Analysis Of We Should Never Meet

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Aimee Phan’s book We Should Never Meet, follows the lives of four Amerasian children brought to the US because of the Vietnam War. The book highlights their struggles, achievements, and efforts to become in touch with their Vietnamese background. The book goes shifts from present to past and allows the audience to experience every side of the struggle. From a mother’s point of view, a nun’s point of view, even an adoption helper’s point of view. Kim, Mai, Huan and Vinh all faced everyday struggles of being biracial in the United States. They also struggled eternally with the unknown of their placements in life and how fair or unfair life had done them. Huan and Vinh came to America in different ways but they had one thing in common, the struggle …show more content…

Unlike Vinh and Mai, Huan was an orphan who was a part of Operation Babylift. He is Amerasian. This sets him apart from Kim also because he was taken as a child and adopted by a family right away. Huan is directly introduced in the novel as one of Mai’s friends from school. But then we find out that he is the baby that is given away in the beginning of the book by Lien and his story continues till the end where he visits Vietnam with his adoptive mother. He is said to not have any other Vietnamese friends. We then learn that Huan is half black and half Vietnamese which sets him apart from many Vietnamese people. Huan also was adopted from a wealthy family. He attended Brown University and unlike Mai he did not have to worry about financial aid or money. Huan joked about “still living off his …show more content…

He was able to see his race in a whole new way. Though he did not want to learn anything about his background he was convinced to go to the orphanage where it all began. The Nun who picked him up from the stoop the day his mother left him was still there. She said she remembered him even though he was skeptical about it he took in the information. Although he did complain the whole time and act spoiled he was happy at the end of the trip that he took that journey.
Mai made Huan understand how appreciative he should be. She told him he was not alone. After visiting the orphanage he was left at Huan begins to have a better appreciation for his adoptive mother. He then asks Mai to take a picture of him with his mom’s camera after avoiding pictures the whole trip.
People often say “Home is where the heart is,” and in the case of Huan and Vinh I believe it’s true. They both had similar views on how Vietnam would be. Vinh keeps Vietnam as a good memory of home. He is able to escape reality and envision a happier life if he would of stayed there not knowing the true reality of this fantasy. Huan on the other hand was able to appreciate the home that his adoptive mother had given him. Though they both had different struggles they both had similar hopes to one day find their own homes and build themselves a better life without feeling the emptiness of the

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