Most recent public comments by Samantha Sterner https://nowcomment.com/users/17143 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=408463 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=408463 Throughout history, we have documented the horrors of war in a multitude of creative ways-including books and movies. However, these stories have been misconstrued and created into what we want them to be-more heroic and more exciting. This is shown through Nguyen's idea that he was "made" in America, and not just raised. In creating the sense that he was created into something different than what he originally wanted to be because he was raised in America, he symbolizes how Americans create and shift stories to fit the mold of what they want people to fit. In relation to the war stories, Nguyen realizes that he enjoys what he was told and taught to enjoy, not the actual stories of mystery and terror that he later touches on. Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:25:03 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=407335 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=407335 Kho-siab, in indirectly translating to the English version of loneliness, mimics the inability to grasp and understand the American's negative influence on this state. During this state, Hmong veterans were child soldiers, barely unable to grasp and understand the enormity of the world around them, yet they were to fight for a country they may never see. This in turn creates this deep "yearning" or "nostalgia" to relate to Americans and understand why the war was fought, creating this idea of a bereft heart. This is furthered by the idea that these child soldiers had their own children at home, and although they did not know who they themselves were, they were fighting for a cause that they did not understand, and were detrimentally effecting those they left behind. This loneliness felt by family members is symbolized through the inability to directly translate this word, as the understanding of the war and the politics in South Asia were lost in translation, and there was no accurate way to understand the time period and what was happening for the families involved. Wed, 11 Nov 2015 10:18:50 -0600