Summary of Part 1 "Diamonds and Teardrops" Only the Heart, Brian Caswell Essay Example
Part 1: Diamonds and Teardrops
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
4:25 PM
Q1. . - Fear of the government (communism) - Learning fear early in life - Viet Cong invading Saigon and joking about it - Forced to live with relatives in tough times - Very disciplinary in tough times - Worried about Toan's fathers imprisonment
Q2. The "voice" of the African American solider is a good example of the sense of joy in war time. He makes eye contact with a young Vietnamese girl and she holds his gaze instead of turning away from him in fear.
Q3. Freedom is a right not a privilege. You have the right to freedom from the day you are born. Some people however take that right away from you and use it against you. The extra information about his Grandfather is given for another perspective to the reader on the topic of freedom and how it was exercised in Vietnam with propaganda and how he had such a huge impact on Toan. Toan didn’t believe in the concept of freedom when he was younger but after leaving Vietnam he realised what freedom was
Q4. The title "Fair Exchange" refers to one of the most intense chapters in the book. The fair exchange in itself is Toan's Aunt Mai instead of his cousin Phuong. Thai pirates board their boat in search of whatever they can find really and come across Toan's family and see how beautiful his cousin is and go to take her but his Aunt Mai instead offers herself as tribute instead of her daughter. The leader of these pirates thinks about this and takes her offer. Aunt Mai isn’t mentioned in later in the book. The use of different perspectives is the authors way of showing the way characters reacted in what happened in the chapter "fair exchange". The authors were trying to achieve a sense of sadness amongst the characters and possibly make the reader feel empathy towards
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
4:25 PM
Q1. . - Fear of the government (communism) - Learning fear early in life - Viet Cong invading Saigon and joking about it - Forced to live with relatives in tough times - Very disciplinary in tough times - Worried about Toan's fathers imprisonment
Q2. The "voice" of the African American solider is a good example of the sense of joy in war time. He makes eye contact with a young Vietnamese girl and she holds his gaze instead of turning away from him in fear.
Q3. Freedom is a right not a privilege. You have the right to freedom from the day you are born. Some people however take that right away from you and use it against you. The extra information about his Grandfather is given for another perspective to the reader on the topic of freedom and how it was exercised in Vietnam with propaganda and how he had such a huge impact on Toan. Toan didn’t believe in the concept of freedom when he was younger but after leaving Vietnam he realised what freedom was
Q4. The title "Fair Exchange" refers to one of the most intense chapters in the book. The fair exchange in itself is Toan's Aunt Mai instead of his cousin Phuong. Thai pirates board their boat in search of whatever they can find really and come across Toan's family and see how beautiful his cousin is and go to take her but his Aunt Mai instead offers herself as tribute instead of her daughter. The leader of these pirates thinks about this and takes her offer. Aunt Mai isn’t mentioned in later in the book. The use of different perspectives is the authors way of showing the way characters reacted in what happened in the chapter "fair exchange". The authors were trying to achieve a sense of sadness amongst the characters and possibly make the reader feel empathy towards