Inside Ot and Back Again Summary
Letter from the North. The war ended viii months ago, and Mother sent her letter to the North four months ago. Today, Mother receives a respond from Father's blood brother, but it doesn't offer any new data. He writes that he went due south to talk with sometime neighbors and Father'south erstwhile friends, but he learned nothing. The letter of the alphabet doesn't tell the family what to do, and Mother doesn't offer any insight either. Christmas Eve is a silent thing.
Hà and her siblings might finally be settling into their new home, merely getting no information about Father stops their evolution short. The silent Christmas Eve suggests that this new evolution weighs heavily on anybody. Without knowing where Father is, they tin't move forrad.
Gift-Exchange 24-hour interval. On December 25th, "gift-exchange day," Pem comes over with a doll—Hà told her about the mouse-bitten ane that she lost. Hà about screams, as the doll is gorgeous and has lovely long black pilus. But information technology'southward hard to feel too happy, as Hà is embarrassed that she doesn't have a gift for Pem.
Receiving the doll allows Hà to repossess a little bit of her innocence, equally she at present has this kittenish comfort in her arms again. But even though this is a good thing, the doll isn't all positive: receiving it with nothing to requite in return makes Hà experience like a poor friend.
What If. Brother Quang wonders if Male parent escaped to Cambodia. Perhaps he's building an army and will go back in time to change history. Vu Lee, on the other hand, wonders if Father might accept escaped to France and has a new family—he might not remember his former family. Brother Khôi wonders if Father joined a monastery in Tibet. Hà doesn't accept any exciting what-ifs, only she can't allow her brothers win. So, she asks what if Begetter is just gone. Anybody looks pitiful when Hà says this. She realizes that they remember she's right, despite their various what-ifs.
Hà's brothers' suggestions seem based more in far-fetched promise than in reality, which Hà starts to pick up on when she suggests that perhaps Father is gone. This shows Hà that her family members have been trying to ignore the fact that Father isn't going to come back. But until anybody is willing to have that Father is gone, they'll go along to promise for the incommunicable, and this will keep them from moving forward and healing.
Themes
A Sign. Female parent keeps quiet about Begetter, but she chants every night. Hà knows Mother is waiting for a sign, and she thinks that she'll decide what happened to Father when Mother decides.
Hà seems to suspect on some level that she'southward right—that Begetter is gone. But her loyalty to Mother means that she's not going to let herself believe that's truthful until Female parent gives her permission.
Themes
No More than. Hà knows that she's supposed to article of clothing all new clothing items when she returns to school afterwards Christmas suspension. The only new garments she has are her coat and a secondhand dress, which is cream with blue flowers. Information technology'due south fuzzy and thick, so information technology'll continue her warm. As soon as Hà takes her coat off, everyone goes serenity. A girl dressed in blood-red velvet tells Hà that flannel material is simply for nightgowns and sheets. Pem shrugs; information technology doesn't matter to her what Hà wears when Pem tin can't cut her hair or wear skirts that hit above her calves. SSsì-Ti-Vân says it looks like a dress. But the daughter in red velvet points to the flower on Hà's breast and says flowers only become on nightgowns. Hà rips the flower off—her dress isn't a nightgown anymore.
Hà is doing her best to follow what she thinks are American New Yr's traditions by wearing all new clothes, as she unremarkably would on Tet. But this backfires when her classmates charge her of wearing a nightgown, non a dress. This has the potential to be humiliating for Hà. But considering Hà'south friends stand upwards for her and insist that it doesn't thing what she wears, Hà finds the courage to button through and take matters into her own hands. Past ripping off the offending flower, Hà tin can control this 1 aspect of her life and make the apparel what she needs it to be.
Seeds. Hà wears the dress to sleep and explains to Mother what happened. She says that she pretended she didn't intendance, and when nobody else cared, Hà actually stopped caring. This makes Mother laugh. Hà admits that information technology's far more embarrassing to non take anything to give Pem for Christmas. Thoughtfully, Mother goes to her drawer and pulls something out. She says she was saving it for Hà for Tet, just now seems like a good time to give it to Hà. Mother gives Hà the can of flower seeds that Hà and TiTi gathered. It's a perfect souvenir for Pem.
Hà is learning that not all embarrassment is created equal. It was embarrassing to be accused of wearing a nightgown—merely that was nothing compared to the embarrassment Hà feels nigh not beingness able to exist a good friend to Pem. By giving the flower seeds to Pem, Hà gets some of her dignity back. She's able to engage with Pem on a unlike level—not as someone who's accepting charity, but equally an equal.
Related Quotes
Gone. Mother runs into the firm after work, barely able to speak. Her fists are clenched and her face is ashy—and the amethyst ring is gone from her left hand. Blood brother Quang drives everyone dorsum to the factory and so they can all help Mother wait around the cafeteria, bathroom, and parking lot. Mother's optics stay wild. Hà is afraid of what Mother's expression will look like if the ring is gone. Finally, at dusk, the guards tell the family to exit. Hà and her brothers are afraid to look at Female parent.
Losing the amethyst ring—a symbol of Male parent, and his and Mother's honey—is devastating for Mother. Hà and her brothers know how important the band is to Mother, and their enthusiasm for searching seems to be rooted in their desire to brand Mother happy. In other words, the band and what information technology symbolizes—Father—seems less important to the kids than keeping Mother content.
Themes
Truly Gone. Once the family gets dwelling, Mother goes to her room and stays at that place through dinner. Around bedtime, Hà and her brothers hear the gong and and so Female parent chanting. At present, her voice is "depression and sure." When Mother is finished, she appears and says that Begetter is gone.
Mother ultimately decides to have losing the ring as a sign that Father is gone, and she can now mourn him and move on. This is devastating, merely it too gives Mother some closure and peace—her vox is "low and sure," rather than anxious and upset.
Themes
Related Quotes
Eternal Peace. Mother puts on her chocolate-brown áo dài, Hà'southward brothers wear ill-fitting suits, and Hà wears a pinkish ruffly apparel. She hates it, but it'due south undeniably a wearing apparel. They all face the altar and concord lit incense sticks. Every bit they pray, the portrait of Father as a young man stares back. He'll never get any older, and this thought makes Hà's eyes turn red. Mother explains that they're going to dirge so Father has a safety passage to eternal peace. Trying not to cry, she says that they tin't hold onto Father, or he won't leave. At least now they know, and they don't accept to wait anymore.
Hà'due south youth and childish concerns shine through early on in this passage: she desperately wants to wear a dress that's obviously a dress, which suggests that she'south bellyaching after the nightgown incident at school. Only Hà still takes this opportunity to do as Female parent asks and grieve Father. At present, Hà can also find closure. She tin can effigy out how she relates to this man she's never known, and she doesn't have to go on hoping that he'll show up one mean solar day.
Themes
Start Over. Hà is trying to explain Male parent's ceremony to MiSSSisss WaSShington, but information technology'southward difficult to get all the nouns, verbs, and tenses right. MiSSSisss WaSShington counsels Hà that people learning a language tin can't await to speak up until they're fluent, or they'll never speak. Hà must practice and make mistakes. When Hà says her classmates express mirth at her, MiSSSisss WaSShington says "shame on them"—Hà should ask them to say something in Vietnamese and laugh back at them. And so, Hà tells MiSSSisss WaSShington that Male parent is at peace, that she'd like to constitute some bloom seeds from Vietnam, and that Tet is coming. Luck starts over on every new year's day.
The style that Hà describes her struggle to employ correct grammar suggests that for at present, her main concern is speaking correctly—she doesn't want people to judge her, and she also doesn't want to exist misunderstood. Simply MiSSSisss WaSShington encourages Hà to realize that learning is more important than being correct at this point. Hà must be willing to try to speak, even if she makes mistakes. Until she has a better grasp of English, this is the just style she'll learn, and the simply way she can communicate with English language speakers.
Themes
An Engineer, a Chef, a Vet, and Non a Lawyer. At present, Brother Quang is in night school to study engineering, which makes Mother smile. Vu Lee is refusing to get to real colleges. He'south going to become to cooking school in San Francisco, where Bruce Lee one time lived—this makes Mother sigh. Brother Khôi insists he'll be an animate being doctor. Mother stops herself from saying something and nods. She's always wanted her children to be an engineer, a poet, a "real doctor," and a lawyer. She asks Hà if she likes to argue, and Hà snaps that she doesn't. Female parent smiles, and Hà decides to be less opposite.
Things seem to be looking up for all of Hà'south family unit members. After deciding that Father is gone, and after letting him go, Mother can now plow her attending more fully to her children. She can accept pride in the fact that Blood brother Quang is going to finish his studies in the U.Southward., and she can tolerate her other ii sons not doing exactly as she'd similar them to. But she too seems far more willing to back up them in cooking and becoming a veterinary than she might take been a few months ago—she'due south allowing them to grow upwardly and is supporting them as they practice.
Themes
1976: Year of the Dragon. Since there's no fortune teller this Tet, Mother predicts the family unit'south year. She says that their lives will mix up the old and new, and soon, it won't thing which is which. There'due south no bánh chung in the foursquare shape this year. Mother makes one that's log-shaped and made out of different ingredients than usual. It'south not exactly the aforementioned, but it's corking, either. Hà and her family members smile the entire first three days of the year. They all wear new clothes, including underwear, and they don't splash h2o or frown. Mother asks Blood brother Quang to bless the house later midnight, so Hà tin can't impact the ground commencement in the morning.
Without the fortuneteller or all the traditional bánh chung ingredients, Hà's family has to come up upwardly with some new traditions, such as Mother acting equally the fortuneteller and making a modified version of bánh chung. Enough things remain the same, though—getting new clothes, smiling, and Brother Quang approving the house—that this tradition still feels meaningful. And now, Hà can appreciate that her traditions are changing. She's looking forward to the future now more than she could earlier in the novel, when she didn't desire anything to change.
Related Quotes
Mother likewise sets up a permanent altar on a alpine bookshelf and displays Father'southward portrait. Hà can't look at it. She holds her incense stick and waits for the gong to audio. Hà prays for Father and for Mother, Brother Quang, Vu Lee, and Brother Khôi to be happy and successful. When she opens her eyes, the others are withal praying. Who knows what they're yet praying for. Simply Hà closes her eyes and proceed thinking. She hopes that this year, she learns to fly-kick. She doesn't actually want to kicking anyone, though. She wants to fly.
Now that Female parent has permit Father go, it's less painful for her to permit his memory to be a office of her family'south everyday life by setting upwardly this chantry. Hà'southward outset prayers are for her family unit members—they're nonetheless the most of import people in her life. Only when she returns to praying, she then thinks of herself and how she'd like to alter. Hà now realizes she doesn't accept to lash out at others to be successful. Instead, she only has to be happy with herself.
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