingly but eventually embraced, the texture of animal flesh is “abhorrent to his tongue and teeth” (80), reminiscent of his wife’s tragic demise at the hands of human hunger. Attached to his pain and guilt is a desperate need for his daughter, Easy-to-Love, to transcend the level of inhumanity to which he believes he has sunk. As he pleads for her to “Eat and be resilient” (80), he affixes meat with a degree of strength and the spirit to rise above their tragic circumstances; consequently, Easy-to-Love’s refusal to ingest it fuels Mr. Nguyen’s fear that she will be unable to move past the depravity and “‘grow up beautiful’” (91).

In “Birds of Paradise Lost,” however, consumption functions as a result of a different kind of volition. In the wake of his “oldest and dearest friend’s” self-immolation (99)—itself, a voluntary act of being consumed—Thang allows himself to embody consumption through addiction: “I imagined a cigarette smoldering between my lips…its smoky residue warming my scarred lungs” (100). He caves under the pressure of resisting the “hints of elegance” of a force that “drives our world” (110), the fire that lights the end of his cigarette and burns his homeland and feeds the fate of refugees. This force of consumption, which he claims “would not, in the end, devour me” (110), snakes its way through him after all, as it consumes his son and mixes him into the pot of American, “sophisticated, razor-tongued strangers” (105).

By Sandra H.

Karma Run

This drawing depicts a clock, a shoe, and the bottom of a show. The bottom right corner of the drawing is a mix of black and purple. In Vietnamese culture, black represents evil and purple represents sadness. I used these colors to represent the narrator’s conflicting feelings about the way he treated his uncle. In the story, “Step up and Whistle,” he took advantage of his uncle’s TS in a very evil way on multiple occasions. The shoes are a representation of him trying to run away from his past. He is unable to do so, which is why he has several pairs of used shoes, but still feels the guilt towards his uncle. The clock represents the passing of time, but also the remembrance of the past. This sketch also includes a quote outlined in blue. The blue represents hope, which the narrator feels towards his daughter who also has TS. The colors and images combined represent the narrator’s inner struggle with his feelings towards his uncle. There is guilt for the outcome of the war, but also for the poor treatment of his uncle. The footprints of the past will remain forever in the narrator’s mind and heart.

By Kristena R.

Meat and Guilt: Nguyen's Burden

My journal is meant to evoke the image of Atlas. In this case Atlas is representative of Mr. Nguyen from the short story "Hunger." He holds up a large pile of meat. In Greek myth, Atlas was punished for his rebellion by being made to hold up the earth. Similarly, Nguyen's new-found repulsion for meat, and his difficulties with food, can be seen as a form of karmic punishment for his "sins" on the boat (eating his wife). In Nguyen's case, his punishment is (somewhat) self-inflicted. He carries his guilt and shame around the way Atlas carries the earth. This guilt takes the form of his inability to eat meat, and is compounded by his inability to feed his daughter. The meat is imaged as much larger than Atlas-Nguyen to show how overwhelming this burden is for him.

By Abigail I.

To Temper the Flame

I believe that the eponymous story Birds of Paradise Lost answers the age old question of how one should react to trauma by presenting and challenging the ethics behind an extreme response to it; martyrdom. The narrator, Thang, initially views his friend Bac’s self-immolation as a brave and patriotic act, worthy of praise and imitation. However, after Thang’s son logically argues that Bac’s suicide more likely stemmed from defeatism or depression as opposed to righteous indignation, Thang begins to wonder how he should honor his past in a foreign setting where it no longer directly relates to his daily life. The answer to his question, however, emerges through a comparison between fire and one’s memories that illuminates the duality of deferring to one’s past. If one acknowledges and learns from her past, it can inspire her to do great things in the present and future. But, if one ignores his history and lets the past sway his logical reason, then he will inevitably be consumed by his uncontrolled passion. Essentially then, the juxtaposition of Bac’s death and Thang’s concluding resolution to continue living exemplifies both the destructive and constructive potential of trauma.

By Michael J.