The Best We Could Do By Thi Bui

Karma Hilbert

Reclamation of Identity “The Best We Could Do” is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Thi Bui, in which she tells her family’s refugee story. She begins by sharing about her parent’s life before the Vietnam War, introducing her birth. From there she recounts their experience escaping Vietnam, becoming refugees, and migrating to the United States. She came to create this memoir through her curiosity about her parent’s experiences. It encompasses truth and emphasizes countermemory as it retells the stories of one of many refugees from the Vietnam War. Bui tells a story of a major transition- becoming a refugee. With this transition comes the idea of an internal war of trying to fit in and discovering one’s identity. Throughout

While in the beginning of the novel, Bui had learned of her mother’s experience in Vietnam and giving birth, she had yet to resonate with her and the label, “refugee”. In the final chapter of “The Best We Could Do,” Bui rediscovers her mothers past. She begins to look back at her memories, but now through a different lens. In this chapter, Bui tells of how giving birth led her to a deeper understanding of who her mother was and what had influenced her approach to life. She looks back at her life and actions through her mother’s perspective. Bui shares that,“The first week of parenting was the hardest week of [her] life. [...] However, much [her] body wanted to rest, a force pulled [her] onto [her] feet with the clear and simple directive- ‘KEEP HIM ALIVE’” (322). Bui utilizes capitalization to emphasize that in becoming a mother, keeping her son safe was most important to her and was her motivation to keep going. This mirrors her mother’s experience being a mother through the war and displacement. Through this shift in priorities, Bui then grows to understand two things of her mother. First being how keeping one’s children alive can be the biggest motivator even despite the challenges her mother had faced. And the second being why her parents would close off the bad memories and instead become an

It, “concluded that ‘the sense of not belonging and not knowing their roots intensified the identity crisis that normal adolescents experience.’” (160). Despite the significant parental goal of trying to make their families fit in, it hadn’t worked. Instead, erasing memories and creating new identities had led children to feel different and isolated. It highlights the difference in the generational lens on the importance of memory and identity. Identity to the parents was something for survival- should logically make them fit in. Yet to the children, its more about connecting with family and knowing their roots. However, in learning about Bui’s experience of becoming a mother, it suggests that by growing up, children are able to understand their parents better. They begin to realize that it was for their own survival that their identity was recreated. Just like their identity was rebuilt for survival by their parents, they must utilize counter-memory to rebuild