Andrew Lam Speech

Speaker: Andrew Lam writes in first person point-of-view. The speaker uses his own experiences to advise another refugee on how to survive. The speaker is a survivor from a refugee camp. He gives himself authority by clarifying that he ¨too, fled from [his] homeland” (Lam 456), and that he “ended up in a refugee camp” (456). The speaker has experienced the camps, and so, he has the credibility to advise others.

Occasion: Andrew Lam is an immigrant from South Vietnam, from right before the country fell to North Vietnam. Lam writes the story to reflect on the experiences of being so near violence, and struggling for safety and freedom.

Audience: Lam addresses anyone who has gone through or is going through a similar situation with the refugee

Lam uses diction that suggests severe honesty from the speaker. The words the speaker uses have negative connotations such as “dispossessed” (456) and “exile” (456), terms the speaker uses to describe himself. The speaker blatantly gives his opinion that the situation is terrible, but he is resigned to the fact that the situation exists. The detail in the story sets the stage, giving the speaker credibility because the detail shows that he has been through the same thing. The speaker remarks on the tents “that flapped incessantly in the wind” (459), and the food line that “is always long” (458). The speaker illustrates that he knows almost exactly what the refugee is going through. The speaker specifies that his experience is similar to the present situation when he writes, “I imagine it is not that different from what you are hearing now” (459). The speaker assumes the similarities between their experiences, but solidifies his arguments of how to deal with the situation by clarifying that the similarities are imagined, not definite. The refugee might not have had the same or similar experience but can still heed the speaker’s advice. The imagery in the story sets the scene of what the refugee has to deal with. Lam uses a metaphor to describe his overall experience of the camp: “the sound of weeping was my refugee camp lullabye” (459). The metaphor implies that the speaker fell asleep to other people crying. The imagery of the metaphor creates the sense of overwhelming sadness pervading the atmosphere of the camp. The acknowledgment of the feelings associated with the camp relates the honesty of the speaker to the refugee. The honesty encourages the refugee to follow the speaker’s advice because honesty implicates that the advice is given to the best of the speaker’s ability. The sentence structure within the letter is efficient. Lam uses short, two word sentences to convey the