The Latehomecomer- Literary Analysis

The Latehomecomer- Literary Analysis

The Latehomecomer by Kao Kalia Yang is a memoir that describes the author’s family’s journey from Laos to America. The memoir discusses the family’s journey from Laos to Minnesota amidst the chaos of the American war in Laos and the fear of being attacked, the challenges encountered by the family to adapt to Minnesota, the author’s journey into becoming an adult in the new homeland and the death of the author’s grandmother and how it motivated her to write about her family’s journey. The dominant theme in the four parts is the theme of change. Kao Kalia Yang conveys the theme of change by using dialogue, characterization, and description throughout her book The Latehomecomer so that readers can understand the significance of the events that shaped her family’s journey to a new life in America. This theme is vital in developing an interest in the events that occur in the chapters in the story because it demonstrates how the author and her family embraced the changes they were forced to make during the journey to America and how they maintained the hope that embracing the changes would push them closer to their destination.

Elements in the Latehomecomer

One of the elements used in Kao Yang’s memoir is dialogue. The writer uses dialogue to connect with the audience through conversations that demonstrate the author’s relationship with the people who were part of her transformation and the journey to America. For example, she recalls the dialogue between her, her parents, her grandmother, and Dawb about death. In the dialogue, she asks her parents, grandmother, and Dawb whether they will die someday, and when they respond that they will die, she starts crying. She states, “I wanted my parents and Dawb and Grandma to live forever” (Yang 112). The dialogue suggests that the author had developed a close relationship with Dawb, her parents, and her grandmother, which is why she would not imagine living without them. The statement also prepares the audience for the theme of death. The author hints that the theme of death will be reviewed in subsequent chapters when she states, “But the old woman was dying, and I became afraid” (Yang 112). This statement brings out the theme of change because death meant that the author’s grandmother’s life had changed from existence to non-existence, and her absence would also change the lives of those she left behind, such as the author and her parents. Therefore, the reader should care about the dialogue in the story because it provides a background of the author’s relationship with other characters and creates a foundation for the themes that bring out the characters’ experiences in the story.

The author also uses characterization to evoke the reader’s empathy when narrating the experiences of the refugees in the enemy camp so that they can understand why the refugees were hopeful that their lives would change once they got to America. For example, the author uses her mother’s characters to depict the hardships women faced in the enemy camp and their hope that their lives would improve after overcoming the hardships in the camp. The author states, “For my mother, the fear of immediate death had settled, and there was the work of living to do” (Yang 40). This statement suggests that the refugees’ perspective on life had changed, and they were no longer focusing on the fact that they would die any time because of the constant attacks from the soldiers but were more focused on living and creating a better life for themselves and their families. The author’s mother’s character also suggests that the refugees were hopeful about the future despite facing daily situations that exposed them to death, thus suggesting they were ready to embrace change and start over. Therefore, the reader should care about characterization in the story because each character’s story is used to develop the theme of change and explain the factors that enable the characters to embrace change.

Kao Yang combines characterization and style to describe the environment the refugees were living in, thus depicting the change in living conditions since the camps offered different living conditions compared to what they were used to in their home country. For example, the author uses description to create a picture of the structure of the camp and the refugees’ living conditions. The author states, “The buildings had no doors, only spaces where the doors might have been, for each family’s sleeping space” (Yang 101). The purpose of this description is to explain to the audience some of the challenges that the refugees faced in the camps and give them an idea of how the refugees were treated by the people who created the camps. For example, the description suggests that the people who created the camps paid little attention to the well-being of the refugees and were only concerned with offering a roof over their heads so that they could control them. Therefore, the audience should pay attention to the description because it informs them of the relationship between the refugees and their host, some issues that could have created tension, and the desire to seek a better life.

Conclusion

Kao Kalia Yang conveys the theme of change by using dialogue, plot, characterization, and description throughout her book, The Latehomecomer. The writer uses dialogue to connect with the audience through conversations that demonstrate the author’s relationship with the people who were part of her transformation and the journey to America. The author also uses monologue to bring out the theme of change by illustrating how her grandmother’s death meant that her life had changed from existence to non-existence, and her absence would also change the lives of those she left behind, such as the author and her parents. The author also uses characterization to evoke the reader’s empathy when narrating the experiences of the refugees in the enemy camp so that they can understand why the refugees were hopeful that their lives would change once they got to America. Kao Yang’s description of the environment the refugees were living in depicts the change in living conditions since the camps offered different living conditions compared to what they were used to in their home country. Therefore, the main events narrated using dialogue, characterization, and description represent the story’s underlying theme of change. Readers can rely on this conclusion to get an overview of how different elements have been used in The Latehomecomer and how they bring out the main theme of change mentioned in the introduction section. The conclusion also provides insightful information on how the selected elements create the foundation for developing the theme of change based on how the events represented by each element are described.

Works Cited

Yang, Kao Kalia. The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir. Coffee House Press, 2017.

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For ACT one, select ONE chapter from The Latehomecomer. It should NOT be anything from Writing and Literature Composition.

Summarize what the chapter is about.

The Latehomecomer- Literary Analysis

This portion should be at least 1 paragraph.

• Questions to consider:
  • Who is the speaker?
  • Who are the important characters in this chapter?
  • What happens in this portion of the book?
  • What does the chapter say directly that is stated?

Then, respond to the chapter.

This portion should be at least 1 to 2 paragraphs.

• Questions to consider:
  • Why did you choose to write about this chapter?
  • Why is this chapter important to you (over the other chapters)?
  • Why is this chapter important to you? What is confusing about this chapter? Was this chapter surprising to you? Why?
  • What is the underlying meaning or message (theme) of this particular chapter?
  • What do you think will happen next?
  • What questions do you have after reading this piece?

This assignment should be approximately ½ of a page to 1 page long.

Pro Tip: You might be able to use this ACT assignment to help you start Paper #2.