The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

Anh Do’s memoir, The Happiest refugee, tells the inspiring and uplifting life story of one of Australia’s favourite personalities. Do recounts the amazing journey as a refugee fleeing Vietnam with his family, the struggles they endured in Australia, and his eventual rise to stardom. Do suggests that being a refugee, his life was distressing and full of hardships but, by being optimistic and positive he could overcome adversity. Lastly, he suggests that his resilience has been mostly shaped, strengthened and influenced by his parents. They achieved this by dreaming big but also accepting failure for what it is. Do skilfully employs the narrative conventions of setting, theme and characterisation as a means of condemning prejudice views within the society and reinforcing survival. (5)

Do uses setting to explore the journey of survival and freedom. He demonstrates that living on an overcrowded boat, reeking of fish and having limited food and water supply is only a triviality. However, the tremendous hardships he had to cope in Australia is another, ‘survival story.’ This is evident through the use of repetition in , “All the effort, all the late night sewing till 3 a.m., all the risks to get us onto a boat and take on the ocean was for one reason: so that they could give their children a better life.” Do recounts how his parents worked an endless succession of back- breaking work to earn a living wage. In this example, Anh is indirectly referring to living conditions and the threat of persecution in Communist Vietnam - he is contrasting (comparing this) to the safety, security and opportunities that are available to the family in Australia. This is what he means when he says '....a better life....' The idea of survival is amplified through Do’s use of humour as he recounts Uncle Dung buying a fur jacket for fifty cents for a girlfriend he does not have yet. This is highlighted through one of Anh’s comments, ”Uncle Dung was especially thrilled as one day he would meet a beautiful  woman and he’d be ready for her, with his generous fifty-cent gift.” This positions the readers to feel a sense of excitement and eagerness to know more about Uncle Dung, as he depicts a fun and exciting character. However, readers are invited to empathise with his character and feel discounted because people in ‘first world war countries always taking things for granted. Do’s effectiveness at re-creating simple family events and describing colourful family members adds to the memoir’s charm and heart-warming quality. Clearly it is Do’s intention through his representation to affirm the value of acceptance and family. The Happiest Refugee helps you understand the challenges many migrants and refugees face. They have to leave the country of their birth, master a new language, earn a living and understand the new society and its culture. (13)

A social issue that was fairly rampant in The Happiest Refugee is ‘racism.’ Do uses Themes to explore the idea of prejudice views and courage in order to face them. He demonstrates that by having patience and remaining resilient he could overcome adversity.  This is evident through his use of tone in which Anh comments on his raw honesty, 'quitting seemed like a very attractive option at this point in time. Slowly, I won them over.' Do recounts how he was faced with the prospect of entertaining a room full of Vietnam War veterans. Though both groups had been separated in the past  by the brutality of war, they found common ground in a shared love of laughter. The power of comedy is illustrated in this chapter as the men swap typical Australian jokes and manage to connect despite their differences. By remaining resilient, Anh possibly changed the very way these men viewed the Vietnamese community. The idea of racism is amplified as Anh describes his situation when a slightly racist teacher tells the class to make anti-Asian posters which made Anh particularly embarrassed being the only Asian in the class, “The yellow peril will steal your livelihood and rape your women.” This is example of a racist colour-metaphor in which “Yellow” refers to the skin colour of east Asians and “Peril” refers to the perceived threat that potential expansion of Asian populations would overpower Western culture. This made Anh feel upset and angry, particularly because the teacher was trying to convert his friends as well. Anh overcame his teacher's racism by being friendly to the teacher so he would stop his racist comments. Anh's plan surprisingly worked and they became quite friendly by the end of the year. Anh showed kindness and resourcefulness towards his history teacher to encourage him not to be racist toward Asians. Readers are positioned to feel