Losing Love

Chapter 5

Term: mood

As chapter five opens, Le Ly is older, this is during her travels as a tourist. She has a pedicab driver drive her to Anh's house to visit him after she moved to America and raised their son. As she anxiously awaits her reunion, the book goes back to Le Ly's pregnancy times. It did not take Le Ly's mother long at all to realize her daughter was pregnant. Lien had caught Le Ly praying in front of their family portraits. Since her son was a part of their family, she wanted to praise the ancestors. Le Ly had been pregnant for three months at this point, and Lien was not going to have Le Ly live in her house anymore. Anh was going to send a check every month until the baby was born in order to financially support Le Ly's medical expenses.    

In the part of the book that takes place more recently, when Le Ly is an adult, Le Ly has finally arrived at Anh's house. The house is a little run down and Anh is no longer with Lien. He is with Yen, his third wife. (Le Ly was considered his second wife.) As they catch up, Le Ly shows him pictures of their son. Anh is quite pleased with his college education he will be earning. Anh drives Le Ly back to her hotel and after their chat, Le Ly realizes something about her relationship with Anh. She realizes that her relationship with Anh was like the relationship between a brother and a sister. Which reminds her of her older brother Sau Ban. She was particularly close with Sau Ban because he was the youngest boy of the family and the one to leave home before Le Ly. Sau Ban had always spoiled Le Ly in many ways. He would always help her with her chores and make sure she was never in trouble. As Sau Ban had grown up, the Viet Cong was going to come and begin choosing people to be a part of the Viet Cong. Sau Ban had been chosen to be a part of the Viet Cong. In the war, many of the soldiers that were never heard of again were often assumed missing, never to return, or dead. When the family had not heard from Sau Ban in awhile, they had assumed he was dead. Later on, relatives had confirmed Sau Ban had died in the war. This loss was very hard for Le Ly because she was so close with Sau Ban. The mood during this chapter was saddening at parts, particularly when Sau Ban had died. The family was now worried that their father was the only man left in the family. In this chapter particularly, I could sense the mood of Le Ly as she wrote this. She knew that she could not let the death of her beloved brother get to her. She had to keep the memories close and her head held high. She learned a difficult lesson at a young age. Even though the events happening in her life were difficult to cope with, she coped with them and made the most out of her lost love.