![]() ![]() ![]() Má expects Bố to die of his tuberculosis and leave her “free as a widow,” but he survives, and Má gets pregnant. However, when she meets her husband, Bui’s Bố, at the Teachers College in Sài Gòn at the age of 19, her freedom is suddenly shattered. Eventually, she becomes a nationalist and celebrates Việt Nam’s liberation from the French, but also decides that (in the author’s words) “MARRIAGE = TRAP” but “ EDUCATION = FREEDOM.” She wants to become a doctor and study outside of Việt Nam, but ends up pursuing teaching instead. ![]() Má loses herself in books as a child and proves an exceptional student she attends various French schools throughout Việt Nam, which allows her to develop her own circle of friends and think freely, but also separates her from her family and challenges her sense of identity as a Vietnamese woman living under (and benefiting from) the French colonial system. ![]() Má is born to a prominent, well-connected family in Cambodia and raised in Nha Trang, where her father works as an engineer for the French colonial government. Although her name is Hằng, Bui consistently calls her “Má” (the Southern Vietnamese word for “Mom”), and she calls herself “Mẹ” (which is a “weighty, serious, more elegant word” from the North). ![]()
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