Analysis Of 'Who Will Light Incense When Mother's Gone'

In “Who Will Light Incense when Mother’s Gone”, Andrew Lam stated the fact that he did not maintain his Vietnamese tradition and culture the way that his mother had wanted. Having migrated to the United States during childhood, Lam had forgotten the last time he lit his incense sticks and talked to his dead ancestors, and as a result, he felt guilty when his mother asked his aunt who will light incense when she was gone. As a child, Lam did light his incense for his ancestor, and prayed for his own good health, however he became rebellious against his mother as he grew up. When his mother asked him to speak more Vietnamese inside the house, he refused to speak it, as he did not see its importance. He admitted that he may not be an “incense-lightning

Both of these articles explained that to be an American means to look forward to the future and live individually. This theme particularly found when Andrew Lam in “Who Will Light Incense When Mother Gone” concluded that he lived in a different world from his mother, as he said the fact that “mine is a world of traveling and writing and public speaking; hers is a world of consulting the Vietnamese horoscope and eating vegetarian food when the moon is full” (Lam 2013). The fact that he had abandoned his tradition and culture did not bother him as much, since he knew that there was another way to keep his tradition and culture alive which was through his writing career, as he also went on to say “every morning I write, rendering memories into words… going back further, invoking the past precisely” (Lam 2013). Through these quotes, Lam had shown what it was like to be an American which was to look forward to the future despite what one did in the past, as he himself did not feel guilty of his past, and tried to move forward by keeping his tradition and culture alive in his unique way. In “The Son from America”, this theme is also shown when Samuel discovered upon his returned home from the United States that his parents and the whole village of Lentshin did not need his help, as it stated that “he wanted to help the village. He brought not only his own money, but funds from Lentshin Society in New