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

camps. While Lam writes the story in first person, and the speaker addresses a single person, Lam never specifically names the person he is talking to, but address a young refugee. The speaker recalls that he “saw you” (456). By only addressing you, Lam can be addressing anyone who fits the description the speaker describes.

Purpose: Lam describes the power and necessity of strength in demanding situations. Lam uses oxymoron to illustrate the feeling of futile struggling against an overwhelming force. The speaker advises the young refugee to “console your inconsolable mother” (458). The advice is impossible. The speaker demands the refugee to be the one to fight against the impossible, to “console [the] inconsolable” (458). The specific situation with the inconsolable mother serves as a similar situation to the main conflict of the story: surviving the refugee camp. Lam uses polysyndeton to emphasize the quantity of horrors the refugee will now have to struggle against. The antagonists are described with “inhumanity and fear and hatred” (459). They “killed and robbed and caused so much pain and suffering” (459). The polysyndetons exaggerate the terror and suffering the antagonists cause. The speaker, on the other hand, demands that the young refugee “be brave and strong and cunning” (459). While the antagonists are described with multitudes of negative qualities and blamed for crimes and suffering, the protagonist refugee is advised to keep good qualities of strength. The polysyndeton serves to exaggerate the horror of negative qualities and the need for good qualities. Lam uses tricolon to emphasize love instead of hate. The speaker writes “Love what you lost, love what you still have, and love those who suffered along with you” (459). Love is the offered alternative to hate. Love takes more strength, however, than hate. The speaker offers examples of things and people to love that might have caused a different reaction. For example, instead of loving what is lost, the loss could cause regret, or anger towards the takers. While proffering the more difficult route to dealing with the situation, the offer consists of the happier side. The speaker insists on taking the good out of the situation, which the tricolon demonstrates.

Subject: The subject of the story is strength, especially in the face of terrifying circumstances. Lam slightly delays the subject of the story. He begins with describing the situation, both of the speaker and the audience. Later, Lam addresses the subject with advice on how to deal with the situation.

Tone: The tone of “Letter to a Young Refugee from Another” is one of encouragement.

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

advice the speaker deems most important, such as “be fierce” ( 458) and “be alert” (458). The sentences, while small, are complete. The sentences completely are to the point. The sentences range from those small, two-word sentence, to more average-sized sentences. The small size of the sentences serves to emphasize the main purpose of each sentence. The length of the sentences helps the letter to be concise, and to ensure that the young refugee will be able to understand the letter.