On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

He outlines this ostensible paradox within the letter as one example, he meditates on the meaning of the word 'sorry' as it is used on the tobacco farm and in the nail salon. He is within the language but figured as an outsider. Since Little Dog is an immigrant and a writer, he frequently observes the English language from a position of distance and proximity. It was a gay club and the boys, because that’s who they were-sons, teenagers-looked like me: a colored thing born of one mother, rummaging the dark, each other, for happiness.” This incident illustrates the relationship between words and actions-that is, not only do words fuel action, but the words themselves are also action. Little Dog also includes the story of a “fourteen-year-old boy in rural Vietnam had acid thrown in his face after he slipped a love letter into another boy’s locker” and adds that “Last summer, twenty-eight-year-old Florida native Omar Mateen walked into an Orlando nightclub, raised his automatic rifle, and opened fire. Don’t sleep.”Īfter meeting Trevor, Little Dog finds “the letters FAG4LIFE scrawled in red spray paint across our front door,” which showcases the way queer people are always under the threat of violence for a supposed 'deviant' sexuality.

Don’t sleep tonight, don’t sleep tonight, don’t sleep tonight. He also recollects the story of Marin, who is frequently called a “faggot” by passersby, whom Little Dog recalls saying, “I’m gonna kill you, bitch, I’m gonna cut you, AIDS gonna take you out. Homophobia/MasculinityĪs a child, Little Dog is exposed repeatedly to homophobic language when children call him a “freak, fairy, fag” at recess. Charting the lasting effects of war becomes the means for Little Dog to think about intergenerational trauma and inherited pain and violence. Little Dog’s mother Rose is illiterate, which is also a consequence of the Vietnam War, as she did not go to school after her school building was destroyed during a napalm raid. Moreover, because Lan experienced the scarcity of resources during the war, she teaches Little Dog not to be wasteful, telling him the proverb “Every grain of rice you leave behind is one maggot you eat in hell.” If you scream,’ I heard her say, ‘the mortars will know where we are.’” Before I could ask what was wrong, her hand, cold and wet, grabbed my mouth.

For example, his grandmother relives the memories of a mortar attack when fireworks go off outside: “She was on her knees, scratching wildly at the blankets. In his letter, Little Dog not only includes graphic images of war, but also outlines how the war in Vietnam affected his family, particularly his mother and grandmother, who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong