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1975: Year of the Cat
Ha expresses her rebellious side by tapping her foot on the floor first on Tet, breaking the Vietnamese tradition and causing "bad luck" for the year to come. "I decided to wake up before dawn and tap my foot to the tile floor first." -
Period: to
Inside Out and Back Again
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Papaya Tree
Ha expresses her determination by saying that she will be the first to whitness the ripening of a papaya on her papaya tree. "I will be the first to whitness its ripening." -
Birthday Wishes
Ha has many wishes such as "Wish that I had a sister to jump rope with..." and "Wish Father would come home so I can stop daydreaming that he would appear in my classroom..." which show that Ha is unhappy with how everything currently is. -
Sssshhhhhhh
Ha expresses her kindness when she agreed to staying home with Khoi because she knows it is not an option but she doesnt want him to be upset. "Np matter what mother decides, we are not to leave... He holds out his pinky... I extend mine and we hook." -
Crisscrossed Packs
Ha feels guilt when she sides against Khoi when the decision to leave Vietnam on the Naval ship is made. "...feeling Brother Khoi's eyes burn into my scalp... Who can go against a mother who has become gaunt like bark from raising four children alone?
This quote expresses Ha's sympathetic side because she feels bad for deciding against staying home when she promised Khoi that she wouldn't. -
Routine
The quotes "Writing becomes boring, so I draw over my words..." and "Knowing of a girl who loves sbacks but is stranded on a ship" express the fact that Ha cannot take the conditions of being stranded of a naval ship in the ocean with little food rations and little activities. -
Once Knew
Ha misses the place she once called home which has fallen to the communists. "...something I once knew like napping on a hammock. Bathing without salt. Watching Mother write..." This quote expresses how Ha truley does miss her home Saigon and the things she could do on the land. -
Last Respects
Even though Ha is struggling on the ship, she is still able to show sympathy for Khoi. "...Inside lies my mouse-bitten doll, her arms wrapped around the limp fuzzy body of his chick." This shows that Ha has a kind personality because she gives up her doll so that Khoi's chick can have a proper send off. -
A Kiss
Ha is wondering why people only share when they have escaped hunger as oppossed to sharing when there is hunger. "Mother says, People share when they know they have escaped hunger." Ha then said "Shoudn't people share when there is hunger?" These quotes express how in a time of need Ha would be generous enough to share her small rations instead of when everyone has large rations and everyone is happy. -
American Adress
Ha is a bit ungrateful because she is upset with the furniture and dishes becasue they do not match. "What I don't love: pink sofas, green chairs, plastic cover on a table, stained matresses, old clothes, unmatched dishes." In this quote Ha expresses her unappreciative side because she is unhappy with the gifts form the friends of the "cowboy." -
Neigh Not Hee
Ha is beggining to feel lost. "To make it worse, the cowboy explains that horses here go neigh neigh neigh, not hee hee hee... Where am I?" This quote expresses how Ha does not feel comfortable with being in Alabama and she is feeling lost. -
Black and White and Yellow and Red
Ha is feeling left out when she enters the school cafeteria because there are white kids on one side and black kids on the other. "On one side of the bright, noisy room, light skin. Other side, dark skin.. As if it never occoured to them that a medium would show up. This quote expresses the loneliness felt by ha and because she doesnt know where to sit, she ends up eating in the hallway. -
More Is Not Better
Ha can now understand the cruel words of the bullies at school. "I now understrand. When they make fun of my name. When they ask if I eat dog meat... i understand and wish I could go back to not understanding."This qoute expresses how Ha was curios of what the people at school were saying about her and now she regrets learning how to undertand it. -
A Shift
Ha is a some-what caring person when people, even her enemies, are in pain. "Pink boy writhes on the pavement. I thought I would love seeing him in pain. But he looks more defeated than weak..." This quote expresses Ha's sympathetic side because she kind of feels bad for the person that does nothing but bully her when he is in pain. -
Gift-Exchange Day
Ha is happy that she has recieved gifts but cannot show it because that feeling is crushed by the embarresment of not have gifts for anyone. "My high emotions are squished beneath the embarrasment of not having a gift for her." This quote expresses how even tho Ha is excited about her present, she can not enjoy it because she is embarrassed by the fact that she doesnt have a gift for anyone else.
