Compare And Contrast Inside Out And Back Again

Imagine that you are in Vietnam in 1975. Out of your house window, you hear gunshots and screams of pain and agony. You hide in fear as your parents are packing their things, planning to head a boat to a refugee camp in America, as it will keep you away from those pesky Communists. Who knew that a simple boat ride to a refugee camp would cause so much stress when realising that you will have to leave all your old memories behind? This is what Ha experiences when running away from home with her family because of Communists. Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai is a historical fiction set in South Vietnam in a small town called Saigon. Ha, a rebellious ten-year-old Vietnamese girl, her three brothers, and her mother who had recently lost her husband- must flee out of their hometown once war strikes. But this is a challenge, with little to no source of food and water, and with many eyes of the Communists staring down on them, wishing upon death. Will Ha and the rest of her family be able to flee safely to America, and if they do, will Ha be able to bound “back again” in her new home in

America?

The title “Inside Out and Back Again”relates to the universal refugee experience of fleeing and finding home for both Ha and the many refugees around the world who had their lives turned “inside out” as they fled, but then came “back again” as they found a new

home.

In Inside Out and Back Again, Ha’s life is turned “inside out” as she is forced to flee to Saigon and to live an entire new life in a different country, and comes “back again” by making new discoveries and meeting new friends as she lives in Alabama. The first example of how Ha’s life has turned “inside out” is in the poem “Last Respects”. In the poem, Ha explains to the reader that she “regrets having her doll as soon as the white bundle sinks into sea.” This quote explains how her life is turned “inside out” because when Ha and her brother Khoi decide to throw their old memories down into the blue ocean, Ha regrets everything about losing all the old memories of her past home in Saigon, and knows that there was no turning back. Another example of how Ha’s life has turned “inside out” is when Ha is staring into the vast ocean, thinking of her home in the poem “Once Knew”. “Water, water, water, everywhere,” she says in her mind, “making me think land is something I once knew.” Ha’s family has been on this boat for many days, with limited food and water resources, and are told to eat and drink little by little to conserve resources to be able to survive. Just the thought of their old home has them hoping of a great new home, which could bring back good old memories that they had in their home in Saigon. Instead, they are stuck on this boat, just at least hoping for someone to come down and rescue them. When Ha arrived in her new hometown in Alabama, she needed to learn how to come “back again” by building her new home with her old family and new friends. An example of this is shown in the poem, “Most Relived Day”. In her new school, Ha is confused and scared at all the kids that are poking and pulling her hair during recess, and wants to hide whenever she speaks a language she never knew before. One day, when Ha asked her teacher if she could stay in her classroom to eat lunch, two children run near her. “I firm my muscles, ready for the giggles… But smiles appear instead.” These two children are trying to make friends with Ha because she is misunderstood and made fun of by many of her classmates because she comes from a different country. This is a new beginning of building a better life in Alabama, with her new friends always on her side. Another example of how Ha learns to come “back again” while building a new home in Alabama is shown in the poem, “Du Du Face”, when Ha runs from the kids who are making fun of her and screams, “Bully! Coward! Pink Snot Face!” Ha has now gathered up her courage, and stands up for herself whenever the children try to bring her back down. This is showing how she bounds “back again” in her school. Overall, Ha’s experience to going from to Saigon to Alabama has reflected the title Inside Out and Back Again by showing how she goes “inside out” as she flees her home and comes “back again” as she is building a new home in Alabama.
As refugees from around the world flee from their home countries, they are turned “inside out” as they struggle with difficult and dangerous challenges, and bound “back again” after seeking help by many organizations while trying to adjust into their new lives in new countries. For instance, in the article “Migrant Crisis” which states, “Syria’s violent civil war, which is tearing that nation apart, is responsible for a sizeable portion of the migrant crisis. Since the fighting began in 2011, more than 250,000 people have been killed.” The refugees’ lives are turned “inside out” because of the war. The devastating and violent war painted an uncomfortable and frightening picture of their hometown, forcing them to leave home and to seek a refugee camp with other refugees. Another example of how refugees turned “inside out” is stated in the article, ‘Refugees: Who, Where and Why’. “They began an ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaign, which killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children, and forced hundreds of people to seek refuge in neighboring countries.” We can see here that innocent refugees who just wanted to live a peaceful life were forced to leave home, and if not, were killed. This warned the refugees to leave as quickly as they could so they wouldn’t be assassinated like their acquaintances. As time goes on and as refugees move to one place to another, they can manage to come “back again” from their past trauma. To illustrate this, take this quote from “Children of War”, in which children who were past refugees in Bosnia talk about their experience as a refugee. Emir, one of the children, compares his new life to his old life in Bosnia, so explains this quote: “My life is not as good as it was in Bosnia. I lived under Communism for 14 years. Nobody I knew practiced religion. They suddenly tried to kill me because of Communism. I don’t have that problem anymore.” This shows an ideal result from living in a new town: not being afraid of everything and not being watched on by threatening strangers wherever they turn. In this case, Emir feels more comfortable in his new home, but at the same time, needs to adjust to it more because he misses his old home. The final example of how the refugees come “back again” is in the article “Migrant Crisis”. In the article, it states, “Other refugees are taken to refugee centers, where they receive food, shelter, and medical care. Some even end up staying there for months.” The refugees are offered care and language assistance by people who care about them. Without these people and these associations to guide them, they would be hopeless. This shows how refugees are in luck, as there are thousands of different societies which offer food, water, shelter, and language tutoring at a low cost, since refugees cannot afford many things to their families.
Therefore, we can come to a conclusion that the universal world of refugees that were forced to leave their home countries were turned “inside out” as they fled their homes because of crisis and came “back again” as they adjusted to their new home country. In short, Ha and the refugees’ experiences when migrating are very similar.