The Ocean Symbol Analysis

The ocean represents Bui and her family’s contradictory relationship to Việt Nam and their past. First, it symbolizes the sense of isolation and danger that defines their lives for so long: Bui’s characters find themselves alone, surrounded on all sides by an interminable body of water, forced to fend for themselves and risk their lives for the sake of their freedom. This parallels the danger and crushing loneliness they feel in Việt Nam, under a series of repressive governments, the danger of their boat journey itself, and the fear and isolation they after moving to the United States, as they assimilate to a new, unknown culture.

But the ocean also symbolizes the freedom that Bui’s family seeks by escaping Việt Nam. Not only do they literally take to the ocean in their escape attempt to Malaysia, but this is the same ocean that separates Việt Nam from the United States, their old home from their new one. When she looks out upon the Pacific Ocean, Bui both remembers her family’s voyage and realizes how estranged she has become from the place of her birth. When Bố looks up at the stars on pages 248-249, the family’s isolation now means they have steered clear of persecution. And on the last page, Bui explicitly connects the ocean to freedom, autonomy, and self-invention: she depicts her son swimming in the ocean and suggests that “maybe he can be free” of her and her family’s dark past. As her son takes to the sea, too, he also gets a fresh slate.