Almost in Paradise

Chapter 11

Term: argument

Le Ly begins working at the hospital in Danang in chapter eleven. She is thrilled to be working here because the staff at the hospital is very kind and she has a sense of self satisfaction in the work she is doing. " As good as I felt about being able to support my mother and son through honest wages, I felt even better about doing so in a way that helped other people and hurt no one in the process." Le Ly had said these words after she had been working in the hospital for only a day. However, after a few more days Le Ly had noticed that one of the Vietnamese administrator's was showing an interest in Le Ly, and she was not interested in him at all. Thankfully, one of her colleagues, Red, was able to get her moved to a different part of the hospital. Red began to show an interest in Le Ly also, and Le Ly was a little bit unsure of Red at first, but she began to have feelings for him. After seeing Red for awhile, he had gotten Le Ly to quit her job at the hospital and get a job as a dancer for a night club. Le Ly did not want to do this job and she left Red. Now Le Ly was unemployed and lonely. When Le Ly trusted Red the way that she did, she was doing something that would have normally been outside of her comfort zone; consequently, she was hurt when her relationship with Red ended. In fact, their relationship ended with an argument. This argument involved Red calling Le Ly names and this particularly hurt Le Ly, but she was glad to be out of Red's control and back into a world where she was comfortable. 

Getting in an argument is something that everyone has done. Sometimes relationships are broken because of arguments. When I read this chapter, I thought of how some people hold grudges after arguments, and they should not do that if they ever want to mend broken relationships. However, people need to know the kind of relationships that could get them in trouble later. Le Ly knew that Red was trouble so she abandoned the relationship.