Inside Out And Back Again By Thanhha Lai

It was a time when refugees were fleeing with almost nothing. Most only brought whatever they had in their pockets or hand(Shapiro). They involuntarily left their home so suddenly that most didn’t have time to bring many, if any, belongings with them. The loss of these belongings made them feel like their lives had been turned inside out. In the novel Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, Ha’s family was forced to flee when the war got closer to their home. They too had to leave quickly and didn’t have much time to bring anything. Each family member was only allowed to choose one belonging to bring with them and had to leave the rest behind. However, with substantial determination, it was possible for them to get over this loss, accept

A feeling of sorrow is created by this loss, and it causes them to feel like their lives are being turned inside out. For example, in the article “Children of War,” a teenage refugee from Bosnia named Emil said, “Sometimes I wish I stayed there…”(Brice). Just like Emil, when many refugee children leave so many things behind, they often wish that they could have stayed in their old country despite all of the dangers. Very similarly, Ha said, “...at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama”(Lai 195). This clearly shows how much Ha was struggling with adjusting to her life in Alabama. She thinks it would be better to be back in Vietnam with all of her worldly belongings and just deal with the war, than to try to conquer these difficulties. Likewise, Ha had to leave her papaya tree. Ha loved her papayas and described them as, “...orange-yellow delights smelling of summer,”(Lai 21). She was devastated when her brother cut them down; she saw this as an execution. While she was watching this, she said, “the head falls; a silver blade slices”(Lai 60). Ha undoubtedly loved her papayas so much, and when they were cut down, she felt like she lost a very important part of her old life. Leaving things behind can be very challenging and make it hard for refugee children to adapt to their new life, but eventually, they can usually get over it enough to

For example, in Fantino and Colak’s article, “Refugee Children in Canada: Searching For Identity,” they state that “How well children adapt is influenced by several factors, including… individual resiliency…”. This shows that children can best overcome the sorrow of their losses with strong determination and dedication to get back to a normal life again. A specific example of this is when Ha wanted to learn how to fly kick to hurt the people bullying her, but then realized that it is better to be successful than to hurt somebody else. She said, “...I hope...I truly learn to fly-kick, not to kick anyone so much as to fly.” (Lai 259-260) This shows that Ha wanted to rise above the challenges she was facing. She was adjusting all of the change she had gone through and realized that hurting people wasn’t going to help her at all. She was gaining confidence again and was trying to overcome all of the loss and hardship that she had gone through. Another example of this is when Ha tried dried papaya and thought it was distasteful, but her mom convinced her to give it a chance. She says, “Chewy. Sugary. Waxy. Sticky...Not the same at all...learn to compromise...Hummm...Not the same, but not bad at all”(Lai 232-234). Ha decided that her mom