Inside Out & Back Again

INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN

By Thanhha Lai

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Lai, Thanhha. (2011). INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 978-
       0-545-50897-1.

PLOT SUMMARY:

Inside Out & Back Again is a novel in verse consisting of four parts, detailing the year that Há and her family were forced to flee their beloved homeland of Vietnam for a strange new life in Alabama. Part I: Saigon tells of her life with her brothers and mother as they live life not knowing the fate of their father who disappeared many years before. It also describes their plans and fear as they escape the communist take-over of Saigon. Part II: At Sea details the deprivation and hardship the family endures aboard a navy ship bound for Guam and eventually for the United States. Part III: Alabama tells of Há’s new life in America and the difficulties she and her family have learning English and adjusting to this strange and foreign environment. Part IV: From Now On leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the future as Há and her family make friends, adjust, leave their old life behind, and embrace the coming New Year, but tinged with a sense of sadness for what was left behind and for the father who did not return from the war.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

The novel begins in Saigon in 1975. It is Tết, February 11, the first day of the lunar calendar. Há’s mother visits the I Ching Teller of Fate (p.4). Every new year Mother visits/the I Ching Teller of Fate./This year he predicts/our lives will twist inside out. This is where we begin to see the desperate situation that faces this family.  On page 11, Há’s best friend TiTi is fleeing Vietnam with her family. Her brother explains: They’re heading to Vững Tấu,/he says,/where the rich go/to flee Vietnam/on cruise ships. On page 12 we learn of Há’s father who disappeared on a navy mission nine years before. Há’s mother prepares an altar for him, offering fruit, incense, tuberoses, and rice and chants for his return. By March 21, the Americans have gone, the communists are close to taking Saigon, the prices of daily necessities have gone up, and the sound of bombs in the distance fills the night (p.18). By April 17 Mother and brothers Quang, Khôi, and Vu have decided that they must leave Vietnam. Family members have made arrangements for passage out of Vietnam (p.44-45).

The Fall of Saigon occurs on April 30. Part II of the novel describes the plight of the Vietnamese refugees. They are crammed into tight spaces with very little food or water and have to use the bathroom over the side of the ship. On page 88, the food rations have been reduced to ½ a clump of rice twice a day and only 1 cup of water per day. It isn’t until May 24 that an American ship arrives with fruit, water, noodles, biscuits, canned fish and more! They arrive in Guam on May 28 and live in a tent city (p.96).  What makes it all more bearable is the arrival of cases of fish sauce. Someone/should be kissed/for having the heart/to send cases of fish sauce/to Guam (p. 100).  Tellingly, it is on July 4 that the family must choose which country to make their home. Mother’s first choice is France, while others go to Canada, but Mother’s mind is changed when someone whispers: Choose America,/more opportunities there,/especially for a family/with boys ready to work (p.106).

They arrive in Florida and live in another tent city until they are sponsored by an American. They watch as other families leave for different homes. It isn’t until Mother puts “Christians” on their application that they finally find a sponsor (p.108).  Part III: Alabama details the difficulties the family has adjusting to their new home, strange ways, strange food, learning English. On page 123, Há relates just one of the humorous episodes of trying to learn English, She choose-s/He refuse-s/ I’m getting better/at hissing/no longer spitting/on my forearms. The most laugh-out-loud scene is on page 129 as Há attempts to read and understand the sentence Jane sees Spot run. She looks up each word in the dictionary:

Jane: not listed
sees: to eyeball something
Spot: a stain
run: to move really fast
Meaning: __________eyeballs stain move.

Another example of the difficulty of learning another language and not understanding a culture is on page 134, To make it worse/the cowboy explains/horses here go/neigh,neigh,neigh,/not hee, hee, hee. No they don’t./ Where am I?  

She endures nonstop bullying and teasing from her classmates and has to resort to eating candy in the bathroom during lunch time. One side of the cafeteria is for white students and the other side is for black students. So, where does she fit in with her black hair and olive skin?  Both laughing, chewing,/as if it never occurred/to them/someone medium/would show up (p. 143).  She is prodded by her teacher to recite the ABCs and the 123s and the class claps at her accomplishment.  But she is angry and humiliated: I’m furious,/unable to explain/I already learned/ fractions/and how to purify/river water./ So this is/ what dumb/feels like (p.157). The teacher, with no malice intended, shows the class gruesome images of the Vietnam War to tell about where Há is from. There is so much more to the country and the people. What about the lush beauty, the papaya trees, the traditions and holidays? Há, feeling so despondent and out of place says, No one would believe me/but at times/I would choose/wartime in Saigon/over/peacetime in Alabama (p.195).

Part IV: From Now On highlights the need for the family to let go of their old life and accept the loss of their father and husband. Há begins to build a new life and make friends. Her Mother has brought a tin of flower seeds that Há and TiTi gathered in Vietnam. It now becomes the perfect gift for her new American friend “Pem” (p.246).  Finally, the new year of 1976 begins, the Year of the Dragon. Mother predicts the coming year: Our lives/will twist and twist,/intermingling the old and the new/until it doesn’t matter/which is which (p.257).

 

AWARDS:

National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner 2011

Newbery Honor Book 2012

REVIEWS:

Booklist Starred Review: “After her father has been missing in action for nine years during the Vietnam War, 10-year-old Hà flees with her mother and three older brothers. Traveling first by boat, the family reaches a tent city in Guam, moves on to Florida, and is finally connected with sponsors in Alabama, where Hà finds refuge but also cruel rejection, especially from mean classmates. Based on Lai’s personal experience, this first novel captures a child-refugee’s struggle with rare honesty. Written in accessible, short free-verse poems, Hà’s immediate narrative describes her mistakes—both humorous and heartbreaking—with grammar, customs, and dress (she wears a flannel nightgown to school, for example); and readers will be moved by Hà’s sorrow as they recognize the anguish of being the outcast who spends lunchtime hiding in the bathroom. Eventually, Hà does get back at the sneering kids who bully her at school, and she finds help adjusting to her new life from a kind teacher who lost a son in Vietnam. The elemental details of Hà’s struggle dramatize a foreigner’s experience of alienation. And even as she begins to shape a new life, there is no easy comfort: her father is still gone.”

Publishers Weekly Starred Review: “The taut portrayal of Hà’s emotional life is especially poignant as she cycles from feeling smart in Vietnam to struggling in the States, and finally regains academic and social confidence. An incisive portrait of human resilience.”

Kirkus Reviews Starred Review: “The taut portrayal of Hà’s emotional life is especially poignant as she cycles from feeling smart in Vietnam to struggling in the States, and finally regains academic and social confidence. An incisive portrait of human resilience.”

CONNECTIONS:

The author reading from the novel in verse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEkjwu2WEIA

Vietnam  for  kids: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/vietnam/

http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/vietnam

Vietnam War for kids: http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry?id=VietnamW

Author information: http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=36544