Vietnamese Culture In 'Crickets By Thieu Or Ted'

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Pages: 4

In the story Crickets, the narrator Thieu or “Ted” tells a story from his perspective of life as a Vietnamese native living in America. America’s culture affects Thieu in his place of work, his home and family life, as well as his subconscious. Thieu is being negatively affected by his move to America through the undeniable cultural differences he is faced to live with day to day. In the beginning of Crickets, Thieu mentions that he has moved from his home land to the American state of Louisiana where he works at a refinery. At the refinery, Thieu is given an American name of which is insulting to the character due to the fact that he has a traditional Vietnamese name. “They call me Ted where I work and they’ve called me that for a decade now and it still bothers me” (Butler 59). The character is displeased with the name given to him by Americans and feels that he may not be called his birth name due to status. Another man that goes …show more content…
Upon playing the game, Bill has little to no interest in what his father is showing him. This is a reflection of how Bill feels toward the Vietnamese culture as well. As the game progresses, Thieu feels some form of sorrow for the sake of his culture being irrelevant to his own son but also to the realization that he is in fact in another country that will not provide him with even the game materials he needs to show his son their culture. The culture itself is not present due to the circumstances of the environment and Thieu realizing this was the point at which he gave up. “I thought he had read my mind and shared my feeling, but I looked at him and he was pointing at the toes of his white sneakers. “My Reeboks are ruined” (Butler 64). Bill has adapted to the American life and Thieu was still trying to hold on to the last bit of culture he has left which is only