Even when I know something to be true as bone I fear the knowledge will dissolve, will not, despite my writing it, stay real” (Vuong 62). To generations before him whose stories were buried and untold, Little Dog says, “Sometimes you are erased before you are given the choice of stating who you are”

Over time, a skewed portrayal of historical narratives began to affect the psyche of Americans and Vietnamese alike through what is commonly known as intellectual imperialism . Syed Hussein Alatas states that imperialism can come not only in the form of political and economic policies, but also as an intellectual position that dominates a group of... See more

Little Dog exists only because American soldiers were in Vietnam; he must grapple with the fact that he is the direct product of war:

Immigrant children, subjected to American education, tend to either forget or disregard the sufferings and sorrows of their previous generations, while aiming to realize the American Dream in the Promised Land—this is often referred to as the American imperialistic education. Many who grow up as assimilated Americans become victims of historical... See more

Vuong comments on the lingering effects of trauma: “to destroy a people . . . is to set them back in time”

Postmemory is tellingly woven into the novel as Little Dog’s life is filled with fragmented and traumatic memories of events that, though predating him, continue to define him. Marianne Hirsch defines postmemory as a recollection that is inherited from someone else and transmitted “so deeply and affectively as to seem to constitute memories in... See more

To promote historical amnesia, the United States demands conformity as a prerequisite for integration

Historical amnesia in the United States is an organized, systematic, and intentional mechanism for maintaining dominance. Rather than admitting responsibility or expressing shame, the US has selectively promoted its questionable notion of patriotism in order to sustain the nation’s ideological position.

Little Dog begins assembling his life story through his remaining connections to Vietnam: Rose and Lan. The stories that they pass down to him are not the linear, homogenized, or patriotic version of history taught in American schools because their memories are “broken by war, occupation, and displacement. Asian American culture ‘re-members’ the... See more