When we talk about the Vietnamese, most people will think them as refugees because of their history. The book “The Vietnamese American 1.5 generation Stories of war, Revolution, Flight, and New Beginnings” by Sucheng Chan described the history of Vietnam; the Vietnamese refugees’ experiences and sufferings they had gone through while on boat to go out of Vietnam, and their settlements outside of Vietnam. The Vietnamese as refugees who had gone through many hardships while escaping to other countries. Vietnam had to fight for its independence from Japan and French. It made them suffered more when they had to fight against their own people during the Civil War. By trying to declare its independence, Ho Chi Minh started the revolution in the North to fight with invaders, and fought with the South people who was supported by the United States to finally took over the South and make Vietnam a Communist state; this civil war caused many Vietnamese suffered because they had to fight with their own people in the war and became the refugees to leave Vietnam to seek for freedoms after the Fall of Saigon.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section is about the history of Vietnam and the Vietnamese refugees’ experiences and different reasons they travel to America or other countries. In the early time of the history, Vietnam was influenced by China that the emperor was in control of ruling the dynasties. The French went to Vietnam in 1614 to try to colonize and cultivate the Vietnamese to promote Catholicism. French forced Vietnam to sign The Treaty of Saigon in 1862 to cede Saigon to French. Under French’s control and suppression, the Vietnamese wanted to start the movement of anti-French and declare its independence. To fig...
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...ch discriminations in school because China’s power is increasing. Not like Vietnam in 1970s, it has been 30 years after I came here because a lot of things are different nowadays.
As refugees in America, Vietnamese experienced many difficulties adopting the American culture. They came from Asia where there is complete different culture from the United States. They had to change their life styles and believe. In order to fit into the American culture, they have to start everything newly again and abundant everything they had in Vietnam. They were still being discriminated at even though they tried to assimilate fully. They did not have to experience this if there were no wars in Vietnam. The war only gave them suffering and nothing else. Especially, when there is a Civil War when people have to fight with their own people. Therefore, peace is important to people.
Vietnam has a very rich and cultural diverse background dating all the way back to 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded and paved the way for English colonization. The French had been colonizing since the 19th century. The French role in Vietnams history is critical; they started out by bringing these simple peasants to the latest technology of farming and hunting (Yancey 37). The French helped these people out greatly in the beginning, but like all stories of occupation go they just got worse. They started forcing rules and laws on the people of Vietnam. Thus started the First Vietnam War, also known as the Indochina War between France and Vietnam. "The French possessed military superiority, but the Vietnamese had already the hearts and minds of the country. (38). Even from the beginning the Vietnamese had the odds to there favor. The French looked at the wars in numbers and how many lost on each side. They gathered from all the battles that they were winning because the Vietnamese casualties far outweighed the French; nonetheless they were wrong. To a certain point the French were fighting a game that they could not win at any cost. The French had the military superiority but the Vietnamese had the manpower and the Guerilla tactics. The Indochina War ended with French loosing terrible at Dienbienphu, where a whole French garrison was wiped out.
Lawrence’s purpose in writing this book was concise and to the point. In recent history, due to the fall of the Soviet bloc, new information has been made available for use in Vietnam. As stated in the introduction, “This book aims to take account of this new scholarship in a brief, accessible narrative of the Vietnam War… It places the war within the long flow of Vietnamese history and then captures the goals and experiences of various governments that became deeply embroiled in the country during the second half of the twentieth century” (Lawrence, 3.) This study is not only about the American government and how they were involved in the Vietnam conflict, but highlights other such countries as France, China, and the Soviet Union. Lawrence goes on to say that one of his major goals in writing this book is to examine the American role in Vietnam within an international context (Lawrence, 4.) Again, this goes to show that the major purpose of Lawrence’s study included not only ...
Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many Americans’ opposition. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried applies New Historicism elements, including Vietnam history recovery and the political power of the United States that affected history.
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the readers follow the Alpha Company’s experiences during the Vietnam War through the telling’s of the main character and narrator, Tim. At the beginning of the story, Tim describes the things that each character carries, also revealing certain aspects of the characters as can be interpreted by the audience. The book delineates what kind of person each character is throughout the chapters. As the novel progresses, the characters’ personalities change due to certain events of the war. The novel shows that due to these experiences during the Vietnam War, there is always a turning point for each soldier, especially as shown with Bob “Rat” Kiley and Azar. With this turning point also comes the loss of innocence for these soldiers. O’Brien covers certain stages of grief and self-blame associated with these events in these stories as well in order to articulate just how those involved felt so that the reader can imagine what the effects of these events would be like for them had they been a part of it.
Even though Little Saigon provided Vietnamese American with economic benefit, political power, this landmark also witnessed many difficulties that Vietnamese experienced. Vietnamese American experienced many traumatic events prior to migration such as war, journey on boats, therefore many of them suffered posttraumatic stress disorder, stress, and depression. Significantly, Vietnamese refugees who went to the re-education camps sustained torture, humiliation, deprivation, brainwashing and several other punishments from Vietnamese Communist. Those refugees have higher rates of having mental disorder. Language barrier is another obstacle that...
Vietnam War (1954-1975) is considered as one of those big wars of the modern world that has been acknowledged and studied by countries in the world. Especially, in regard to the United States, starting and ending war in Vietnam was an unforgettable experience that has left a priceless lesson in its foreign policy, and of course a lot of loss, physically, mentally, and property. “The Legacy of Vietnam” article of George Herring basically summarizes how the Vietnam War led to an end in failure of America and what consequences it left behind.
The story focuses on her great-grandfather, who was in disapproval of the French occupation of Vietnam, but still excelled at his job as a Mandarin under the puppet imperial court, fearing persecution of his family if he were to resign. In this section, the author also mentions more about the how the values of confusion had influenced the Vietnamese people in attempts to justify her great grandfather’s
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
Throughout Vietnam’s history geography has play a role during it and because of it’s location, climate, soil it was an ideal place for farming which would soon attract invaders. The Chinese, French ,and Japanese all wanted something from Vietnam which included agriculture abundance, colonial possessions, and natural resources. They all controlled Vietnam at this time. Japan surrendered when vietminh declared it’s independence and the United States did not support this independence. The French and Vietminh went into war where the french had lost and Vietnam was divided ( French took control of
The Vietnam War was the longest and most expensive war in American History. The toll we paid wasn't just financial, it cost the people involved greatly, physically and mentally. This war caused great distress and sadness, as well as national confusion. Everyone had that one burning question being why? Why were we even there? The other question being why did America withdrawal from Vietnam. The purpose of this paper is to answer these two burning questions, and perhaps add some clarity to the confusion American was experiencing.
The world after Mongol conquest has been shaped and changed significantly by various important history events. These events had huge impacts on nations’ politics, economy and society. Nations were involved in the world rapid modernization process. The country I researched on is Vietnam. In this essay, I will address on the impact of important events happened since the 13th century had on Vietnam history, and the interactions between Vietnam and other parts of the world.
The Vietnam War was a violent and costly war that needed many men to fight for its cause. These men are now known as the Vietnam veterans. Numerous veterans who fought in the war were injured or lost a comrade during battle. These soldiers fought to protect the United States and its people while risking their own lives. A lot of these brave men were either killed or injured and did not gain the respect they deserved until after the war. The Vietnam soldiers felt that they had a responsibility to protect their country and its people.
The Vietnam War was a time of turmoil in 1970s America. To many, the war was seen as pointless and the public was not shy to let this be known to the government. Nevertheless, the brave young men that fought to defeat communism went to Vietnam, some willing, and some not so willing as the Selective Service Act gave them no choice but to serve. While the citizens were at home in the states, not too focused on the war, the men had to deal with some hellish conditions, and a heavy conscience. The men had to be on constant watch for the Viet Cong, and if this was not enough of a burden to begin with, this was just the tip of a much larger iceberg. American soldiers dealt with harsh conditions and the equipment
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as