40 pages • 1-hour read
Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey
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Symbols & Motifs
Suitcases
GB uses the suitcase in early chapters to symbolize the loss of one’s home and the fear of violence. In retelling his grandmothers’ forced migrations, GB depicts close-ups of suitcases, hastily packed and securely shut. Thi Mot abandons Lang Son, and Le Nhi twice evacuates from My Tho. Both women fear for the safety of their family and are forced to leave “the only homes they ever knew” (45). As young children, Tri Huu and Dzung Chung look on in apprehension and confusion, as their flights indicate the dangers that surround them and the uncertainty of their security. Dzung Chung narrates, “Like millions of Vietnamese that meant leaving everything behind and feeling the volatile North. Even though we had no idea where we’d end up” (44). As adults, Dzung Chung and Tri Huu are again forced to leave their homeland out of fear of the new regime. The couple re-experiences the panic, uncertainty, and fear of their childhood and leaves most of their possessions behind. Dzung Chung explains, “There wasn’t any time. That last night in Vietnam, we just stuffed things into a suitcase” (155). The suitcase represents the cycle of displacement that the family and other Vietnamese people experienced during the two Indochina Wars. As refugees, they’re exiled from their homeland, and not until 20 years later do they return. In these returns, the suitcase transforms into a symbol of mobility and cosmopolitanism and reflects the changing identity and transnationalism of the Vietnamese diaspora.
Storage Boxes
The storage boxes in the Tran family’s home represent memory and the preservation or burying of the past. They transfer the contents of the suitcases, vestiges of the homeland, to storage boxes that Tri Huu disperses around their US home. GB’s portrayal of Tri Huu’s relationship with the objects is ambiguous. Despite his coarse exterior, Tri Huu saves items of sentimental value like blank canvases, his father’s canteen, and old photos of Leonard and Do. He stores these painful reminders of his art, father, and friendships in boxes that symbolize a mixture of preservation and repression. The items are contained and hidden, buried deep in the clutter of their garage and stairwells, yet Tri Huu can’t bear to throw them out, revealing a deep attachment to the past.
Both Dzung Chung and GB discover forgotten items in their own storage boxes, and their actions symbolize the act of remembering and discovery. For Dzung Chung, the discovery of a necklace, her engagement gift, reminds her that the boxes contain more than just “old junk and clutter” (141). Likewise, GB tosses his father’s book on the Vietnam War, a graduation gift, into a storage box and forgets about it. Later, as an adult, rediscovering the book gives him the impetus to join his family on the journey to Vietnam, learn about his roots, and create his own book about his family.
Trees and Roots
Throughout the memoir, references to trees and roots symbolize lineage and a connection to one’s origins. Before their trip to Vietnam for her mother’s memorial, Dzung Chung repeatedly dreams about a tree from her original home in Lang Son. Once she’s there, the old neighborhood brings back joyful memories of her childhood, and GB illustrates her transportation back in time by drawing his mother getting younger and younger until she’s a child again. The spell is broken when Dzung Chung discovers that the courtyard and the tree have been cleared, an abrupt reminder of how her family was forced to evacuate the North to seek safety. Although the literal tree no longer exists, Dzung Chung’s ties to Vietnam have remained strong in the symbolic family tree. The following splash page is a full panel that depicts a tree with Thi Mot’s name at the trunk and various family members’ names at the roots. Below the roots is Thi Mot with her extended family encircling her, laughing and celebrating (62). Even though the landmarks of Vietnam have changed or have been destroyed, Dzung Chung remains connected to her homeland through her family ties.
Another tree of significance is the one Tri Huu and GB visit at a Buddhist Temple in Vung Tau. Tri Huu explains, “Monks carried a cutting of its root all the way from India, replanted it here, and built this temple around it […] Generation after generation have sat in its shade in pursuit of Enlightenment” (9). The legend of the bodhi tree alludes to how the Vietnamese diaspora has maintained their heritage in new soil.
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