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Description edit
A Vietnamese woman describes her journey from war-torn central Vietnam to the United States, recounting how she endured imprisonment, torture, rape, near-starvation, and the deaths of members of her family. Reprint. Movie tie-in.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Le Ly: Main character, her name means 6th, as she was the 6th child. A woman who grew up in a small border town during the invasion of Vietnam by the French and Americans. She endures endless horrors and watches the war tear her family apart.
- Bon Nghe: Le Ly’s eldest brother. Bon Nghe is Huyen’s favorite child. He spends the duration of the war fighting with the Viet Cong and becomes a Communist Party official after the war. He later settles with his wife and son in Danang. Bon Nghe has the greatest number of reservations about Le Ly’s return visit to Vietnam, but after discussing her intentions, they are able to find a common ground.
- Jimmy (Huang): Le Ly’s oldest son, fathered by Anh. Jimmy is raised by his grandmother while Le Ly works in the souvenir trade business in Danang. When Le Ly returns to Vietnam, Jimmy is attending college. Jimmy and his brothers do not want their mother to return to her homeland.
- Hai: Le Ly’s eldest sister. Hai’s husband leaves to fight with the Viet Cong early in their marriage and is never seen again. She lives in Saigon with her daughter Tinh until her father’s death, when she returns to the family home to tend to the land and the family shrine.
- Mama Du: Add a description of this character.
- Ky La
- Bien
- Paul: The Air force officer who dates and lives with Le Ly. Paul is a Texan, and he and Le Ly share similar views about the importance of land and family. He leaves without notice and is reassigned to the United States.
- Anh: A wealthy businessman for whom Le Ly and her mother work in Saigon. Anh and Le Ly fall in love and have a child. He keeps in touch with her after her move to the United States and acts as her guide when she returns to Vietnam. His relationship with Le Ly is one of deep, familial love, and he seems to regret not being more of a part of her life.
- Bai Gian
- Lien: Anh’s first wife. Lien is wealthy but in very poor health. Le Ly acts as her personal maid but Lien throws Le Ly out when she discovers that Le Ly is carrying Anh’s child.
- Thum
- Sau Ban: The second youngest child. Sau Ban is artistic and caring, and he is Le Ly’s closest friend and playmate when they are young. Soon after his marriage, he is drafted into the Republican forces, despite numerous attempts to join the Viet Cong. After months of no contact with his family, he is presumed dead, although Le Ly never gives up hope of finding him.
- Uncle Luc: A relative of Le Ly’s family. Uncle Luc lives in Ka Ly and is an original supporter of the Viet Cong. He helps Le Ly and her family out of trouble many times.
- Mau
- Loi
- Big Mike: A GI who works on one of the bases. Mike is friendly toward Le Ly. One day, he pimps her to two GIs for $400.
- Khan
- Tuan: The chauffeur during Le Ly’s state-sponsored tour of the countryside. At first he is reserved toward Le Ly, but eventually he opens up and shares his real thoughts on the situation in Vietnam.
- Chin
- Sister Hoa: A black-market profiteer whom Le Ly pays to get her birth certificate and other papers in order to leave the country.
- Thien: Cou Loi’s daughter and Le Ly’s friend. Thien is tortured incessantly by the Viet Cong and eventually disappears.
Quotes edit
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““My little peach blossom - haven’t you learned yet that fate or luck or god works in its own way, and reveals its secrets in its own time? When has it ever paid you to turn your face from life? Keep your faith, Bay Ly: Look those deepest, darkest, most terrible fears in the face and learn the lessons they’ve come to teach -””
In Chapter 6, upon arriving in Danang, Le Ly settles into her hotel and her thoughts turn to the worst. -
“The special gift of suffering, I have learned, is how to be strong while we are weak, how to be brave when we are afraid, how to be wise in the midst of confusion, and how to let go of that which we can no longer hold. In this way, anger can teach us forgiveness, hate can teach us love, and war can teach us peace.”
In the Prologue, Le Ly outlines her intention of writing a memoir about growing up in Vietnam during the war. -
““No,” my father replied sadly, “don’t hate Chin - and don’t hate Ba for marrying him. Hate the war for doing what it did to them both.””
This quotation occurs in Chapter 6, when Trong comforts an enraged Le Ly with these words. -
“If war produces one thing, it's fine cemeteries; and in cemeteries, at least, there are no enemies.”
end of chapter 11
First Sentence edit
For my first twelve years of life, I was a peasant girl in Ky La, now called Xa Hoa Qui, a small village near Danang in Central Vietnam.
Themes & Symbolism edit
- War’s Effect on Identity: Le Ly’s identity transforms numerous times due to the war: from daughter to mother, dependent to provider, country to city girl, Viet Cong spy to black market profiteer. Her father changes from a strong father of six to a single man living alone. Ultimately, he kills himself because he cannot handle this change. Rich men become beggars in the village. Many lose their homes, their farms, their children, and their lives. Farmers become soldiers and children become spies. On her return to Vietnam, Le Ly sees the continuation of the changes: Anh transforms from a rich business man to an impoverished worker, her sisters changes from proud farmers into market vendors, and her brother changes from a friend into a suspicious stranger.
- The Enemy in War Is War Itself: From the beginning of the hostilities, Le Ly’s father tells her that the only true enemy is the war itself. During her experience in the war, Le Ly fights and befriends both the Americans and the Viet Cong. She suffers brutalities from many different fronts: cruel punishment from Republican guards, rape and near death from the Viet Cong, and brutality and degradation from American GIs. She also has positive experiences with all sides, making it difficult for her to determine who was the enemy. With her father’s death, Le Ly begins to truly understand this. By comprehending that war is the enemy, Le Ly is able to forgive those who wrong her and to heal her own war wounds. Her perspective of the war leaves her hopeful and strong, and although she never forgets the atrocities that took place, she is able to forgive and find peace in her own life.
- The Importance of Family Bonds: Le Ly’s relationships with her family—especially her mother and father—inform her beliefs throughout the war and beyond. She and her sisters take care of each other in many ways. Even though there are problems between family members—Ba and Huyen have differences over the gifts, Le Ly and Sau Ban over ideology—the family remains connected. Seeking to reestablish this connection with her family, Le Ly returns to her homeland after an absence of seventeen years. The result of her journey is her discovery that despite war wounds and different life paths, the strength and bond of family is unshakable. The war separates and displaces many families and disconnects people from their ancestors, but at the end, Le Ly finds a deeper connection with her family and draws strength from it.
- Family Network: Throughout her life in Vietnam, Le Ly is connected to and supported by her family. Relatives connected to either the Republican or Communist side help her out of jail; her sisters find her jobs and give her a place to live; her parents provide and care for her. In turn, she cares for and supports her family members when she can. However, the war erodes these familial networks, making family members unable or unwilling to help each other, and infusing fear and mistrust in the family unit. When Le Ly returns to Vietnam, she sees how this mistrust had found a place in her family between herself and her brother, and between her mother and Ba. Still, Le Ly promotes building trust where it had been destroyed. On a small scale, she rebuilds the trust within her own family. On a larger scale, she hopes to re-establish the trust between Vietnam and the United States so that everyone can finally heal from the war.
- Woman Warrior: As a young girl, Le Ly idolizes the legendary female warrior in the stories her father told her. She professes that she too would like to be a warrior, fighting for her country. This desire leads to her involvement with the Viet Cong and, after her exile from the village, her anger and unrest at being unable to fight. The image of the strong female warrior stays with Le Ly through her experiences in Saigon and Danang; in fact, memories of this image encourage her to become involved with the war. However, from the moment that he tells his young daughter the fable of the woman warrior, Trong laughs at Le Ly’s insistence that she can be a woman warrior. Trong tells her that her purpose in this life is not to fight: it is to have a family and raise children to carry on the family traditions.Trong later reiterates this idea when Le Ly again feels anxious to fight. Trong reminds her that Vietnam does not need more people who are ready to fight; rather, it needs people who are willing to live, to find peace and continue the traditions of land and family. Le Ly eventually comes to understand her father’s words. However, she does not give up the image of the woman warrior, but rather, becomes a woman warrior in her own way: instead of fighting with guns and bombs, she fights war with ideas of peace, hate with forgiveness, death of too many civilians and soldiers with the lives of her children. Le Ly reinvents the image of the woman warrior and transforms herself into one.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Le Ly Hayslip (Author)
- Jay Wurts (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1989
ISBN: 0385247583
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1989
ISBN: 0385247583
Page Count: 368
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 959.70438
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