The Boy Character Analysis in The Refugees

The narrator of “War Years.” The boy, the boy’s mother, and the boy’s father live in a Vietnamese community in San Jose, California. They had fled Vietnam when the boy was very small, and he has no memories of the war. Growing up in America, the boy finds himself caught between two cultures: the Vietnamese culture of his family, and the American culture of his classmates. As he grows up, he finds that he is more attracted to American culture. He likes school because he can speak English there, he wants the Vietnamese market his parents own to sell TV dinners and bologna, and he loves Star Wars, Captain America, and President Reagan. Meanwhile, his parents are trying to maintain some of the values of their own culture by not giving their son an allowance, by selling only Vietnamese products in their grocery store, and by taking him to church every Sunday. By the end of the story, however, the boy’s mother realizes that she must compromise with him, knowing that he feels connected both to a Vietnamese and to an American cultural identity.

The Boy Quotes in The Refugees

The The Refugees quotes below are all either spoken by The Boy or refer to The Boy. 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:

War and the Refugee Experience Theme Icon

).

“And what about bologna?”

“What?” My mother’s brow furrowed. “If I can’t pronounce it, my customers won’t buy it.”

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother (speaker), The boy’s father

Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

More than all those people starved by famine, it was the thought of my mother not remembering what she looked like as a little girl that saddened me.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

It was a trivial secret, but one I would remember as vividly as my feeling that while some people are haunted by the dead, others are haunted by the living.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother, Mrs. Hoa

Page Number and Citation: 71

Explanation and Analysis:

“Go buy,” she said in English, motioning me inside. Whenever she spoke in English, her voice took on a higher pitch, as if instead of coming from inside her, the language was outside, squeezing her by the throat.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother (speaker), Mrs. Hoa, The boy’s father

Page Number and Citation: 72

Explanation and Analysis:

The Boy Quotes in The Refugees

The The Refugees quotes below are all either spoken by The Boy or refer to The Boy. 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:

).

“And what about bologna?”

“What?” My mother’s brow furrowed. “If I can’t pronounce it, my customers won’t buy it.”

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother (speaker), The boy’s father

Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

More than all those people starved by famine, it was the thought of my mother not remembering what she looked like as a little girl that saddened me.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother

Page Number and Citation: 64

Explanation and Analysis:

It was a trivial secret, but one I would remember as vividly as my feeling that while some people are haunted by the dead, others are haunted by the living.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother, Mrs. Hoa

Page Number and Citation: 71

Explanation and Analysis:

“Go buy,” she said in English, motioning me inside. Whenever she spoke in English, her voice took on a higher pitch, as if instead of coming from inside her, the language was outside, squeezing her by the throat.

Related Characters: The Boy (speaker), The Boy’s Mother (speaker), Mrs. Hoa, The boy’s father

Page Number and Citation: 72

Explanation and Analysis: