This section of her memoir focuses around an idiom: blood is thicker than water. In her journey component of her memoir, she is reunited with her two of her siblings, Bon Nghe and Hai. She is also overjoyed to finally see her mother again. There is a wall of resistance between Le Ly and most of her family. Her sister, Hai, refused to see her as she was working. Her brother, Bon Nghe, was reluctant to be close to her because he was unsure about she had become, and he was also, in a way, brainwashed from working for the government for so long that he felt distrustful of most everyone. Even her own mother held resistance is greeting her with a hug. Within minutes of being reunited, they feel like family again but still hold up some resistance against Le Ly and the government under which her new country is led.
Despite her young age, Le Ly is involved in the black market. She is also introduced to prostitution and human trafficking but thinks these are only for people who are extremely desperate for money. She also makes the realization that in order to find a better life for herself and her son she must move West. "If baby Hung and I and my father's spirit were to survive the death of Vietnam, we would have to turn our eyes elsewhere--to the West--to the direction of the rising, no setting, sun; and pray that sun would one day shine again on our country." This quote reminded me of how we often have to make decisions that go against what we want. She did not want to leave Vietnam, her homeland, but she had to for the sake of her son. Many of us will be faced with decisions in life where we have to place happiness of others before our own.
Although her young life is still mentioned, this section also begins the phasing out of her young life and focusing more on her adult life. Whereas, the beginning focused primarily on her life as a young farm girl, it is now beginning to have a bigger focus on her reunion with her homeland and her relatives.
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