Inside Out And Back Again By Thanhha Lai

Digging Up & Discovering the Theme of Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again

Being a refugee amid the Vietnam War and having to depart your home country to arrive somewhere completely different surely isn’t easy. At least, it wasn’t for Ha in Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai. Young little Ha had to adjust to such a big change in her life. She had to undergo fleeing Vietnam to arrive at the United States, where nothing made sense to her. English has too many rules. The food tastes artificial. Why is everything so different? Ha was left frustrated and confused with the whole kit and caboodle. Although it was a struggle adjusting to the change, Ha managed to tackle it. Change was an important factor in her new life, so she had to deal

So when her typical diet of some sort of meat and rice changes to slimy, fried chicken, it’s hard for her to adjust to that change. While Ha and her family were staying with what they called their “Cowboy” until they could find a place of their own, they were provided with fried chicken in a big bucket as a meal. Of course, the family was initially delighted with the fact that they could munch on some delicious chicken, for they used to kill and cook their own back in Vietnam. But when the first bite is taken, regrets pile onto them like rain from a thunderstorm. It’s slimy, soggy…the complete opposite of what they expected. But they have to adjust to the change. “I bite down on a thigh; might as well bite down on bread soaked in water. Still, I force yum-yum sounds.” This is Ha speaking, adjusting to the change of food by forcing herself. Sometimes, it takes a little push to make an adjustment. All in all, this is another example of “change” being a significant theme taking place in Ha’s

Thus, adjusting to fit the rules is hard for young Ha. It’s a big change, especially since there are many rules, exceptions, and even words that exist in the English language that do not exist in the Vietnamese one. So it is hard for Ha to adjust to this change. In the chapter “Third Rule,” Ha writes, “Why no s for two deer, but an s for two monkeys? Brother Quang says nobody knows. Whoever invented English should be bitten by a snake.” In “Fourth Rule,” she states, “Some verbs switch all over just because…Would be simpler if English and life were logical.” The new change is just so challenging for her. There is another sign of Ha’s frustration with this change of language in “New Word a Day:” “A, an, and the do not exist in Vietnamese and we understand each other just fine.” Ha exclaims. Adjusting to the change of language is difficult for Ha. You may think that she is just lacking intelligence, which some may say is the theme, but you would be incorrect. Ha is an incredibly bright girl, it’s just the struggle of change. On that account, this is exactly why “change” is the theme of this