Genre
Autobiography
Setting and Context
Set in 1975 in Vietnam and San Jose.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is wretched, and the tone is gloomy.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The central character is Viet Thanh Nguyen, and the antagonist is the Americans.
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between Nguyen and the Americans who perpetrated the Vietnam War.
Climax
The climax comes when Nguyen visits his hometown, Ban Mê Thuột, in Vietnam for the first time after fleeing the country when he was four.
Foreshadowing
The shooting of Nguyen's parents foreshadowed his hatred for the Americans.
Understatement
Nguyen understates the risks of aging when he says his parents will forget their past problems. However, as his parents grow older, the wounds of their painful past start reopening.
Allusions
n/a
Imagery
The description of the violent Vietnamese films shows how the Americans plotted to kill Vietnamese people for their selfish interests.
Paradox
The primary paradox in the memoir is that America makes promises that it secretly breaks. For instance, America promises to rebuild Vietnam, but behind the scenes, it plots how to destroy the country.
Parallelism
There is a parallelism between the incident involving the shooting of Nguyen’s parents and the violent scenes in the Vietnamese films he watches.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
n/a
Personification
The author personifies the Vietnam War as futile and brutal to innocent citizens.
