I Love Yous Are For White People

This chapter describes the story a Vietnamese boy Lac Su. His father was a Chinese and now his family is settled in America. Lac Su from the chapter seems to be an extremely sensitive, timid and scared kid who is finding difficulty in settling in such a different culture. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first one describes a horrible situation for the kid when he has to stay alone in the house and take care of his sister as his mother has left the house without telling any reason. Next morning he receives a call from his mother when she informs him about the reason that his father is hospitalized as he was beaten up and robbed by some Mexican thugs.

In Anh Do’s heartwarming and inspiring memoir The Happiest Refugee, the author elicits the prosperous adventure of a migrant family that come across various personal and memorable experiences. The central theme of a migrant family is established through their successful journey to Australia. Anh Do portrays this theme through the life lessons he learns from his parents, furthermore he is given a variety of opportunities where he could earn money and contribute to the family’s income. His academic endeavors at school is depicted through his lucrative career as a comedian and an university student.

Many writers explore the notion that cultural differences may inflict feelings of disconnection for their central characters. This is shown in the two texts ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Migrant Woman on a Melbourne Tram’, as both protagonists struggle to cope with their newly exposed environment. Despite this, we learn that it can be resolved through the acceptance of one another, yet others may remain to dissociate themselves from society.

Writers always have a reason or purpose for writing stories. “The Happiest Refugee”, written by Anh Do, is a memoir describing his family’s journey from Vietnam to Australia, heartbreaking struggles in his life, and how he became such a well-known comedian. He uses comedy to lighten serious issues and shows the best of his life living in a dominant white society. He makes readers more aware of Vietnamese refugees, how they are not taking this country for granted, and breaks the dominant stereotypes. He also uses this book to get more public appearance.

The following paper will discuss Vietnamese Americans and their journey to America. I will talk about how these incredible and resilient people fought to succeed it a world that seemed to hold the odds against them. The culture, beliefs, and challenges of Vietnamese people are a precise paradigm of their strength and perseverance.

Based on Uong experience, fleeing into America was not an easy journey. “Those who escaped death by drowning had to endure multiple robberies, rape, or assault at the hands of the Thai pirates (an estimate two-thirds of boats were raided)” (Cao 6). Due to complications, there were individuals who were not able to flee the country by boat. “Those who did not flee the country via the seas escaped Vietnam by dangerous land routes through Cambodia to Thailand” (Cao 7). As for Uong experience, he escaped Vietnam very easily. “It was April 30, 1975, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was under siege. I was 10, the youngest of eight children” (Uong 1). Only being 10 years old, he was forced to run away from home in order to search for a better life. Hoping that he and his siblings would make it to safety, Uong parents told them to leave. Uong stated, “My parents, hoping to get us away from the chaos, told my brothers and sister to get on our bikes and ride away. When things calmed down, they said, we should come back” (Uong 2). After they had ridden away, they were able to see a “small South Vietnamese navy ship

Eric Tang’s Unsettled is an ethnographic account of Cambodian refugees in the Bronx, New York that evokes a nuanced understanding of the refugee experience. Unlike many other ethnographies, Tang’s work centers around one individual named Ra Pronh, a fifty year old woman who survived the Cambodian genocide and has lived as a refugee for most of her life. The bulk of his work draws upon two main sources: Tang’s notes that are gathered from his work as a community organizer in refugee neighborhoods and his interviews with Ra Pronh over a three year time period. Throughout his interviews with Ra, Tang often encountered a language barrier with her. There were times where Ra’s children would translate her words from Khmer to English for Tang to

" I love Yous Are for White People" is a memoir about Lac's journey and his family immigrated to America from Vietnam, after the Vietnam's War. Lac's family had to deal with cultural shock, language barrier, and difficulty finding jobs. As a Vietnamese immigration myself, I feel like Lac's experiences live through me because there were a lot of similarities in his memoir compared to my past experiences with my parents. Lac's family and many immigrations families had the same circumstances, that had a hard time adapting to a new cultural, and establish a new life in America. As the result, this environment played a

The U.S is seen as a safe haven for many refugees and immigrants around the world and that those who have made it are the “lucky ones” however, Author Aimee Phan discusses this common misconception in her novel We Should Never Meet. We Should Never Meet is a collection of short stories about how the Vietnamese War has effected its citizens still living in Vietnam or who fled to the United States in search of a safer home. In one short story, Emancipation, Phan gives readers a look into the life of Mai, a Vietnamese girl who was smuggled to America at the age of five. While the story is told by Mai in first person she is used more as median to show the differences in lives between her four friends Tiffany and Haun,

In 1975, the ‘Fall of the Saigon’ marked the end of the Vietnam War, which prompted the first of two main waves of Vietnamese emigration towards the US. The first wave included Vietnamese who had helped the US in the war and “feared reprisals by the Communist party.” (Povell)

“During the Vietnam War, General Vang Pao galvanized the Hmong - an ethnic minority in Laos - to leave their farms and villages and fight the communist invasion from North Vietnam. After the CIA pulled out of Laos in 1975, Vang Pao helped resettle tens of thousands of Hmong refugees to California, Wisconsin and Minnesota” (Robert Siegel, 2011, p.6). These actions had an impact on us Hmong people because without him doing that, me, my parents, or my grandparents wouldn’t be here right now and I wouldn’t even exist. So he gave me and us Hmong people a better chance at life.

In my survey Wants and Needs it states how students needs are met but are not met all of the time. Types of Needs includes; food, water, shelter. Our needs may be different at different times in our life, such as when we retire, lose a job, get a divorce, or get sick and can't work. Wants are goods or services that are not necessary but that we desire or wish for. Types of wants include; An iphone, your own car, your own apartment or a boyfriend/girlfriend. Adults need to understand that teens need Safety needs , love and support because without it teens will become vulnerable and become susceptible to being hurt. Adults need to understand that teens need love and support in order for teens not to become vulnerable. In the story “I Love Yous Are For White People” the author Lac su writes,” It shouldn't be this way.

Vuong Thanh he tried leaving Vietnam on a small boat with fifty people because they didn't want to die in the war. So they all tried being refugees. He tried to leave Vietnam seven times but he’d been caught and imprisoned each time .On the fifth time he was put into jail for one mouth

The Vietnam war started in 1954 to 1975. During this war, the Vietnamese Soldiers invaded a few towns in Laos. Some of these towns they invaded were towns my parents lived as kids. They grew up in different towns and refugee camps, but they went through similar journeys to get to America. As kids they ran miles across the jungle with their families to get to the Mekong River. Running through the jungle to get to the river took days. These days were the worst because there were no food to eat on this long walk. A lot of Hmong families who ran away from the Vietnamese soldiers didn’t make it far, or they died of starvation. My parents and their families were fortunate enough to had made it safely to the Mekong river without any harm done to

After about thirty years of fighting in the Vietnam War, the country was finally united again but under communist ruling subsequent to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. The country was later on declared a communist country on July 2, 1976. When the war ended, it caused many issues with the Vietnamese citizens and society. Homes, villages, towns, and the life they knew was completely different and in ruins. “I was about twelve when the war ended. My parents were saving money to move to America and in 1982 we moved. My whole life was changed.”(Nguyen.) Many Vietnamese citizens became refugees and fled the country to get away from all the tension and harm that