Following these gruesome events, "as Vietnam's 'runaways', Vietnamese refugees ideologically do more than affirm the U.S. claim of 'being a safe haven for the oppressed'" (Espiritu 175). America is only considered to be a 'safe haven' for immigrants and refugees because of its promise of freedom and opportunities. The idea that Vietnamese refugees were helpless is what makes the United States feel superior to corrupted countries. This feeling of dominance is why Americans force their ideologies on each refugee causing the silence of witnesses and survivors. This silence is carried with a heavy heart by survivors.
Espiritu states that "The iconic images of desperate and frantic Vietnamese, wailing with pain, grief, and terror as they scrambled to escape 'communist Vietnam' at any cost, have visually and discursively transformed the Vietnamese from a people battered by decades of U.S. warfare in Vietnam to those persecuted by the Vietnamese communist government & rescued by the U.S" (Espiritu 174). The image of the refugee is essentially important because it intervenes with their freedom and their …show more content…
These refugee relatives are haunted by their memories and "remain silent because their war years involved personal transgressions best left untold since the telling would wound loved ones" (Espiritu 154). This demonstrates how difficult it is for refugees to talk about their memories and how difficult it is to transmit knowledge about severe trauma generations. Ocean Vuong writes about his experience with his mom when he writes "I read that parents suffering from P.T.S.D. are more likely to hit their children … Perhaps to lay hands on your child is to prepare him for war …". The times when these refugees were not silent were difficult for their kids because they know that these war episodes are still alive within
Espiritu states that "The iconic images of desperate and frantic Vietnamese, wailing with pain, grief, and terror as they scrambled to escape 'communist Vietnam' at any cost, have visually and discursively transformed the Vietnamese from a people battered by decades of U.S. warfare in Vietnam to those persecuted by the Vietnamese communist government & rescued by the U.S" (Espiritu 174). The image of the refugee is essentially important because it intervenes with their freedom and their …show more content…
These refugee relatives are haunted by their memories and "remain silent because their war years involved personal transgressions best left untold since the telling would wound loved ones" (Espiritu 154). This demonstrates how difficult it is for refugees to talk about their memories and how difficult it is to transmit knowledge about severe trauma generations. Ocean Vuong writes about his experience with his mom when he writes "I read that parents suffering from P.T.S.D. are more likely to hit their children … Perhaps to lay hands on your child is to prepare him for war …". The times when these refugees were not silent were difficult for their kids because they know that these war episodes are still alive within