Final : An American Story and Hunger of Memory

   Does everyone have a place where they truly belong to and are welcomed there? In "An American Story" a Vietnamese family is trying to leave Vietnam. After fifteen years of trials and hard work, they were reunited and became successful in their new country. In "Hunger of Memory" a young Hispanic boy lives in a neighborhood that mostly consists of Americans. The boy and his family stood out, because they could not speak a lot of proper English, but they all still have a loving and special family to return to. Both stories tell us that everyone has a place or family to belong to.
   Since the young boy from "Hunger of Memory" could not speak perfect English, his family was constantly shunned by some of their neighbors. In line 11 the author wrote, "But despite all they achieved, the confidence of 'belonging' in public was withheld from them.(Page 161)" From both quotes of the story, the feeling of not being welcomed and out of place was given. The young boy and his family may not be welcomed by some people in their neighborhood, but they will always have a home and their family to go back to. The last paragraph of the story on page 164 reads, "A family member would say something to me and I would feel myself specially recognized. My parents would say something to me and I would feel embraced by the sounds of their words. Those sounds said, I am speaking with ease in Spanish. I am addressing you with words I never use with los gringos. I recognize you as someone special, close, like no one outside. You belong with us. In the family. (Page 164)" From this paragraph, the author tells us that even though the boy is not "specially recognized" outside, he has his family with him.
    "An American Story" is also about a family moving to the United States. According to the second paragraph, "They were boat people. They had left Vietnam on a small fishing boat. (Page 153" This quote means the Dinh family had to go through a hard course to try leaving Vietnam. Taking a boat out of Vietnam is not the only complicated task in leaving. In paragraph 5, the author wrote, "Phong Dinh tried unsuccessfully twenty-five times to get out of Vietnam by boat. He paid boatmen who never turned up or who were arrested. (Page 153)" Phong Dinh was not the only member to struggle with leaving. Van Dinh and Quan Dinh, Van's son, were taken into Hong Kong camp, waiting for clearance as a refugee. Van Dinh was finally interviewed after years when the Hong Kong authorities began to feel pressured. On paragraph 10, sentence 6 we find out, "The family was reunited after fifteen years." Some family members because successful in America. Some became an accountant, computer programmer, or some are still learning in colleges. One member of the Dinh family, Viet Dinh, graduated from Harvard Law School and is now working as a law clerk. After all their difficulties of getting into America, each person found a place in America as immigrants.
   Both "An American Story" and "Hunger of Memory" tell us that everyone has a place or family to belong to. In one story, a Vietnamese family separate and meet again in America where they have much more freedom. In "Hunger of Memory" a young boy and his family live in America even though they do not know a lot of English. They didn't need to have confident English speaking skills to fit in, because they have each other. By reading the two stories, all readers can realize they are not alone in the world.