Journal (6/1)

Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice- Nam Le

It was really interesting to read the short story by Nam Le. The narrator tells stories of his past and his father’s past along with their relationship and differences. There were certain aspects and parts in the story that i could relate too. My parents are also immigrants from Korea. My dad came to america for college to study and get a better education. My mother soon followed him, leaving everything she had and her friends and and family behind. They both came to america with little knowledge of the culture. They had to learn to adapt to the new environment and culture and worked hard with the main goal of providing the best for their family. On page two the author notes how his father goes to the sink and immediately starts doing the dishes when he sees the month-old crusted mount of dishes. The father also asks if tNam is hungry and if he wants the father to make something. I can relate my mom and my grandma both act like this too. They always try to clean and always make sure i eat. Whether this is a cultural thing or not, it shows how parents prioritize and truly want the best for their kids no matter what circumstance. On page two, the narrator also notes how he quickly tries to hide and clean his messy apartment. He tries to hard parts of his life and apartment because he thinks its better off if his father did not know. The author almost sounds irritated. This reminds me how whenever my mom or my housemate’s mom tries to come to our apartment, we dread it because they always try to clean everything immediately. We always try to pre-clean before they come because it can get annoying as well when our moms immediately start tidying our place and does not rest. It was also interesting when the narrator had the conversation with Linda. She tells him that though Nam’s father abused him, he still romanticized stories of his father. The author responds by saying how we forgive any sacrifice by our parents. He notes that his father’s sacrifice was “complete and compelled him to everything that happened. To all that [he] was inadequate”. I think this way of think is really common among Asian Americans. Many of the parents sacrificed so much when immigrating to the US, and so children feel the pressure to always respect and obey parents.