Chapter 4 of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places has one main focal point: hope. In light of an extremely violent war, Le Ly encourages herself to keep hope alive. "Although I did not realize it at the time, that flight and those feelings brought with them something else, something I had never experienced in Ky La, something even my wonderful parents--who knew everything about life and duty--could not, for their own heavy burdens, give me: the simple feeling of hope." This quote displays just how bad things had gotten in Vietnam. The fact that there essentially was no hope to offer to anyone, even children, is devastating. The fighting had become so terrifying that people were not sure the war would ever cease, and for some, it didn't. Le Ly did not discover this feeling of hope in her village of Ky La; she found it as she was leaving the village. Le Ly introduces some key individuals in this chapter as well. We are introduced to Anh and Lien, the owners of the house she works in. While she does not get to meet him quite yet, she is introduced to her soon-to-be son. Le Ly also mentions a man named Tung who is one of very few flat characters in her memoir.
While the young Le Ly is still discovering her path in the city of Saigon, the older Le Ly has decided to go back to her family despite the warnings of others.
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