Inside Out And Back Again Analysis

Children make up half of the 21 million refugees universally (Figures at a Glance). A refugee is a person that has been forced from their home due to war, persecution, or natural disaster. Refugee children endure many traumas such as: loss, stress, prolonged stays in refugee camps, dangerous escapes, violence, and even cases of rape and murder. The horrors these children experience leads to a struggle to find their identity.F This can be vividly seen in the novel, Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, by a ten-year-old girl named Ha. Ha is living in Saigon during the Vietnam War. When South Vietnam is seized by the communists, Ha and her family have no choice but to flee and leave behind the memories of her Father. While on a navy mission,

Language barriers, relationship loss, bullying and racism are a few ways this can happen to a child. An example of a language barrier is when Ha states, “I’m sure I said it right, but the butcher sharpens his face, slams down our meat, and motions us away… The butcher turns away without a word” (Lai 217-218). Ha asks the butcher at a grocery store to grind their meat, and at first he refuses and treats them disrespectfully. The butcher proves just how powerful language can be. When refugees come to a new country, the language is completely foreign to them. This makes adapting to the culture difficult. Next, many refugee children are tortured in their new schools. For example, in the novel Inside Out and Back Again, when Ha is in Alabama and gets the privilege of going to school, she is bullied cruelly. The other children think she looks different so they are vicious toward her. Ha hears wicked words said to her, “Pink Boy keeps asking, What are you? By the end of school he yells an answer. She should be a pancake. She has a pancake face. It doesn’t make sense until it does,” (Lai 196) when Ha first hears these words she does not know what they mean. Later, when she realizes that they are being racist and cruel by calling her a pancake face, Ha begins to feel self conscious, and it makes her doubt her self confidence and the way she looks. Further, when refugees are forced to their new country, they

As Ha spends more time in Alabama, she is regains her confidence back, “I go to the board, chalk the answer in five moves,”(Lai 187). When Ha’s bully and classmates were having a hard time with a math problem, Ha goes to the chalkboard and gets it done in five moves. Ha is finally gaining her confidence back to face the bullying that is being thrown at her. Then, Ha is developing relationships with her teacher and peers, “I don’t believe her but it feels good that someone knows,” (Lai 182). Ha is now starting to develop a relationship with her teacher. She is relieved that someone else understands how she feels. Now Ha’s teacher has become a good advocate for her in the future. This is a good indicator that her life is returning to normal. Do the one where she rips off the horse on her dress. “When the butcher returns, he hears a lot of Vietnamese in a voice stern and steady from eyes even more so. Mother ends with a clear, NOW!” (Lai 218). When Ha’s mother is segregated by the butcher, she uses her power of language to yell at him in Vietnamese. Eventually, he grinds their meet for them. This shows how Ha’s life is turning back