The Key (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Võ Phiê
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Plot: Social realism, frame story
- Time of Work: 1975
- Setting: Guam; Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania; and Saigon, Vietnam
- Principal Characters: The narrator, A fellow refugee, His father
- Genres: Short fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Tradition, Twentieth century, Pennsylvania, Asia or Asians, Immigration or emigration, Fathers, Duty, Funeral rites or ceremonies, Refugees, Vietnam or Vietnamese people, Tombs or graves
- Locales: Pennsylvania, Guam, Saigon, Vietnam
The Story
The story opens with the reflections of an unnamed narrator, a former refugee who muses that it is strange that the first picture in his memory is that of a shower. He tells how the ship he was on, carrying nine thousand refugees from Vietnam, anchored at the American island of Guam at about 3:00 a.m. on July 5, 1975. After leaving the boats, the refugees first headed to the showers, where they washed after their long journey. The showers, the narrator explains, then became an important part of their daily lives. Every day, as they would line up before the showers,...
[The entire page is 1388 words long]
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