Birthdays mark the day that a person was born in this world. The annual celebration of it marks the age that an individual. It is the celebration of life and it usually celebrated with family and friends. In Stealing Buddha's Dinner, Bich mentions that she and her sister do not know their exact date of birth. There is a point where she says "all of my legal records from my original permanent residence card to my citizenship papers and drivers license- list a birthday I don't celebrate" (23). She proceeds to mention that in Vietnam, death is more celebrated than birthdays. It is because the Vietnamese believe that death is not the end, funerals to them are a celebration of life. They place a heavy influence on those celebrations, it is more of a ritual.
Bich has a desire to fit into the American culture, holiday celebrations like Christmas, were things that she celebrated but did not yet understand. Partly because holidays like Christmas and Easter are Christian holidays, and her and her family do not partake in those same beliefs. So for many Americans, death is a time of mourning, and is not celebrated, but it is observed and respected with a funeral. It is not considered a celebration of life for most Christians, it symbolizes the end of life. When Rosa introduced Bich and Anh to the birthday celebrations, they received an estimated day of their birth dates, and were able to start documenting their ages, and enjoy a piece of the American culture.
By: Stephanie B.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Growing up As One
By: Michele Garrett
The narrator and her sister, Anh, have a unique bond that no one else in the book have. They are always described as being together, and share everything including their exclusion from their past (Vietnam). When there is a Vietnamese celebration at their school, the narrator described feeling more alienated from her schoolmates due to Rosa making them wear Vietnamese cultured clothing, so they would be in the spirit of the celebration at their school: "The feeling of being set apart in our outfits had united us. Alone we were self-conscious, but together we were emboldened"(101). If one of them felt out of place, the other sister did as well.
The sisters represent the duality that the immigrants face when coming to America. They face a new consciousness, struggling between keeping a part of their past and culture with them, while also attempting to fit in. The narrator and her sister want to fit in with other children their age, but are sometimes faced with the reality that their only relatable friends would be the other immigrant Vietnamese children. The problem they face with this is not being fluent in Vietnamese any longer. The girls are more assimilated than many of the Vietnamese children they meet at school or parties. The narrator also views maturity through her sister. She knows when they are going through transitions when her sister gains her own groups of friends, and then blocks her from bathing together one summer. The duality is becoming more clear to the narrator at this point.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Wrapped in Culture
By Alyssa B.
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| Courtesy of Wikimedia |
The ao dai, in
Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, becomes more than just a Vietnamese garment. The ao dai is
symbolic throughout the novel as a garment connecting Bich to her Vietnamese heritage, a symbol of
protection and comfort, and also of alienation from and distinction to her culture.
At the beginning of the novel, when Bich’s grandmother Noi
takes her to the park, she is wearing her green ao dai. Noi and her garment link Bich to her Vietnamese roots, the
garment reminds her where she and her grandmother came from. Noi wearing
the garment also signifies that she still is in touch with her homeland through a
tangible object such as a piece of clothing. Shortly after this memory, Bich
retells of Anh’s first birthday party ever. At the party, Bich’s father’s
friends arrive wearing "their best thrift store suits and ao dais" (24). In this scene, the ao dais become a communal link, displaying a visible common ground in the community.
Later in Stealing
Buddha’s Dinner, the ao dai
signifies security. When Bich is describing her grandmother’s life in Vietnam,
she says Noi was prosperous, with enough money for silk for her ao dai. The ao dai, then, implies comfort and security. Continuing this
meaning, on page 41, when Bich is stealing food, she hides among Noi’s ao dais. Again, the ao dais represent protection and security, in this case for Bich.
In the chapter titled “Green Sticky Rice Cakes”, the ao dais enwrap Bich and Anh publicly to
their foreign Vietnamese identities during the Tet celebration at their school.
“Because we were dressed in our ao dais
our teachers assumed we would be spending the morning preparing for the
assembly… The feeling of being set apart in our outfits had united us” (101).
While being alienated from their peers, they are united with other Vietnamese
students. The ao dais give Bich a
tangible connection to her roots while also separating her from her peers.
Fictional Friends
By Caitlin M.
In Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, the narrator and author, Bich Minh Nguyen uses many coping mechanisms to overcome the fact that she is an outcast in American culture, Vietnamese culture, and most importantly, in her own family. One of the essential ways Bich copes with being an outsider is through American literature. The books she reads allow her to feel at ease with herself and with the three communities to which she does not belong. Bich states that “[she] read[s] to be alone. [She] read[s] so as not to be alone” (152). Bich’s act of reading is not one to extend her knowledge or learn something new; it is a way she perpetuates her self-inflicted isolation. She reads to be alone because she cannot handle the harsh realities around her but she realizes she needs a sense of community to survive, so she reads so as not to be alone. The sense of community she inherits is found in the way she refers to the characters in her books is as her “fictional friends” (152). She finds characteristics in these fictional American girls so she can insert herself into their made-up lives, which makes hers a little more bearable. For instance, all of her “fictional friends liked to eat,” just as she likes to eat (153). The fact that Bich has to project her love of food onto fictional characters signifies the troublesome relationship and obsession she has with food. Bich’s coping mechanism, reading in solitude, further perpetuates her social awkwardness and in a sense, does not allow her to grow and make lasting relationships with real people.
In Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, the narrator and author, Bich Minh Nguyen uses many coping mechanisms to overcome the fact that she is an outcast in American culture, Vietnamese culture, and most importantly, in her own family. One of the essential ways Bich copes with being an outsider is through American literature. The books she reads allow her to feel at ease with herself and with the three communities to which she does not belong. Bich states that “[she] read[s] to be alone. [She] read[s] so as not to be alone” (152). Bich’s act of reading is not one to extend her knowledge or learn something new; it is a way she perpetuates her self-inflicted isolation. She reads to be alone because she cannot handle the harsh realities around her but she realizes she needs a sense of community to survive, so she reads so as not to be alone. The sense of community she inherits is found in the way she refers to the characters in her books is as her “fictional friends” (152). She finds characteristics in these fictional American girls so she can insert herself into their made-up lives, which makes hers a little more bearable. For instance, all of her “fictional friends liked to eat,” just as she likes to eat (153). The fact that Bich has to project her love of food onto fictional characters signifies the troublesome relationship and obsession she has with food. Bich’s coping mechanism, reading in solitude, further perpetuates her social awkwardness and in a sense, does not allow her to grow and make lasting relationships with real people.
Lessons that Sting
By Kristie F.
In Stealing Buddha's Dinner, by Bich Minh Nguyen, Nguyen illustrated the strong dichotomy between longing for what others have and appreciating what actually is. Bich's relationship with her stepmother is complex; she longs to be American while Rosa defies it. Rosa, white hateful towards white American traditions, is cultures and aware in ways that Bich is not. Bich's awareness of her own ignorance causes her to resent her stepmother for not being like her friend's mothers, and for not seasoning their family in a more American fashion.
When Bich finally reacts in a less than respectful manner towards her stepmother, she is shown how ignorant she has been in regards to her own family and traditions. Her action of shouting to Rosa that Rosa was not her real mother is countered with Rosa's action of becoming exactly the kind of mother that Bich wished her to become. With this, Bich realizes that she was wrong for wanting Rosa to be like everyone else. Bich is lucky to have a woman that teaches her resilience; a mother that does not feed her food with artificial flavoring; a mother that tries her best. This lesson is shown through her reflection when she states, "for a long time, the sting of the words I had thrown at Rosa stayed with me. She was not, in fact, my real mother, but I never said it again" (129).
In Stealing Buddha's Dinner, by Bich Minh Nguyen, Nguyen illustrated the strong dichotomy between longing for what others have and appreciating what actually is. Bich's relationship with her stepmother is complex; she longs to be American while Rosa defies it. Rosa, white hateful towards white American traditions, is cultures and aware in ways that Bich is not. Bich's awareness of her own ignorance causes her to resent her stepmother for not being like her friend's mothers, and for not seasoning their family in a more American fashion.
When Bich finally reacts in a less than respectful manner towards her stepmother, she is shown how ignorant she has been in regards to her own family and traditions. Her action of shouting to Rosa that Rosa was not her real mother is countered with Rosa's action of becoming exactly the kind of mother that Bich wished her to become. With this, Bich realizes that she was wrong for wanting Rosa to be like everyone else. Bich is lucky to have a woman that teaches her resilience; a mother that does not feed her food with artificial flavoring; a mother that tries her best. This lesson is shown through her reflection when she states, "for a long time, the sting of the words I had thrown at Rosa stayed with me. She was not, in fact, my real mother, but I never said it again" (129).
Silence Speaks Volume
By Stephanie K.
These three different scenes depict the sorrow and unhappiness the Vietnam war has brought through moments of silence. Bich thinks back to witnessing Loans family dinner and "how unhappy and grim her family had seemed" (107). The second scene is of their car ride home from the party that Bich's father threw as they "drove home in silence" (112). The third scene is of Rosa as she stood by the doorway watching Bich's father gambling, "part timid, part passive" and according to Bich, "it was not the stepmother I knew" (107). For Bich's father and Loan's parents, the post war effects have taken a toll on them. But it has also taken a toll on others, like Rosa. Silence is powerful in this memoir as it suggests that everyone is going through this transition. They might live together, eat together and sleep together under the same roof or in the same community but realistically, everyone keeps to themselves. Although connected through their migration there is a clear disconnect between these immigrants as they silence themselves, ultimately going through this transition alone.
The Gamble of Life
These cards symbolize many different ideas in the memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner. At first glance they symbolize the feeling of the unknown which is present in both Bich's life as well as her father's. Playing cards can be all about gambling and not knowing which card you will end up with. This is similar to the way Bich feels in her own life. She isn't sure what is going to happen when her teacher asks them to come up on the stage, she isn't sure what it will feel like when somebody really punches her and not just a fake punch like her sisters, and mostly, she isn't sure what her future holds; if she will eventually find a way to fit in with the "White" kids or if she will have to suffer the "boring, abnormal" world her family lives in. Playing cards can also symbolize fun and entertainment. Bich's father escapes from his house and wife and family to play cards and to feel the fun and excitement that he needs in his life. He throws a party to become the "Person he preferred to be-young, as he had been in Vietnam, surrounded by laughter and friends, drinking and smoking away his 'troubles'" (Nguyen 108). This is a way for him to escape the feelings that Bich is feeling; the depression and shame and overall separated life in which they are trying to blend in with.
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