The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Vietnam War - Essay ExampleThis semi-autobiography of the former is his geographic expedition of his past as he travels through his home land, Vietnam, which also helps him in playing his identity and so provides the hope for a better future. The reason that the author needed to go on this journey was because his transexual sister had committed suicide under the pressure of not being able to identify her existence. This had triggered the author to look for his own identity. So, he goes on a trip to his homeland Vietnam travelling through various ranks that had held meaning to him during his childhood. He hopes to see the same Vietnam that he had left years ago, looking for his dear fellow the one he trusted so much. However, as he travels through the land he is low and surprised to see the expression things had changed. This book is remarkable in the way Pham explains the changes, his feelings and the confusion of an out of place Vietnamese Ameri spate. The main theme that is easy to pick up from this book is that of the confusion that exists for the second contemporaries of refugees. I tell them Im Vietnamese American. They shriek, Viet-kieu It sounds like a disease. The news travels down the advance and the excitement subsides. Half of the group peels away, losing interest since I am not a real extraterrestrial (Pham, A. page no. 125). I think the identity of a person is very important for him and the way a persons identity is created through his nation, his name, his family and through people associated with him. When a person has to touch on away from his nation, his family, his friends a part of his identity is lost. Creating a new identity is not easy peculiarly when the new place happens to be so contrasting from where they come from. This results in the constant dilemma that the writer also faces. In this Vietnamese much, I am too American. Too refined, too removed from my que, my ancestry village. The sight of my root repulses me. And this shames me deeply (Pham, A. page no. 183). When people like the writer himself go dressing to their roots it is more of a displeasure to see that what they had left does not exist anymore. The roots they can associate themselves with does not exist anymore. This does not just further confuses them about their identity but forces them to conceive about their identity. They smashed all the alley homes a long time ago. New homes are strengthened right against the back of all the street-front houses. No more alley. But what about the people who used to live there? The Vo family? Gone. All bygone.Come. Meet the new people and some of the old ones who are keep mum here. I want to leave . This place is empty. (Pham A. page no. 101). Pham explains the feeling of seeing everything that should remind him of his roots and yet does not connect to him. His words are a solace to all those who have gone through the same phase. Seeing things change so drastically does leave the feeli ng of emptiness, it is difficult to accept the changes, even though had the person been in the same place he would have gone with the persist changing with the changes brought about. But its different for somebody like the author whose memory holds a different picture not allowing the person to accept a different picture. It is just not easy to slow accept the change.