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The Day Ha's Papaya Tree Grows
The Day Ha's Papaya Tree Grows -
Year of the Cat
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Political Turmoil and Suffering
A month prior to the collapse of South
Vietnam, Ha experiences political turmoil, shortage of food, insecurity, sounds of gunfire and bomb explosions, and confusion, as American soldiers left Vietnam and the
communists approached Saigon. -
Father Captured
Ha's brother Quang brings the news of his Father’s capture by the communists. Ha calls the moments she accompanied Mother to President Thieu’s “ceremony of comfort” to widows of ARVN soldiers, in which he cries actual tears,
but Ha knows that to mean fake crocodile tears. -
Boarding the Ship
Uncle Son the father's best friend and also a Navy Officer, visits Ha's home and urges her family to flee Vietnam with him on a ship arranged for Navy families. Mother prepares items necessary for her children, and on April 29,
they board the ship. Part I ends with the official announcement of the fall of Saigon, when Ha is already at sea -
America!
Three weeks after their departure they are
rescued by a gigantic ship with an American flag, (p. 91), and Ha for the first time sees American men, and she becomes curious about their appearance. The Americans offer the escapees abundant food and water and take
them to Guam, where they stay in a refugee camp, study English, and watch American movies. Mother then decides to choose America for their resettlement destination, where her sons must first go to college (pg. 106) -
Sweet Home Alabama
A cowboy-like car dealer brings the
entire family to his home state, Alabama. -
Assimilation Frustration
After getting their own apartment from the government, the family has to deal with assimilating. Ha is frustrated with learning English grammar, and is often teased by her peers for being the only asian student and a buddhist. Ha gets bullied, and wrote off as unintelligent by her teachers in Elementary School. After learning self defense from her brother she stands up to a bully Pink Boy after school -
Born Again Christian!
In order to help the family gain greater acceptance in the community, the sponsor takes them to the Del Ray Southern Baptist Church, where they are baptized and become Christians. Ha enjoys learning
about such American holidays as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas -
Mrs. Washington
Ha meets the first person to really accept the family and offers to tutor and comfort Ha whenever she needed. Mrs. Washington had a son who died in Vietnam and gives Ha a book the son sent her about Vietnam. -
Christmas
It is Ha's first Christmas in America. However, the family recieves a letter and is informed that the father has died. They make a shrine and wish for his eternal peace with a Vietnamese ceremony -
Tet, New Year in exile
The story concludes with Tet, the family’s first Lunar New Year celebrated in exile.
