Chapter Eight- Sisters and Brothers

As Le Ly recounts her past journey and continues along her present path, she begins to discover that life is full of parallelism and cycles.  Each day is made of  a continual cycle that fulfills the cycle of a week, month, and year eventually completing the cycle of life from birth to death.  She finds that war and peace cycle continuously.  Thus, in a chiasmus statement she says:

"The more things change the more they stay the same." (219)

When Le Ly returns to Vietnam and sees her siblings for the first time in nearly twenty years, she is surprised by how little has changed.  In Ky La, Le Ly discovers that little has changed since the war began except the name of the town itself.  She finds that the people still use many of the same tools and techniques to farm, despite the technological advances that had developed around the world.  Nearly everything, from the housing to the modes of transportation and even the social ranking is still the same.  When she meets her siblings again, she is overcome with the love, but soon realizes that her relatives still live in a world of fear as she states:

"For them the war has not ended." (218)

In addition, she finds that her siblings, though aged beyond their years, are just the same as their parents in appearance.  Though so much has changed for her, she finds that the fundamental aspects of life are the same.  Despite the world that has come between and separated her family, she is still as much a part of them as ever before.  She finds that a woman can love many men, but that no love is the same as the love and relationship between a brother and sister.  Today, though culture and society place different values on family relationships, I find the power of Le Ly's statements.  My older brother and I have faced the world together, but now begin to go our own ways.  Despite our separation as he goes to college nearly 500 miles away, much of our bond and connection has stayed the same.  We both developed into our own people, but are still connected by our sibling love and know that we will always be their for each other. Despite the changes that we will face in the future together, some aspects will always stay the same.