Thanhha Lai’s novel, Inside Out and Back Again, is an example of a young refugee, Ha, who’s country suffered a war, forcing its citizens to flee. Like many other men, women, and children around the world, Ha left her home to escape the grip of the war, and the challenges that would be faced there, ultimately becoming a refugee. While leaving her homeland and moving overseas to America, she faced challenges that many other refugees suffer, and had to work her way through them. Thanhha Lai’s novel showed how Ha’s life, like the lives of other refugees, turned inside out.…
Ha is challenged by where she lives and when she living because she lives in the middle of the Vietnam war which was 20 years long and she said “I’m glad we've become poor can stay.” indicating that most likely her family never leaves. Ha has to face maturing at a very young age that is another challenge she has to face at 10. Ha is also challenged by when she lived because she had to lose her father to the war at a very young age.…
Once they are granted refugee status and transported to the U.S., refugees heavily rely on services such as RST to support them as they acclimate to their new life in the U.S. RST seeks to supports its clients by attaining access to health care and other health services, federal and state supplemental support programs, and empower them to access these in the future through cultural adjustment workshops and support groups. While RST Austin provides many amenities and resources to its clients, there are a number of gaps in services in regards to translations, transportation and child…
I have never been a refugee but Anh Do’s book ‘The Happiest Refugee’ made me feel like I was there very step of the way. In the scorching summer of 1976 when Anh’s family and friends decided to board a small, damp and crowded boat it was the biggest decision of their lives.…
Frontline: New Asylums addresses the lack of effective policies to facilitate treatment and rehabilitation for the mentally ill within the prison system. The social injustice theoretical perspective addresses the need for social benefits, resources and protection of the mentally ill within the criminal justice system. The perspective provides equal access of resources to all people and is based on human need rather than political or social power.…
With higher risk of gang brutality and homicide, many children, teenagers, and families are choosing to leave their countries and seek asylum in the United States. For example; July, a 32 year old woman dealing with the violence in her town alongside her three children. “For eight years, July’s family has been struggling with the gang and narco-cartel violence that has overtaken many areas of her country. On Oct. 29, 2007, her brother, Carlos Luis Pérez, a skinny 22-year-old, was kidnapped and then found dead two days later in a sewage ditch, his hands and feet cut off.” ( Sonia Nazario. “The Refugees at Our Door.” nytimes.com. October 15, 2015. Web. January 6, 2016.) With regular killings, the danger of living in gang infested towns…
In the novel Inside Out and Back Again, there’s this girl named Ha who is 10 years old who lives with 3 older brothers and her mother. She lives peacefully in her hometown in Saigon. Now the Vietnam War has reached her home, so Ha and her family are forced to flee home as Saigon falls to the Communists. Ha moves to Alabama where she will soon faced a lot of challenges because she is a refugee, but will soon overcome these challenges. Ha was a girl who was stubborn and sneaky. When she was still in Vietnam, she did lots of things that she wasn’t supposed to do like placing her big toe on the floor on Tet or secretly buying things she wasn’t supposed to buy. A refugee’s transition to another country is hard, because they can’t speak the language…
The memoir, "The Happiest Refugee" written by Anh Do is an extraordinary true story of a boy's journey from starvation at sea to becoming one of Australia's best loved comedians. The novel tells us about incredible, uplifting and inspirable story of Anh Do. The novel has many themes such as; adversity, bullying, humour and most importantly courage. Courage was used by many people throughout the novel such as; antagonist, protagonist and other characters. Courage was used when the antagonist saves Anh's uncles from the re-educational camp, when Anh's dad and others saves the baby on the boat and also when Anh's dad buys a boat and sails for Australia with his family. The memoir has many points where climax reaches its highest peak and the characters…
A refugee can be anyone who has to leave their home due to destruction in their country. When they move far from their homes they have to look for a safe place to live . Leaving to find a new home makes them feel as if their lives are turning “inside out”. The novel Inside out and Back Again Thanhha Lai the author speaks about Ha and her family living in a war. Ha is a 10 year old Vietnamese girl who comes from a single parent and a traditional background.…
If I could change one thing about Australia, I would change the poor treatment of the Asylum Seekers from war-infested countries. In fact, Australia is the only country in the world to mandate the detention of Asylum Seekers. This Anti-Asylum policy has been at the spotlight of international criticism by various humanitarian organisations, calling the actions of the Australian Government "an act of discrimination and racism".…
Ha, and her family, after fleeing from the North Vietnamese Communists, soon end up in Alabama, living normal lives and going to school there. Like Ha, Tom Lantos, a Hungarian refugee, fled imprisonment and hid within his country due to political warfare. He joined a resistance group to fight the Nazis. This shows that while their life after fleeing had some differences, they can relate on one aspect: the reason to flee.…
Renowned comedian, Anh Do’s award winning autobiography The Happiest Refugee is a heart-warming and touching journey that leads the audience through Do’s experiences from his early days as a child in Vietnam, to his successful career as an influential television personality and well know Australian stand-up comedian. Throughout the text, Do explores many ideas and issues linked to the concept of belonging which become apparent from his reminiscence of his families migration from war-torn Vietnam and the problems they encounter to his efforts to gain extra money to support his family after his father left. The…
The book “Inside Out and Back Again” , a book of poetry written by Thanhha Lai, brings light to the struggles and obstacles that refugees face, which some overcome through what they love. A refugee might have a hard time leaving their homes, which might have been all they knew. Even after they have abandoned their heritage for a new hope, they risk everything to arrive in order to arrive at their new home. It seems although the hardships never end for these individuals, some facing discrimination because they are different, and new. Even though their lives may turn inside out, some, perusing what they love, can have comfort. These struggles can be present for people from all over the world,…
The refugees are more likely to have the common support in our community because of the misconceptions about homeless people being associated with drugs and other personal consequences. Refugees were once a group of human beings who were free and had rights like everybody else until they were stripped away from them, which leads us to sympathize with refugees more than with homeless people who probably ended up in such a situation because of drug abuse, disregarding their education and etc;. Also, there are organizations and charities (that includes soup kitchens and shelters) which have been built to help the homeless in Canada, but refugees do not have that opportunity unless the government do something about them and help them start anew…
One universal challenge that Ha and other refugees struggle with is being ridiculed and judged because they are not of the same religion as everyone else in the new country. Therefore, they are bullied / harassed because of it. “I hate everyone!!!! A lion’s paw rips up my throat, still I scream, I hate everyone!!!!” (Lai 209) Ha, from Inside Out and Back Again, feels she does not belong. She is so upset about this, that she is outside of her home, screaming, “I hate everyone!!!!” “Sometimes I wish I’d stayed at war rather than being here without friends” (Brice) The quote is self explanatory, really. She wishes she stayed back home in the war sometimes, because she deals with discrimination and harassment at school, and feels it would be better…