When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch. 13 & 14, Finding Peace & Letting Go;
"' See what you've taught me, Bay Ly? That you're never too old to forgive people; that it's never too late to patch the dike ans save a little more of whatever life's left you. Come on now' -she turns me by the arm and shoos me in like a little girl- 'your famliy is waiting!" (337). This quote goes back to the quote when Anh told Le Ly it was her turn to start teaching. I think that is shown right here when Le Ly's mother told her that she has learned something from her. I bet this was an overwhelming experience for Le Ly because she has been distant with her mother and now she is teacihng her? That would be hard for anyone to comprehend. Therefore, Le Ly has found peace within her mother, family, and herself.

In chapter 14, Le Ly has to now let go of all the hurt that has been done to her in the past. She has to be able to leave those feelings in Vietnam. Le Ly says, "A human soul is a human soul-regardless of the label we put on the bodies" (342). I feel like this quote itself shows Le Ly letting go of all the hurt in her life. She has put all those men that have harmed her in comparison to every other person of the planet. Le Ly means that no matter what race, political side, or culural background, we are all human. This RESOLUTION for Le Ly has come better late then never because she can now leave this place with no burdens and no bad karma. I think Le Ly's reason for coming if just to see her family has been more then fulfilled. She reunited with her family and has a whole new relationship with her family and herself. As sad as it is to leave and go back to her home, all is done that can be done. Le Ly can go back with a clear conscience about everything and more. This was a great journey and I hope others learn from this woman's wisdom.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch. 11 & Ch. 12, Almost in Paradise; Finding a Family

Le Ly is at her first day of work as a nurse. She loves it! I like this chapter because she sees that there is actually good in the world. Le Ly says, "This is heaven,' I thought. "Strangers come to solve your problems even before you ask for help!" (275). I feel like Le Ly just wants to help others in this job, but things keep stopping her, like her supervisor. An American man offers her help with this problem and he gets her transfered. Le Ly learns that the war is still affecting Vietnam with Anh. As they are touring, they pass an albino buffalo, which you are supossed to make a wish upon seeing. Le Ly makes her wish. I believe her wish was that one day a mother won't be able to recount the memories of this war. The IMAGERY Le Ly uses is very vivid because i can see the picture she is trying to paint in her own head. In chapter 12, Le Ly meets a nice man who again says he could make living easy for her. They move in together and things are going smoothly until he starts drinking. He then gets violent with her and Le Ly keeps having this dream of her leaving, which needs to happen. She sees more of her family againa nd is questioned about why she came back. Le Ly says no matter where she is, she would have wanted to come back. Le Ly wants to learn from her mother and gets a tape recorder to have all of what she says, but her mother refuses to talk while it is one. So Le Ly must use her mind to rememeber and keep what her mother says for the future.  

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch 10, Power on Earth
"'That's easy,' he says. 'Overcoming our pain from the war. Learning to trust when we're afraid. Learning to honor the past while letting go of it at the same time. These are the things you came to Vietnam to learn, Bay Ly-isn't that so? Perhaps it's your turn to teach'" (273). Anh says this quote to Le Ly and I think it is a turning point for Le Ly. Anh presents this RHETORIC thought to Le Ly by first understanding her and then allowing her to go further in the reasons she came back. I feel like the title of this chapter applies to Le Ly herself.  It is time for Le LY to put power back into the hands of her own self, that of her family, and the culture of Vietnam.

This picture makes me think of the attitude Le Ly has and should have as Anh is saying it is her turn to take things into her hands. This situation aslo resembles when woman worked in factories during WWII. Men went off to fight and so woman took the homefront into the their own hands. They started making the things the men needed. This applies to Le Ly because she needs to be strong in this time of struggle.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch 9, Daughters and Sons
"I hold my mother tightly and, for the first time since our reunion-for the first time in sixteen years-she hugs me back. I feel her warm breath on my neck and hear it ragged in my ear, but I can't tell if she's crying. Of course, it doesn't matter. I am young. I have enough tears for us both" (254). Le Ly has been distant from her mother during their whole reunion. At this moment all she has risked to come back and all her family has risked for seeing her are worth it. I like how Le Ly says she has enough tears for her and her mother because it doesn't show her weakness, but her strength. Le Ly's mother has other daughters and sons, but they are sharing a special moment that needed to be shared. Le Ly learned a lot from her mother, most importantly she learned how to survive.

This song reminds me of Le Ly's parents because as the lyrics to this song go:

"So fathers, be good to your daughters

Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too"

From the lessons and love from her mother and father Le Ly became the mother she is today. Her parents had the DIDACTIC for Le Ly. Even having her childhood through a war, she has turned into a mother and can now appreciate all the times she has felt love from her own mother. This embrace they share brings back all the pain their people had to suffer through, but is a reminder of how they survived. Who knew so many emotions could be brought on by a hug?

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch. 8, Sisters and Brothers
"I can tell Anh regrets not having been a father to Hung when he had the oppurtunity, but the past for everyone is full of missed chances. Surviving to understand them, if not to set them straight, is one of the things that makes the next breath worth taking" (221). This quote really speaks to me because it applies to every single persons life. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has regrets, but what do we do next? And Le Ly says it best in this PEDANTIC quote. The events and situations in her life could have gone so many different ways. She could have stayed in her village and if she had the war would not be over for her either. Fortunately she got out and made for herself a better life.

       A wise man once said, "Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh."

-Henry David Thoreau

I like the last sentence of his quote. I think it goes hand in hand with Le Ly's because she is saying that making sense of a missed chance or a regret makes life worth living. Thoreau says if you have a missed chance that you know you should have taken causes you to live new and revived because you now are excited to look for the next best thing. I believe Le Ly has become comparable to the highly aclaimed poet Thoreau through her experiences and life time lessons.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch. 7, A Different View
"With the sickening feeling that I was now a stranger in my own homeland, I crossed the last few yards to my house with a lump in my throat and a growing sense of dread. Houses could be rebuilt and damaged dikes repaired-but the loss of our temples and shrines meant the death of our culture itself. It meant generations of children would grow uo without fathers to teach them about their ancestors or the ritutals of worship. Families would lose records of their lineage and with them the umbilicals to the very root of our society-not just old buildings and books, but people who once lived and loved them" (195).

This photo is excatly what I was thinking reading this quote. This used to be a shrine and the woman looks as if she has lost everything. I jsut learned in the few seconds to read the quote above that she bascially has. Le Ly said earlier in the novel that fathers stay back to protect the shrines, so if the shrine is destroyed then what happend to the father? It is hard as Americans to comprehend the statement, "...the loss of our temples and shrines meant death of our culture itself," because we do not practice this. We write it down in books or document with pictures. Whereas Le Ly's culture is to build up this shrine over the many years their ancestors have lived and learn from it. As American soliders, I don't think we knew that it meant to destroy one. The next generations could no longer know what their family was about or their heritage. This SETTING is hard for Le Ly to take in. When Le Ly finds her badly beaten father, it is almost as if he is the shrine in shambles. He also knows the information the shrine holds and he himself has their culture in his hands. Le Ly's father goes on to tell her that she cannot blame anyone. All she needs to worry about is the battle she was born to fight which is to raise her son the best she can.

When Heaven and Earth Changed Places

Ch 6, A Question of Fatih
"My little peach blossom-haven't you learned yet that fate or luck or god works in its own way, and reveals its secrets in its own time? When has it ever paid you to turn your face from life? Keep your faith Bay Ly: Look those deepest, darkest, most terrible fears in the face and learn the lesson they've come to teach-" (193). As Le Ly is drifting off to sleep, these RHETORICAL QUESTIONS are being asked. I think they are good questions to think about. There are many situations when fate, luck, and god have revealed themselves in their own time. Like when the helicopter came when she was getting attacked by those three men. Great timing or a work of god? I believe you are never given what you can't handle. All Le Ly has been through has been extraordinarily hard, but she got through it. They have made her stronger as a person. The events in Le Ly's life and her over all being as a woman makes me thing of the chorus of the song:

Fighter by Christina Aguilera.

      Makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

I think Le Ly can say this to all who have ever hurt her, tortured her, or caused her emotional damage. This is because she became a woman after bearing a son basically by herself. This and all her childhood memories that no child should go through don't define her, but help make who she is at this moment in the novel.