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Spoken Language In Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do

1407 Words6 Pages

Remotely Spoken Language
Thi Bui is an Asian American author who has produced a work of note in American literature drawing from her Asian descent. Asian literature is rich with stories from experiences from the past and ideas as expressions of unspoken thought. Thi Bui’s illustrated memoir, The Best We Could Do, traces her parents’ history of their refugee experiences. The narrative and illustrations in this book form one of the great examples of Asian American Literature. Throughout the story, Bui uses her flashbacks as a medium for telling her parents’ story and experiences in how they immigrated to the United States as refugees. Thi Bui sought to understand her father what reasons he harbored as to why he did not want to go back to Vietnam or even visit his parents there. She wanted to know why her father didn’t want to go back to Vietnam to visit his father, his Bo. Bui’s family revealed a dynamic in which there was little communication between the parents and their kids, especially regarding their past relationships, histories, and feelings. Bui’s house and her parents’ and siblings’ houses were close to each other, yet there yet the interaction between them was seriously lacking to nonexistent. …show more content…

He kept these inside him for years and was unwilling to share his memories or open up his feelings of his childhood trauma. Thi Bui expresses her curiosity about her parents’ history, especially her father’s, regarding what he became and what in turn may have also influenced or shaped her to become what she is now. Traditionally and culturally speaking, Asian immigrant families in America are not outspoken about their past, they keep their traditions alive, and they are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the younger

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