The Refugees

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. “Black-Eyed Women” is the only overtly supernatural tale in the novel. The main character is literally haunted by the ghost of her brother, but she is also figuratively haunted by her trauma from her experience as a boat person.

• What other characters in The Refugees are haunted in a similar manner? (topic sentence)
• Select one of these characters and analyze how trauma informs their character development.
• In your concluding sentences, consider how this particular character’s development links with the theme Haunted by Trauma: PTSD and Narrative Exposure Therapy.

2. Several of the major characters in The Refugees experience the effects of old age for the first time.

• How do these characters, in general, cope (or fail to cope) with aging? (topic sentence)
• Select one of the characters and analyze how the aging process affects their relationship with their adult children.
• In your conclusion, consider how this particular character’s relationship with the refugee experience connects with the theme Aging and the Loss of Agency.

3. Many of the stories in the novel involve Intergenerational Conflict between migrant parents and their first- or second-generation children.

• What are some of the conflicts between different generations centered on? (topic sentence)
• Pick two of the stories in this collection and analyze this conflict.
• What does it reveal about Vietnamese and American culture?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. How is gender presented in the novel? In which ways do American and Vietnamese cultures clash for the women? Consider the variety of experiences that women have in the novel.

2. In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Nguyen expressed that the war never ended for those affected by it. To what extent is this idea expressed in the stories in The Refugees? For what characters is the Vietnam War the most present, and why? How does the idea of war change based on the speaker and the speaker’s experience?

3. Many of the stories in The Refugees are left unresolved. In which 2-3 stories are the characters able to gain the strongest closure? What is different about these characters’ situations and outcomes as opposed to those who are left in limbo? How does an unresolved ending impact the character arc for that protagonist?