The Latehomecomer, Part I (continued)

From Christina Dao:

"When they reached the compound, they noticed the wire fence, as tall as two men standing on each other's shoulders.  They were told to get out of the bus and enter the gates.  My family hesitated before the entrance; they had escaped from one country and had not expected to be captives in the next.  My father's feet stilled.  A Thai soldier punched him and he fell to the ground.  The man kicked him.  My father got up as fast as he could.  Not to hit the man back, but because he did not want my mother and grandmother to see him on the ground.  My father looked at the man and did nothing." (44)

Why did he punch him?

From Christen Kinsman:

"On March 5, 1979, in the early morning hours, my mother gave birth to my sister Dawb, the Hmong word for white.  To have pale skin in a life lived outside was a valuable quality then, a sign of beauty in a culture dominated by sun-tarnished skin.  An aunt said that Dawb would be a good name for a little girl who was born beautiful in an enemy camp.  It did not cross any of their minds that dawb was also the color of surrender.  If anyone had remembered that white was the color of the flag that had danced in my grandmother's hands, maybe my sister would have received a name that she would have liked better.  When Dawb was born, my mother did not receive the friend she had wanted, but someone who needed her love desperately." (30)

What does this passage say about what colors mean?

From Joshua Bendanillo:

"An expression on one man's face is the memory my mother and father both carry, even twenty-five years after the fact: it was only a look, but it said that we were not human, too poor to walk on the earth.  It was in that image of that Thai man with his red-and-white turban wrapped around his head, looking at them making their way into his country, that my mother and father learned what it meant to be poor, to be without a home or clothing to hide in." (43)

What was the significance of that glance at that moment that they realized they were poor?  The power behind a look or glance?

The Latehomecomer, Prologue and Part I

From Janice Sapigao:

This question refers to the following quotation:  "As they approached the outskirts of the village, my mother started to worry.  She wanted her pack back.  What if there were Hmong people inside the camp?  What if people started thinking bad things about her character?  She was a prisoner but also a married woman.  She knew why he was carrying her bag" (24-25).

Why did she know why he was carrying her bag?

From Jenny Kim:

"The young woman slowly unleashed the flood of Hmong into language, seeking refuge not for a name or a gender, but a people" (4).

What does this quotation from the end of the prologue mean?

Introductions

Please write a few sentences in the comments section below to introduce yourself to the class.

Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai's "Making Guacamole"

What are three words in the poem that jump out at you? - Sherwin