64 pages • 2 hours read
Anh DoThe Happiest Refugee
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
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Family
The Happiest Refugee is first and foremost about family and the ties that bind families together. From the opening chapters, Anh’s family survives Communist Vietnam both through their family ties. When his mother and father first become engaged, Tam risks his life to help free two of his brothers-in-law from a communist camp. During the escape from Vietnam, the entire family works together to survive the weather and pirate attacks. In Australia, although no one has much of anything, they share what they have, and Anh grows up knowing that everyone surrounding him will sacrifice to make sure he has what he needs. His father’s abandonment of his family responsibilities is portrayed as his ultimate failing, and it takes a long time for his family members to forgive him. Some never do. The theme of extending forgiveness to family is also illustrated in the story of Uncle Six, and how his father’s affair was forgiven by his wife, who raised Six as her own.
As Anh grows up, family is expanded to include his new in-laws. Although he could not be more different from Suzie and her family, they make pains from the start to include and welcome him. Although there are many cultural differences, they are always approached in a positive, encouraging way. This includes Anh’s struggle to fit in at formal dinners, and Suzie’s struggle to eat authentic Vietnamese cuisine. Anh is always keenly aware of how much his family sacrificed to get him where he is, his mother in particular. He soon turns it around to give her the retirement she deserves and to ensure his siblings are taken care of.
Gratitude and Generosity
One of the strongest themes in The Happiest Refugee is gratitude Anh’s gratitude for the life he’s been allowed to live, and for the sacrifices others have made to get him there. From a young age, he has this instilled in him by his mother, who is always willing to share what little she has. He is taught faith by Uncle Huy, and told stories of Vietnam family history by his father and his grandmother. Despite the financial struggles the family experiences, Anh is always aware of how much potential hardship they escaped.
As Anh grows older and becomes successful, he never loses touch with his roots, taking every opportunity to use his new resources to pay it forward. When he wins on Deal or No Deal, he donates the entire sum to a family whose matriarch is sick. He and his brother Khoa participate in charity programs to help immigrant children assimilate into their new society. As the book closes, Anh’s last thought is of how fortunate he is to have the family he has. These themes are accentuated as Anh and his mother revisit Vietnam, and he sees a young man who looks almost exactly like him and realizes how different his life could have been.
Past and Memory
The legacy of Vietnam is present this book; people bear scars from events long ago, both physical and emotional. Uncle Thanh, a minor character, has been forever changed and lost his fertility due to torture. Uncle Huy, who came extremely close to death in the camps, has found a new faith that becomes his lifelong calling. Two incidents back in Vietnam haunt Anh’s father to the end of his days—the death of his older brother when they were trying to obtain the boat, and the accidental death of the teenage friend of the family, Loc, when he jumps from the boat in a panic and is lost.
However, time and memory also provide positive experiences for Anh. His grandmother is a living bridge to the past, telling stories of her childhood in a different Vietnam. The mystery of Uncle Six’s disappearance begins in Anh’s childhood, and is only revealed to him as an adult. Finally, although Anh was young enough when he left Vietnam to have very few memories of it, he is able to better understand and embrace his legacy when he visits Vietnam as an adult with his mother - a living witness to the era they escaped. Although Anh grew up primarily in a Western environment that gave him plenty of opportunities, he never loses sight of his past.
