The best we could do to decipher

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 This is the story of two timelines: Thi Bui and her family and the history of her parents.

The average reader of such a book only sees the story of a family going and learning a new life. But to us, we see more than that. The cultural background of the comic depicts so much more than something a play or book can show us. 

This is also an element we learned this week, that some forms of content can provide information better than others, the colors throughout the comic so far have shown us a great deal of its cultural significance and not just that, but how it bleeds into other parts of the book. This is seen at the end of chapter 1 where we see the color orange bleed into the beginning of chapter 2, just a reminder that chapter one was Thi giving birth to her child and chapter 2 was the learning of responsibilities as a mother. 

From my limited information on the life of immigrants or at least legal immigrants, it's seen that respect and following the orders or directions of parents is something that is required and not asked of. These are all the things that I related to, Thi's depiction of her life is something that culturally represents America, the freedom to do whatever they want to go where, like how we see her sister leave their home and to live with her boyfriend, which was something her mother was disgusted by and leading her down a horrible path of guilt and regret. 

Other topics such as the medical scene within Vietnam and America are seen, but related very closely, however vastly different. Adding on, the war scene was also depicted through the views of many people and the destruction that it brought upon Vietnam and their family, which we see later on was what shaped Bo into the man he is today, abusive, rude, and unempathetic 

Comments

  1. ToroNovember 17, 2024 at 5:12 PM

    I love how you brought up the aspect of colors within this graphic novel. The artistic choices made by the artist are no different than the stylistic choices made by an author. I think the inescapable presence of red has shown that the past bloodshed has bled into the present moment. Experiences that linger in the back of mind, as much as we try not to think about them.

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