Ha In Vietnam Analysis

Superior Essays
Ha in Vietnam is much different than the Ha in Alabama. At the beginning of Ha’s story, she is defiant and fearful similar to the children from Bosnia. During the Vietnamese New Year, everyone is one year older and the rest of the year is foretold by their actions. Typically only boys can get up first in the morning to bless the house for luck but Ha got into an argument with her mother. It turns out that Ha wanted to bless the house but mother said no because it wouldn’t work. That night Ha awoke before dawn and, “…tap my big toe to the tile floor first” (Lai, Pg. 3), here Ha went against her mother’s wishes because she didn’t think that it was fair. Ha of course didn’t care and blessed the house before her brother. This shows that Ha …show more content…
In this story, the four children lose their homes due to war in Bosnia. Ha also had to live in fear because at any moment the Communists from the North could attack. There were always stories about what the Viet Cong did when they took over a region. Not only this but Ha’s father had also fought against them. “We cannot leave evidence of father’s life that might hurt him” (Lai, Left Behind). When they did leave Vietnam they had to burn all evidence that could hurt their father. If simply having the evidence would hurt father what would they do to Ha and the rest of the family if it was discovered? This is similar to the article, “Children of War” when Emir is recalling what it was like to live in Bosnia. “...you had to crawl… or risk getting shot” (Pg. 2). Every single day there was always a risk of getting shot. It would be almost impossible for someone to not be scared in this situation. Here Emir is talking about how terrifying it was to live there. Ha was fearful in Vietnam about what could happen similar to other …show more content…
After Ha arrives in Alabama and gets settled in she begins to go to school like Vu and Khoi. Ha is unable to make friends because she cannot speak English and feels like an outcast. This leads to Ha getting bullied by a pink boy who follows her home and calls her names. However in the poem “Du Du Face” she starts to stand up for herself and yells back, “…Gee-sus, Gee-sus” (Lai, pg. 219). This shows that she is getting more comfortable with life and she won’t let Pink Boy ruin it anymore like he has been doing. The fact that Ha feels confident enough to yell back insults at her bully shows is back again and she will make life to be better. Eventually, Ha is able to stop Pink Boy with the help of her brothers which improves her life for the better. The fact that her older brother now picks her up means that she won’t be bullied anymore. This also means that people will start talking to her more. “So someone is always saving lunch seats for me…” (Lai, The Vu Lee Effect-Pdf. version). This means that Ha will be able to talk to others and she will not be an outcast because of the fact that she is Vietnamese. This also shows that she is being accepted by her classmates more and they will not shun her as they have been doing. This is similar to the children of Bosnia in “Children of War” who had to come back from a dark past that they have had. When they first went to their refugee camp they were n’t allowed to

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