Vietnam War: Inside Out And Back Again

Accounts of war always will be documented throughout history, despite the reasoning or significance. War has been brought upon many countries, whether it was country against country or their people against people. In Inside Out & Back Again, we are taken back to Vietnam and are shown many hardships Vietnamese people faced throughout the Vietnam War. Ha, and her family had to leave their country, in order to escape the war between North and South Vietnam. In this journey, the family had to go through suffering as they tried to build themselves back up from the despair the war had brought upon their family. Ha’s experience can be connected to universal refugees because of the suffering they went through while trying to build a better life, and

As they leave their homeland, like Ha and her family, they go through many struggles physically and mentally. As the journey continues, it is filled with despair as families are left behind, famine because of the amount of people in the ship, and crowded spaces. It is said that it was a very hectic time in poem One Mat Each, it states, “Bodies cram every centimeter below deck than every centimeter on deck.” This shows the struggle Ha and her family had to tolerate after fleeing to avoid discrimination in Vietnam. In the poem One Engine in the novel Inside Out & Back Again, it says, “The commander decides the ration is now half a clump of rice only at morning and night, and one cup of water all day.” The poem also stated, “I nibble on the last clump of cooked rice from my sack. Hard and moldy, yet chewy and sweet inside. I chew each grain s-l-o-w-l-y.” Since this ship had more people, the food and water supply exponentially decreased throughout their journey. Since there was less food and water, each person would have to be fed less so the food would last, leading them into food insecurity. As the family arrived at the refugee camp, a tent island called Guam, the majority of the food was expired or “nasty”, therefore many people never ate. This could be proven in the poem Tent

These refugees were then turned “back again” by building up a new life and blending into their new communities. Ha’s family blended into American society in the countryside by learning English, socializing, and going to school while also preserving their Vietnamese traditions. This was said in the poem Neigh Not Hee, it says that she and the cowboy went to the school and filled out registration forms for her to attend. Also, in Spelling Rules, it says, “Sometimes the spelling changes when adding a s. Knife become knives.” This shows Ha learning the rules for English Spelling to better understand the people she is surrounded by. As the family changes themselves to fit into American standards, they are still conserving their Vietnamese traditions. This can be proven in the poems when Mother was chanting for her loved one, Ha’s father, to give him eternal peace. Refugees around the world exceeded their barriers so that their families could have a better lifestyle. As Ha and her family reached Alabama after all of the obstacles they surpassed, they were able to be “back again” with the help of their sponsor, schooling, jobs, and helping