Water Symbolism In The Gangster We Are All Looking For

Water is symbolic of the life cycle as the continuous, repetitive movement is symbolic of the Buddhist view of samsara. Within Buddhism, samsara is defined as the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death that arises from one grasping and fixating one’s self and experiences. Specifically, samara refers to the process of cycling through one rebirth after another within the realms of existence. The uninterrupted cycle of death and rebirth without a choice is called ‘cyclic existence’ ("Buddhism Beliefs |About Buddhism”). In lê thi diem thúy’s The Gangster We Are All Looking For, water permeates through the life cycle concerning life, death, and the dual-meaning of resurrection representing both rebirth and the manifestation of ghostly

spirits. While these ghostly spirits serve as a connection to the past and the present, they represent a false sense of life in the wake of impending death. The life cycle is seen as a dichotomous entity for both life and death, where emersion leads to purification through water.
_____ Obadas establishes that water, as an entity, is what links the refugees’ lives in Gangster to their homeland (111).

When the narrator sees the image of the man and the woman at the beach, looking “through the triangle formed by the woman’s tanned knee, calf, and thigh,” she “saw the calm, sleeping waters of the ocean. My mother was out there somewhere. My father had said so” (le 6). Here, the power of the water is highlighted as this occurrence shows the significance of the ocean as both a connection between the Vietnamese refugees and their homeland, as well as a subjective construction of families and family experiences. It is in the water that families are created by experiences, not by blood. _____ Brogan argues “families do not simply tell stories; stories create families” (18). The four uncles became family due to sharing the “boat people” experience. The water in this instance represents family and starting a new life in America. The image is also seen as indicative of the pejorative aspects of water – the ocean separates these refugees from the narrator’s mother and their homeland. The ocean separates the refugees from the narrator’s mother and their homeland, but also creates a sense of unity among the

refugees.
The prevalence of water circulating through the life cycle continues to function as a catalyst throughout the novel, and begins upon their arrival in America.

While staying at Mel’s home, the adolescent female narrator personifies the butterfly paperweight. The life cycle begins with the narrator “hearing” the butterfly sounds, and believing the butterfly is alive. The butterfly mirrors the narrator’s feelings of alienation and immobility amongst her ‘new family’ in America. She is convinced the butterfly is alive, although trapped inside thick glass (le 25). The thick glass mirrors the image of clear, still water. To the adolescent girl, the thick glass doesn’t stop the sounds of the butterfly from coming through; however, her father counteracts this with the idea of death, “…can’t do much for a dead butterfly” (le 31). In order to free the butterfly, the narrator throws the disk at a cabinet of glass animals, shattering the paperweight, as well as the glass animals. The shattering of the glass connects to the shattering of her being, and her experience in fragility. The idea of bringing the butterfly back to life was useless, as the motionless butterfly laid there “like someone expert at holding his breath or playing dead” (le 34). This sense of rebirth becomes ironic as the butterfly did not come back to life as either being reborn or as the manifestation of a ghostly spirit; instead its cyclic existence permeates through the narrator creating a transformative

effect on the girl and changing her into a self-sufficient woman by the end of the text.
Water also functions as a catalyst throughout the death portion of cyclic existence. This plays a large role within the text, as Ba, the narrator’s father, haunted by the fragments of a traumatic past, metaphorically withers away after his son’s untimely death caused by drowning. This metaphorical death manifests through wordless suffering, and nightly cries. His wordless suffering is depicted throughout the novel; while the narrator gives voice to her own pain, she acknowledges her father’s despair; le writes, “After their arrival in the United States, the father tries to help his daughter to adjust to life in America, but climbs out the windows at night and cries by himself” (8). The death of his son perpetuates the idea of emptiness within the father as violent rages incur. During an argument between the narrator’s parents, Ba “plunges his hands into the fish tank” and throws it out the front door. The narrator recalls “drinking up the spilt water and swallowing whole the beautiful tropical fish, their brilliant colors gliding across my tongue, before they can hit the ground, to cover themselves in dirt until only the whites of their eyes remain, blinking at the sun” (le 93). The broken fish tank becomes a vessel for the parent’s marriage. It was whole and together then becoming broken into a myriad of pieces on the ground.