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Happiest Refugee

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Class Notes on The Happiest Refugee

Chapter 1

Possibly the most prominent reason why the first chapter of Anh Do’s “The Happiest Refugee” reflects the ideas of an outsider is how war has changed Anh and his families lives. “The year is 1976 and the Vietnam war has just ended”, “When the war ended her two older brothers, high- ranking paratroopers who fought alongside American and Australian soldiers, were put into communist re-education camps” and “My grandfather was in the army, so Grandma was left to look after ten kids on her own in a little hut” explain how the war has torn Anh’s family apart and has deeply effected how his father and mother lived throughout their childhood. When Anh’s Father is forced to almost single-handedly take care of his brothers, it builds and changes his personality and makes him far more responsible. When Anh’s uncles are put into a re-education camp, Anh’s father shows the leadership qualities and courage that he built over his childhood to free them from slavery.

Chapter 1.

From the start of the chapter, we can see the traits of an outsider, namely being a non-evident sense of belonging. When the communist guards were harassing the young lady; she was an outsider as she was being ostracised and segregated from the rest of the group in a nasty and threatening way. This was evidenced in the text from the quote “ ‘Lift up your trousers’ the guard demands. The girl lifts her black cotton pants to her ankles. ‘Lift them higher,’ he leers. ‘In fact take them off.’” From this quote, we can see that this person was an outsider momentarily as she was not safe in the eyes of the reader. There was no-one defending her nor was there anyone who was willing to take on this role. This was quickly rectified and the young woman was no longer an outsider but now had a close group around

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