Resilience In On Earth We Re Briefly Gorgeous

How and why does rejection stimulate resilience? “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” introduces the life of Ocean Vuong, under the nickname: “Little Dog”. A Vietnamese American, already with a foreign identity, struggles to be accepted and embraced in his childhood milieu. Little dog, even at a very young age, lacked the familial love that every young child deserves, and consequently suffered from rejection, and the abuse/harassment that followed. His mother beat him, Gramoz rejected him, calling him a freak, at nine, he was bullied on the school bus. The story develops his individual struggle to create his own resilience and self-worth thrive in his life, devoid of any help… until he meets Trevor. The book is not a sob story however, the road

After Little Dog became comfortable with Trevor, he felt that he should also become comfortable with his mother. Vuong states “You stared at the two holes in my face. ‘You don’t have to go anywhere. It’s just you and me, Little Dog. I don’t have anyone else.’ Your eyes were red.” (Part 6). Here, the motif of rejection promotes both resilience and self-worth as without being rejected by his mother for coming out, his mother would have never mentioned how she depends on him, which ultimately raised his sense of self-worth. So while the motif of rejection doesn’t directly promote the development of resilience and self-worth, it does initiate it, like with Trevor, to whom Little Dog seeks as an escape from the relentless rejection he has faced over his lifetime, which even further developed his resilience and self-worth. Furthermore, being rejected by a family member would be a blow to self-esteem and self-worth of many, but Little Dog was able to shrug it off as a sign that it becomes harder to be impacted by something that has happened so often to you. Going to an earlier part in the book: part 4, we come across an example of rejection, not an instance that targets Little Dog, but nevertheless affects him; the rejection of Little Dog’s Mother as valuable in the workforce due to her immigrant status/illiteracy. Vuong states “A new immigrant… with or without citizenship – aching, toxic, and underpaid, I hate and love your battered hands for what they can never be” (Part 4). Although this isn’t directly targeting Little Dog, it certainly fits into the motif of rejection as it is severe negligence, and Little dog takes offense to it. Rejection isn’t just limited to social interaction like shown here, so Little dog’s development of resilience and self-worth manifests itself in a