Before Kien is allowed to board the plane to America, the policeman who asked him for his documents tossed his papers into a pile of papers from other "anonymous forgotten families" (334). Kien describes his flying sheets of papers as white butterflies, a motif that represents his adult freedom from childhood hardship. The metamorphosis of immature insects is often described by Kien whenever he undergoes painful experiences while he is in the process of developing more experiences in his life and growing from it. Kien’s maturity is presented when he retreats into a white cocoon after Lam raped him to protect himself without the help of his other family members, shouldering the responsibility to protect his brother when he refused to seek any help from Lam’s threats alone. When Kien retreats to his cocoon, his actions present a fear of adulthood as his method of coping with it is through retreating into an object reminiscent of childhood. At the end of the novel, Kien also describes his surroundings as a "silkworm transform[ed] into a caterpillar" when he had nightmares of his past even after he found a new life in America (342). In this instance, Kien uses the symbolic silkworm to convey to his audience that his childhood fears in Vietnam have only been transformed into a similar fear, of stressfully taking more adult responsibilities, in the form of a caterpillar when he is in America. However, at the moment when Kien's papers are presented as butterflies, the images of a worm and caterpillar, which are associated with his difficult childhood, are not present during a milestone in his life where he will be free from a society that had restricted his success, due to his association with the reactionary class that the Vietnamese government opposed. Kien is freed temporarily from his childhood associated with being a silkworm and in a cocoon through the description of butterflies, which is associated with adulthood, when he is given the hope of leaving his Vietnam to a new country away from his experienced tribulations as a child.
By Bonnie Y.
By Bonnie Y.
This motif slipped right under my nose as I read, and I'm glad you caught on and mentioned it. The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is captured in all forms and phases, from inception to butterfly. It is sad however that although he mentioned entering a cocoon of sorts when he was raped, he never truly is offered any solace or escape from the horrors he faced. The only time he seems to be able to escape is during his literal escape, which makes the butterfly metaphor beautiful and fitting.
ReplyDeleteBy Hannah G.
I also thought that drawing the papers as though they were floating butterflies was simple and creative, and was a good choice for this section. I also think this metaphor is interesting because butterflies tend to migrate, just like the characters in this memoir.
ReplyDeleteBy Hannah G.
I’m glad that you discussed this as you journal entry because I missed the butterflies the first time reading (I was so engrossed in the ending). I like that you tied it into Kien’s coping mechanism of retreating into the white cocoon after a traumatic event and the caterpillar in the epilogue. After all the horrors that Kien and his family experienced, the analogy of rebirth is a positive symbol to end the memoir with. I like the symbolism behind the drawing. I think you did a good job capturing the essence of the moment. In a way, it almost seems like Kien and his family are freed by luck or chance. The fact that the papers he so tirelessly worked to fill out are completely pointless in his final moments before freedom, is a testament to how “lucky” Kien is when you look at his story in comparison to so many others.
ReplyDeleteBy Candice V.