The Imagery of David - “Black-Eyed Women”
Nguyen writes, “he was the sole survivor of an airplane crash, one hundred and seventy-three others having perished including his wife and children…The voice was as a soft monotone, and the eyes, on the occasions when they looked up, seemed to hold within them the silhouettes of mournful people.” The survivor is unconditionally overwhelmed by the crash’s ramifications. Although he is fortunate to have survived, he is preoccupied by the loss which is accredited to the crash. His eyes illustrate his melancholy, and his voice specifies his desolation.
The Imagery of Breasts - “War Years”
Nguyen reports, “My father and I worked in T-shirts and shorts, but my mother wore only a nightgown of sheer green fabric without a bra. She wasn’t aware of how her breasts swayed like anemones under shallow water, embarrassing me whenever I saw those dark and doleful areolas with their nipples as thick as my index finger. My mother's breasts were nothing like those of the girls in my class, or so I imagined in fantasies that had been confirmed the week before when I had seen Emmy Tsuchida’s nipple through the gap between two buttons of her shirt, pink and pert, exactly like the eraser on the pencil in my hand.” Nguyen’s description of the breasts alludes to his sexual wakening. If he were sexually naïve, he would not have been mortified by his mother’s breasts. Psychoanalytically, his assessment of his mother signifies Oedipal fascination for his mother, which she is unconscious of.
The Imagery of Guerrillas - “War Years”
Nguyen explicates, “When she mentioned the guerrillas, I imagined them to be unshaven mosquito-bitten men with matted hair wearing ragged tiger stripe fatigues; living on rain water, wild boar, and aphids; practicing hand-to-hand combat skills by bayoneting jackfruit.” Nguyen’s imagination portrays the guerrillas’ anguish. His imagination stimulates his question concerning the amount of money which his mother would offer to support the guerrillas. Nguyen is compassionate towards them, because they are participating in a course which appeals to his philosophy of anti-communism.
