Vietnamese Families Experience Essay

When discussing the Vietnam War, our Southeast Asian Refugees of the "Cold" War class only covers its major impacts to either the Vietnamese, the Americans, the Chinese, or the Soviets. Other ethnic groups, such as the Hmong, are ignored or given less attention. The Vietnamese, the Americans, the Chinese, and the Soviets were not the only key players in this war; the Hmong, the Lao, and the Thai people were also involved. Often, these groups of people’s contributions and struggles during the war are not acknowledged. Incidentally, one memoir written by Kao Kalia Yang, a Hmong refugee, successfully provides a representative scope of the brutal impacts that this war left on the Hmong refugees. The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir is a remarkable novel about Kao Kalia Yang and her family’s experiences as

The battle of Verdun took place in Verdun in Northern France from the 21st of February to the 18th of December 1916. The battle was between the French Army and the German Army. The battle was mainly trench warfare and had a large number of casualties from both sides. The Commanding officer of the section of the German Army that was in france at the time, was “Eric Von Falkenhayn”. His views on the war was that Britain was the strongest of the Allied countries and the war could only be won by taking out their best allies Russia, France and Italy. He decided that taking out france would be the biggest blow on Britain, so they launched an offensive on the French Position on the “Western Front”. The Germans wanted to pick a position which would draw all the french soldiers into one spot to defend, they chose the Fortress of Verdun, because it was in the road of the Main German communication lines.

Authors tend to use different techniques in order to make the plot more interesting and compelling to the audience they are trying to reach. One of the technique they use is foiling. They use foil in order to develop characters. Character creation and the way a character acts really can affect the stories the characters are from. When someone analyzes a character they have to take in mind their feelings their emotions and how they are they want to connect with the characters on a whole new level. Authors use foils to represent the main character in a better way, they utilize another character that has opposing traits than the main character to do this. In the novels, The Sun Also Rises and Heart of Darkness, the authors Ernest Hemingway

As a proud second generation Vietnamese American, I proudly associate myself with my Catholic Vietnamese community. Like all members in my group, we are indoctrinated with the typical immigrant values of perseverance, freedom, and respect for others and our cultural identity. The church that binds us together, Our Lady of Lavang, is the center where most of the Catholic Vietnamese Community gathers all over West Michigan. Since the 1st grade, I went through the Church's school program every Sunday to learn about Christian moral values, Vietnamese traditions, and language. These lessons has heavily influenced my outlook on life, enabling me to use faith to build confidence with myself, maintain integrity, and to love and respect every individual.

By the time The Vietnam War ended there were so many people wounded and killed. The war was a controversial matter from beginning to end. It will always have an impact on how the government and military make decisions. As it would affect anyone it effects the families of the soldiers. In fact, was anyone aware that in total 1.57 million people were dead after the Vietnam war (Phillips and Axelrod)? Just as many were injured, some more severely than others. The Vietnam war had many negative outcomes for both Vietnam and the United States.

My parents immigrated here to the United States from Vietnam in the hopes of seeking a better future for themselves and for future generations. As a young child, my parents put in many grueling hours of work to support our family. My mother worked as a waitress and a cashier at a Chinese restaurant while my father would work at a steel factory where he assembled parts for furniture. They both worked for minimum wages which made it more difficult to have extra money laying around to enjoy and relax. As our family lived here in the United States, my parents received some harsh judgements and critiques from American citizens. My mother got some feedback for her limited English conversation skills, and she got taunted for that. My father openly practiced his cultural beliefs which differed from American traditional values and customs. He prayed and meditated to his God with his special incense. This behavior has received some backlash from others in his workplace. As we continued to live here in the United States, immigrants widespread such like my parents have received negative judgements and misconceptions from Americans. The topic of immigration has been more controversial due to border patrol issues and illegal immigration in the recent election. Were any of these actions done by naturalized American citizens justified, and what were the motives and reasonings behind the strong dissenting opinions regarding the negative perception of immigrants?

While the service trip took place in the Northern US, there were pre-determined requirements that had to be met before we could embark, one of which was a minimum fundraised amount of $500. The money that was raised by this program went towards scholarships for other Kentucky residents to attend YMCA Conferences, where they have the chance to learn about democracy, kinship, and our community. I count this as community service because the YMCA changed my life by transforming an academic student into a servant leader. Providing the chance for someone else to be shaped into one of tomorrow's leaders is doing a service to my community. The third tier of my service goes towards the United States of America. An example of my service to America has already been noted in my ten day service trip to northern states where I helped shelve books with my peers and kinfolk who had fallen into unfortunate circumstances as well as re-vitalise YMCA Camp Y-Owasco through mulching over 5 miles of trails; however, a lesser noted service that many young adults seek is education. I firmly believe that the education of forthcoming generations is one of the greatest services that can be done for our

Gonyea, D. (2014). LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/300836769/civil-rights-act-anniversary-may-polish-lbj-s-image

We most of the time do not consider after war effects on human suffering, such as war veterans, wounded fighters and civilians, famine, disease, and in some cases epidemics. Countries like USA, which is the largest economy of the world, has more than 22 million War Veterans with expenditure of about $152 billion a year.2 Still there are many veterans out of service that are receiving supports from various types of organizations. Homeless and drug addicted veterans are still found living on streets in large cities. Many of these returned soldiers are suffering from various types of mental disorders, flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares to name a few, which are commonly known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This type of psychiatric breakdown remains as one of the most disastrous and costly aftermath of wars when expressed in human terms. Wikipedia cited a study on the Costs of War from the Brown University researchers that projected that the cost of caring for veterans of the War on Terror would peak 30–40 years after the end of combat operations. The report further predicts that medical and disability costs would ultimately be between $600 billion and $1 trillion.3

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.

Vietnamerica A Family's Journey is a graphic memoir written and illustrated by GB Tran. GB Tran is a Vietnamese American that grew up distant and indifferent to his family’s history. This story talks about many tragic history of this family and homeland they left behind. One important topic emphasised through the illustrations and words was the Vietnam War and its effect on their family.

An unknown author once said, "Families are like fudge—mostly sweet with a few nuts. My family is the most important aspect to my life. No matter how much they sometimes pester or annoy me I still love them. I do not think people can live through life without the support of family. My family mostly supports me throughout all my actions, and they make me laugh. I do not really think I resemble either my mom or dad. They both had very difficult lives growing up, and I do not think I will ever experience that. Before there was me, there were my parents whose struggle against communism led them to the United States to find the life they deserved.

Line: A lot of people have said hard work beats talent And my argument will show that talent is superior.

It is not easy to define culture because culture is too broad a concept, can be both abstract and specific. However, what is agreed is culture covers all faces of our life as well as direct the way we behave, interact and communicate. (Liu et al., 2011). One popular definition is that “Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, comprising of the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, traditions, religion, and notion of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and geographic territory”. (Liu et al., 2011, p.57). In this essay, I will analyse components and characteristics of culture, and based on that grounds, I will reflect on my own culture-being a Vietnamese. Dodd (1998) considered that culture is made up by three layers which consist of the core layer, the intermediate layer and the outer layer. I will examine what values and beliefs are considered important in my culture. Those are components of the inner core. Then, I will take some examples of the intermediate layer (expression of cultural activities by manifestation) such as communication patterns, customs and festivals.

From this experience volunteering I will hopefully be able to continue tutoring or helping students who are struggling in school. I am going to remember this experience when I am a teacher and be able to pay more attention to the students who are struggling and try my hardest to make sure that no one falls too far behind. I will also make sure that all my students get the help that they need in order to succeed. Overall this experience has taught me a lot and enlightened me with new perspectives from where people come from and their home