The Best We Could Do: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Although American readers are probably used to the clichés about immigration, hard work, and freedom, Bui implores them to recognize the particularity and diversity of migration stories rather than fall into the easy trap of grouping all such stories under stereotypes. The lessons Bui and her siblings learn in their youth are all directly related to their parents’ experiences in Việt Nam. School gave them social mobility; staying together allowed them to survive, support one another, and maintain their identities amidst turmoil; and “lock[ing] the door!” is a practical measure to avoid clashing unexpectedly with unsavory characters like the North Vietnamese. The “IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS” folder also speaks volumes about the way Bui’s parents choose to memorialize the past: as they did upon arriving in the United States, they choose not to be burdened with their past as they move forward with their lives there. Of course, while this is to some degree an effective coping strategy for their trauma, it also prevents them from ever fully confronting it, and the silence it leaves behind is what inspired Bui to write this book as a form of remembrance.

Lan, Bích, and Má all direct their difficult experiences in Việt Nam into tireless work in the United States—and, despite the long depression Bui wrote about in her third chapter, Bố eventually begins to do the same, with some prodding. But the family also still sticks together—at least until the movies come around. They are, as Bui explained in her opening chapters, close by American standards but not necessarily by Vietnamese ones.