The Boat Lesson Plan

Discuss Nam's relationship with his father. Why is it so complicated?

Nam has a complicated relationship with his father. He hasn't seen him for nearly three years and is glad to be out from under his control. As a child, Nam suffered abuse at the hands of his father. Ba would not tolerate weakness and strictly regulated his son: "No personal phone calls. No female friends. No extracurricular reading." Even in elementary school, he made Nam study for ten hours a day. His father would beat Nam with a cane whenever he broke the rules.

However, when Nam was 14, he discovered his dad had been present at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. His father was the same age Nam was...