Listen, Slowly

“BTW, each of us gets a whole row because the plane is so empty. That’s how many people are dying to fly to my parents’ beloved birth land.”

Narrated in the first person, Mai’s sarcasm establishes the story’s tone and the teenage perspective. Mai speaks like a typical American 12-year-old girl: self-centered and snarky. She is too focused on her own life to see the larger picture and understand the importance of the trip to Vietnam.

“Bicultural, they tell me and beam. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I’m uni-cultural.”

Through Mai’s narration, the reader understands she does not feel a connection to her Vietnamese culture. Having lived in California her entire life, she sees herself as fully American despite her family’s heritage. She appeases her family on the matter, but in her mind and heart, she does not connect to it in the same way they do.

“The skin on her hands was wrinkles shaped like puzzle pieces, clicking together just so.”

The author uses a simile to compare Bà’s aged hands to a puzzle. The use of figurative language adds sensory detail to the passage, as the reader can almost feel the weathered, wrinkled skin as Mai tenderly holds her grandmother’s hand. The figurative language also symbolizes how Bà holds the key to unlocking Mai’s desire to learn more about her heritage, as the puzzle of their history will come together on the journey to