Há has learned to keep her Vietnamese heritage but to respect and understand American life style. While Há is at Miss Washington's house after school in november, she learns that Miss Washington had a son who left America to fight in the Vietnam war. She is surprised that the name of her home could sound so sad. To cheer her up Miss Washington bring out a photo album full of pictures of Vietnam that her son sent home before he died. She is ecstatic to see pictures of the place she longs for night and day. When she flips to a page with image of a papaya tree she tells Miss Washington about her paypa tree and the Vietnamese word for papaya, “By the time I teach her/ đu đu,/ She teaches me/ doo-doo. We are laughing so hard.”(202) Miss Washington is…show more content… Her mother is embarrassed that they are so picky and refusing the common food. Há understands that it is things like this that separate her from the people around her and in order to adapt to American life she must accept things like fried chicken. When Há “force[s]” the sound she is clearly is upset by the entire situation. When Há starts school she is bullied. She is made fun of because of her looks her language and sometimes even her religion. When Miss Scott talks about Vietnam in class she asks Há if she has anything to say. She respond by claiming to know buddha. The class erupted in laughter. Later that day kids in her class run after her shouting boo-da boo-da. As she runs to find brother Khôi, they have “enough time.../ to repeat/ hundreds of boo-das./ Enough time/ for me to turn and yell,/ gee-sus gee-sus. I love how they stop,/ mouths open”(219). Há is sick of being picked on because of her differences. She wants others to to feel the pain she is in trying to adapt. She does not want to give up the part of her that is Vietnamese so she can fit in. When she “love[s] how they stop mouths open” she knows they are feeling like she
