Inside Out And Back Again By Thanhha Lai

Many refugees have to go through many challenges during their lives. An example of a refugee is Ha and her family from Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. Refugees are people who are forced to leave their homes due to environmental problems or fighting near them. They all have to endure obstacles and overcome challenges. Ha is a ten year old girl who must leave her country due to the Vietnam War. She has had challenges to overcome during her transition to America. The challenges that she must overcome are the same ones other refugees usually most combat. This is called the universal refugee experience. Once challenge is that most refugees usually leave their belongings behind as they leave their homes. Another challenge that most refugees

Even Ha, from Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai had to leave her belongings behind, “…once choice. I choose my doll, once lent to a neighbor who left it outside, where mice bit her left cheek and right thumb.” In that quote, Ha can only bring one possession of her choice with her. She chooses her doll, which is a symbol of her suffering from the impacts of the Vietnam War. She wasn’t allowed to bring anything else with her. There have also been other refugees that have had the same problem as Ha, but they occurred in real life. In “Forgotten Ship Transcript,” “These people were coming out of there with nothing – whatever they had in their pockets or hands.” This quote relates to the universal refugee experience because the people arriving at the ship are coming with little or no items. Many had to leave most of their belongings behind. This could be connected back to Ha’s situation. Both the refugees on the ship and Ha must face the challenge of leaving possessions behind. They both also have to bring little with them as they leave. Both the people on the ship and Ha bring possessions that they feel are most important. For Ha, it’s her doll; for the people on the ship, it’s usually money or flakes of gold. Leaving possessions behind is one of the challenges that most refugees must

Ha from Inside Out and Back Again and her family had an easy way to escape. “This door bypasses the navy checkpoint and leads straight to the port.” This quote shows that the back door of Ha’s house leads right to an alley that leads to a port. Ha and her family were lucky to be living right next to a port. It bypasses the navy checkpoint, so she doesn’t have to worry about confronting the navy. All refugees in real life must find a way to escape their home country. From “Panic Rises in Saigon,” “Under South Vietnam’s stringent emigration law, about the only legal way for a citizen to go abroad since the Communist offensive began last month is to be married to a foreigner.” This quote shows that escaping South Vietnam is hard. The only way to escape at that time was to be married with a foreigner. Other refugees have had an easier time leaving their countries, such as Ha and her family. They could leave illegally sometimes if they are careful enough. This connects back to Ha’s situation. Both Ha and the people of South Vietnam had to think of a way to escape Vietnam. Ha could just bypass the navy, but the others have to marry a foreigner to leave. These are examples of refugees escaping their