The Gangster We Are All Looking For Analysis

In the novel The Gangster We Are All Looking For, Le Thi Diem Thuy, the author uses water in a quite symbolic way. In the very beginning of the book Thuy lets the readers know that in Vietnamese the word nu’o‘c means both water and homeland. This seems to be something that whether consciously or unconsciously is kept in the narrator's mind. At times water is used as a symbol of comfort for the narrator. When she was in America with just her dad she would think of the beach and how her mother was there waiting to be reunited with them. Also, when her mom did get back and her parents would get into awful fights her way of escaping was to get into a tub full of water and just soak. Most importantly that simple word nu’o‘c seemed to represent her brother. …show more content…
Her and her brother were very close and even after he died she constantly kept him on her mind, “Everywhere I went in our town my brother went with me, but when I left for America, I left him sleeping with my grandfather on the low wooden bed by the window” (148-149). She started a new life in America and left her drowned brother back home and this haunts her. She probably feels a little guilty about moving on without him. This appears to manifest itself in the scene where she is carrying the ice home and all of a sudden she feels his presence and she says “ I can’t. Ma’s waiting for me and I’m going back to school in two weeks and- I can’t.” (75). She then feels her brothers breath no longer warm but instead cold on her back and runs away feeling frightened and confused. This scene is rather strange but it shows her conflicting feelings of her moving on from her brother’s death. When she first feels him she wants to go to him but realizes that she has a life apart from her brother that she likes, and rather continue even if it’s without him. She feels as though this upsets and angers him so she runs