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Bố’s Mother
A “dapper gentleman” of unknown origins who shows up in a village near Hải Phòng some time before World War II with his son (Bố’s father). He convinces the village chief to let him marry his daughter, the woman Bố comes to know as his grandmother, and then steals her valuable opium jars and flees in consort with his son and daughter-in-law (Bố’s father and mother). Although Bố’s grandfather continues to be cruel and abusive to his wife after they later reconnect, he cares for Bố throughout his childhood and adolescence, eventually moving with him to the Southern capital of Sài Gòn after Việt Nam wins its independence and gets partitioned into two. Since the rest of his family is out of the picture, Bố is essentially raised by his grandfather (and, when she is around, his grandmother). Bố’s grandfather eventually reunites with his wife a second time and lives out the rest of his life as a shopkeeper in Bàn Cờ. Thi Bui meets him when she visits Việt Nam.
Bố’s Grandfather Quotes in The Best We Could Do
The The Best We Could Do quotes below are all either spoken by Bố’s Grandfather or refer to Bố’s Grandfather. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
Every casualty in war is someone’s grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, child, lover.
In the decade of the First Indochina War, while my parents were still children learning their place in the world…
…an estimated 94,000 French soldiers died trying to reclaim France’s colony.
Three to four times as many Vietnamese died fighting them or running away from them.
This was the human cost of ending France’s colonial rule in Southeast Asia…
…and winning Việt Nam’s independence.
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Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
“But the month I spent in the Communist North had a very different effect on me.”
“It was true that the Việt Minh had won independence by winning the WAR.”
“But the new society I dreamed of didn’t EXIST.”
“Here there was no freedom of thought, no allowance for individuality.”
“I was fourteen. Sài Gòn represented a whole new world of possibility to me.”
“Who would choose a world that had become so narrow, so poor and gray?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Best We Could Do LitChart as a printable PDF.
Bố’s Grandfather Quotes in The Best We Could Do
The The Best We Could Do quotes below are all either spoken by Bố’s Grandfather or refer to Bố’s Grandfather. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5
Quotes
Every casualty in war is someone’s grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, child, lover.
In the decade of the First Indochina War, while my parents were still children learning their place in the world…
…an estimated 94,000 French soldiers died trying to reclaim France’s colony.
Three to four times as many Vietnamese died fighting them or running away from them.
This was the human cost of ending France’s colonial rule in Southeast Asia…
…and winning Việt Nam’s independence.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“But the month I spent in the Communist North had a very different effect on me.”
“It was true that the Việt Minh had won independence by winning the WAR.”
“But the new society I dreamed of didn’t EXIST.”
“Here there was no freedom of thought, no allowance for individuality.”
“I was fourteen. Sài Gòn represented a whole new world of possibility to me.”
“Who would choose a world that had become so narrow, so poor and gray?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
