ipl-logo

Thanhha Lai's Newbery Honor Book 'Inside Out & Back Again'

541 Words3 Pages

George Bird Miss Toone ELA 8B, Per. 6 8 February 2024 Inside Out & Back Again: Hà's Transformation Within Thanhha Lai's Newbery Honor book Inside Out & Back Again, the main character (Hà's) growth goes hand-in-hand with the state of her papaya plant. Beginning with what's stated on page 2, she wishes to take care of her papaya plant to the point where it produces many fruits (Lai 2). This signifies that she is looking forward to what the future has in store for her, and she is looking forward to what is yet to come. Next, she is first to witness her papaya ripen as a 10-year-old, while brothers Khoi and Vu (who are more grounded and established) see flowers blooming up along with fruits at the trunk, and are ahead of Hà in terms of age and intellect. …show more content…

This represents how Hà's older brothers will always be at least eight years older than Hà, eight years further, taller, and ahead. Many of the things her brothers experience as they get older, Hà will experience as well, as she progresses through her cognitive development, just as they did. Later stated within the pages, her papaya tree sprouts promising fruit (Lai 21). This also represents how she is maturing into an older individual, and moreover, she later finds herself even more clinging to the trunk (Lai 41). Afterward, Brother Vu chops down her papaya plant (Lai 60). This marks the point at which she realizes that her life is taking a drastic turn in a direction she didn't anticipate. When she is aboard the ship to the United States and she receives her food ration, it reminds her of papaya fruit (Lai 78). This coincides with how she misses her old life back in Vietnam, and although getting a bite to eat may sound simple, it is enough to remind her of good times. To clarify, she loves daydreaming about snacks (Lai 81). Meanwhile, once she makes it to the land of opportunity, she does not feel that she belongs there (195). She receives dried papaya from Miss Washington, and it is not the same (Hai

Show More
Related
1065 Words | 5 Pages

Starting with Okita’s poem, the little girl who writes the letter explains that she calls tomatoes “love apples”. She wanted to pack some tomato seeds away for the trip to the internment camp, but “[her] father says where [they’re] going they won’t grow” (Okita 520). Her father does not mean that the soil is not rich enough to farm, but that in a place built from hatred a “love apple” could not possibly grow. When the protagonist returns to school her friend Denice is rotten to her because of the new views she has really been taught. Knowing this, the protagonist gives her a pack of tomato seeds and tells her friend “when the first tomato ripens [you’ll] miss me” (Okita 520).

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

This signifies that she is looking forward to what the future has in store for her, and she is looking forward to what is yet to come. Next, she is first to witness her papaya ripen as a 10-year-old, while brothers Khoi and Vu (who are more grounded and established) see flowers blooming up along with fruits at the trunk, and are ahead of Hà in terms of age and

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

“Star Food” Symbolic Analysis “What is my purpose in life? Who should I take advice from and who should I not?” If you have asked yourself these questions, congratulations, you are human! Every human since the dawn of time has reflected on these questions. In the short story “Star Food” by Ethan Canin, the main character, Dade, finds himself asking these questions after a recent shoplifting development in his parent’s grocery store, A middle-aged woman stole small bits of food from the store, like a stale loaf of bread and artificial pineapple juice.

Read More
956 Words | 4 Pages

On page 9 it states,’’ I vow to rise every morning…….. I will be the first to witness its ripening.’’ That show’s the reader that she believes the papaya will grow until it is big and strong and she know’s that that tree is not going to die because she is going to watch it grow every morning. She is expecting her tree to grow so she has hope.

Read More
217 Words | 1 Pages

Jocelyn Fong, an Asian American who wrote the essay “Rice for Thanksgiving”, examines her family’s tradition of eating rice for Thanksgiving and how it represents how she feels in her everyday life. She begins the essay by explaining how the tradition started, but then she relates it to her struggles of trying to maintain her Chinese identity while living in a non-Chinese culture. Fong states that she believes that she is “rice and gravy”. She uses “rice and gravy” as a metaphor for herself.

Read More
298 Words | 2 Pages

Varinder Dhindsa T00602866 English 1100 – 08 Dr. Yaying Zhang Summary: ‘From Outside, In' In ‘From Outside, In' Barbara Mellix discusses her experience of learning standard English and presents how this experience disclosed a plethora of possibilities to her. Mellix although at first struggled with standard English but later found herself obsessed with learning it and strived to master this language and this lead her to fathom the "generative power of language.''(267) Mellix starts the article by explaining the difference in situations where she used Black-English or Standard-English. She points out that Black-English was used with close friends or with family and relatives whereas Standard-English was used to converse with strangers or white

Read More
293 Words | 2 Pages

In Barbara Mellix literacy narrative “From Outside, In”, she took us through her life as an outsider to eventually getting in. A young Mellix, along with her family developed public personas that spoke standard English. In public, Barbara's enunciation, articulation and grammar changed dramatically from how she spoke at home. She felt uncomfortable when she puts on this persona and felt like she was basically betraying herself. After couple years of putting on this front she became this front.

Read More
620 Words | 3 Pages

They are delicate and soft. The flowers signify the youth and fun of the girl. It could also signify the season of life the young girl is in. The background is green and flowers are available, meaning it is spring or summer. This season is for new things to bloom and happiness is created for the girl.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

Nothing feels as liberating as lifting the heavy binders that tie your spirit down- or keep your highly treasured hair in place. At least this is how it felt for the protagonist, Janie, as she embarked on a long journey toward self fulfillment. In “Their Eyes Were Watching God’, by Zora Neale Hurston, the author uses symbols such as flowers and a head rag to contribute to the meaning of the work that in order to live a fulfilling life, one must cease to live in accordance with other people’s ideals and instead pursue freedom and happiness for oneself. In the novel, flowers are used to symbolize maturity and becoming a woman.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

To her the plant represents home, it represents what it used to feel like back home. I know this because in the story it states "a wave of loss so deep and strong that it stung Saeng's eyes ow sewpt over her, a blink a channel switch a boat

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

This transformation from a seedling into a sap is clear when she agrees to feed the starving man her breast milk without a second thought, despite the tragedy she just went through. Rose and her family refuse to slip into despair with the death of the baby, as well as the death of many other family members, and

Read More
1492 Words | 6 Pages

To what extent does food as a motif represent structure and bonds among characters in the novel? Paradise Of The Blind, written by Duong Thu Huong tells the story of a young Vietnamese girl in the 1980s. As Hang travels to Moscow by train she recounts her life experiences and contemplates on her past during the corrupt communist reign. The novel describes events through Hang’s perspective and illustrates her childhood memories using various motifs. Particularly, food is used as the most recurring and notable motif.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

Over time, she feels like it's her fault they are in America because she was the one that tapped her big toe on the floor first mother reassures her that is just superstition. Soon near the end of this novel she gets dried papaya she is so enraged about how “chewy sugary waxy sticky’ it is that she throws it out because she believes it is not the same, her mother demands she tries it but she doesn’t want the dried papaya ’s she wants the ones she had back at Vietnam.

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

Another quote from the novel is on page 9 when Ha describes, “The green fruit shaped like a lightbulb.” This is important because it gets Ha interested and satisfied in the papaya shaped like a lightbulb. In conclusion, the similes show Ha’s personality and her connection with papayas.

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

This shows her difficulty with English and how frustrating it was to learn it. When Ha and her family lived in Saigon, they had very nice furniture and dishes, now she has different coloured furniture and mismatched dishes, and she doesn't like it very well. ¨ What I don't love: pink sofas, green chairs, plastic cover on a table, stained mattress, old clothes, unmatched dishes. ¨ (Pg 126, Lai) Ha has strong feelings about her new house, and not all are happy.

Read More

More about Thanhha Lai's Newbery Honor Book 'Inside Out & Back Again'

Open Document