The Gangster We Are All Looking For Thi Diem Thuy Summary

The Vietnam War in the late 1970s lead many of refugees including children attempting to attain better living condition relative to those in war-torn Vietnam. Escaping from a war torn nation and arriving to America meant getting accustomed to the much different western culture, while simultaneously facing the challenge of retaining your traditions. Le Thi Diem Thuy presents the story, “The Gangster We Are All Looking For,” to demonstrate her struggle as a migrant. Thuy discusses through her first- hand experiences the arduous struggle that was assimilating into American culture. Migration makes it difficult for individuals to adjust to their new American home, but this initial disadvantage is a blessing in disguise because it provides

Le Thi Diem Thuy in her story, “The Gangster We Are All Looking For,” reflects on the narrator’s innocent demeanor by analyzing her actions to understand her own past. Diem’s conflict with adjusting to assimilation in the United States coincides with Helen Morton Lee’s piece, “Ties to the Homeland: Second Generation Transnationalism,” where she argues that the overall influence an individual’s homeland generates a structure that shapes their presence in the new country. Moreover, Thuy’s experiences during her childhood are properly explained in Elena Cohen’s article, “Understanding Children's Exposure to Violence,” which argues that when individuals face traumatic experiences during their childhood that they are more more likely to be emotionally damaged later in their life. The narrator’s desperate search for self-identity affects her after realizing she cannot assimilate well into the new culture. In “The Gangster We Are All Looking For,” Diem Thuy utilizes themes, point of view, and her traumatic childhood to justify the profound shift in tone implemented found throughout the story that describes her shaky and poor emotional