Chapter 3: Themes

Chapter 3

The first major theme of the chapter is community, which is the coming together of individuals to assist one another. This theme is represented through how Miss Buk takes Anh’s family under her wing ‘after Dad helped her carry a bag of potting mix one day, she became [their] friend’. Miss Buk helps Anh’s family with things such as paperwork so that they can ‘find [their] feet in this exciting new world’. Do suggests that community plays a major role in contemporary society as it keeps people together when they are struggling.

The next major theme in the chapter is empathy, which is knowing what someone else is experiencing or feeling their emotions. The theme is shown through Anh’s mother’s reaction to how Miss Buk’s family ‘who only lived on the other side of Sydney, could let their mother be so sad and lonely’. Anh’s mother feels more empathy towards Miss Buk as her own mother is ‘a long way away in Vietnam’ and doesn’t know why Miss Buk’s children wouldn’t visit her. Do is suggesting that empathy keeps society running as it helps people understand each other, which is important in keeping people together.

Being an outsider is the last major theme of the chapter. An outsider is a person who doesn’t fit in with everyone else because of where they came from, how they act or what they believe in. Anh’s family are all outsiders because they came from Vietnam and have a hard time conforming to Australian society. An example of this would be Khoa in his school uniform which was altered by his mother so he often ‘looked a bit odd and so people often stared at him’ because of his outsider appearance. The theme of being an outsider can link into community and empathy as outsiders often band together as they know each other’s struggles, this occurs in both real life and the novel when Anh’s family take in other refugees.