Power on Earth

Chapter 10

Term: anecdote

Le Ly decides that she will leave Vietnam in Chapter ten. This decision was not easy for her to make because she wanted to keep her son safe, but she also wanted to make sure that her mother would be taken care of by her older sisters. Le Ly had earned about four hundred American dollars one day from a man who had been dubbed the name "Big Mike." He had helped her get the money by pleasing GI soldiers who were about to return home. Le Ly was not pleased with her actions at this point in her life, but she knew the money would help her family in more ways than she could imagine. Later on, Le Ly realized that she would need to get a better job in order to have a legitimate reason for earning so much money. She had received a job at the hospital in Danang.

After Le Ly's reunion with her mother was cut short on the account of Bon Nghe's exit, Le Ly and Anh had to make it back to the hotel for a metting at a restaurant with party officials, Xa and Long. The purpose of the meeting is for Xa and Long to figure our where the Vietnamese people in the States feel about the socialist republic. Le Ly's response would be classified as an anecdote: "Most of them are still hurt and angry. They are ho khong chap nhan che do cong san-they cannot accept their country under communism. Not everyone who served in the army or the government or worked for the Americans was corrupt. Many were and still are fine patriots who will always love their country. Most of them have relatives in Vietnam whom they're worried about. In '75, remember, even the honest ones lost everything. Because of this, they seldom smile. It's hard for them to start over-to make the most of American life. Even now, they refer to liberation, your chao mung victory holiday, as mat nuoc [the day we lost the country] - a day of mourning and resentment. And that's how many of them act: like children who are still grieving for lost parents." This response said that even though the war had been over for quite awhile, the feelings from the war were still alive.