From “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places” by Le Ly Hayslip
“I dropped my bucket and peeled off the top two of the three shirts I always wore. The top shirt – the one I would wear all day if nothing happened – was brown” (361).
Word Count: 291
I chose this quote because I thought it was interesting and very intelligent to have a young girl have these different colored shirts to signal when the Republicans were coming. Not only would they not suspect her because she is such a young girl, but they probably wouldn’t recognize her if she were to change her shirt. It’s interesting how much responsibility they placed on such a young girl, and it also makes sense because of the state of their country. Everyone had to be very helpful to survive. Even such simplistic things as changing the color of her shirt saved her village and she ended up being the hero. I think this forced her to have to grow up very quickly and be a leader to a lot of the younger children. She was teaching them how to hide better and risked a lot for herself and her village. It was also inspiring how intelligent she was when she got taken by the guards for questioning, she knew how to answer every question and exactly how to phrase it so that she would seem like just a young girl. It makes me sad reading after everything she did for her village, no one was interested in hearing her side of the story after mysteriously escaping the prison. I think she just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to show the Viet Cong that she was on their side still.
Your blog definitely hits some of the high points of the text. I love how you incorporated the idea of the colorful shirts and becoming a hero to her people. I think your right she was forced into becoming more mature, they took away her childhood. After they kind of just cast her aside it is really sad.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post, and I think your insights on the excerpt were very inspiring. She did everything she could to be a leader and hero to her village, and in the end, she was just that. I also agree with you when you say she was very intelligent in the fact that she was changing her shirt colors to try to give a heads up about the Republicans. I, personally, would not be able to think of this tactic, so it amazes me that such a young girl was so brilliant in a time of need. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this analysis, and I thought your insights were passionate about the chapter.
ReplyDeleteHaving done such a simple task of changing the characteristics of shirts defiantly shows how much of an impact she really had made as she had to be doing something useful to contribute. I agree, it is very sad that having gone through such a tough and being so influential, but not getting much praise can be very discouraging.
ReplyDeleteLe Ly was very brave and I think that this whole story shows how fast children had to grow up during this time. She was truly still a child and she should not have had that responsibility placed upon her, especially since it seems that the people she was fighting for didn't care about the consequences her village had to face. It really is upsetting to read knowing how young she was during this time and how brutal the torture and threats were.
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