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“My little peach blossom - haven’t you learned yet that fate or luck or god works in its own way, and reveals its secrets in its own time? When has it ever paid you to turn your face from life? Keep your faith, Bay Ly: Look those deepest, darkest, most terrible fears in the face and learn the lessons they’ve come to teach -”

In Chapter 6, upon arriving in Danang, Le Ly settles into her hotel and her thoughts turn to the worst. She imagines that her mother had already died, that her brother and sisters will not see her, and that the Communist government is waiting to imprison her. She then hears her father’s voice, which soothes her. Le Ly often returns to her father’s words and philosophy for support and guidance. Trong is the most devoutly religious Buddhist in Le Ly’s life and his belief system—that wars, not people, are the enemy—is what she ultimately accepts as her own way to deal with living through hardships. Her father’s words give Le Ly strength when she is unsure and help her look at her own life and realize her own strength. Having already survived years of war, escape, and life in a new country, she knows that she would be able to face her family and whatever was in store for her in her homeland. Her father’s words also imply that she should let fate guide her if she is open to it.

Le Ly is soothed by these words that she attributes to her father, but they have also become her own words. She has already taken the advice of learning from her hardships and difficult experiences and turning those lessons into something positive. She has put this advice into practice: returning to her homeland to mend her internal pain and that of her family, writing a memoir in order to explain and illuminate her and other’s experiences of war, and planning to become more involved in rebuilding the ties between Vietnam and the United States.

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