When Heaven and Earth Changed Places #2

For this post about my Outside reading book, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places , the devotion of certain people to others is a big piece that influences how the people Le Ly Hayslip is introducing to us live and their beliefs. She herself has grown up knowing that "The  oldest child in each family was responsible for providing for the family once the parents were gone. Sometimes this responsibility included vengeance for the father's death (69)." The strong connection between parent and child is what their whole society is based on. Young children grow up just to prove their parents proud and to provide for them when they grow old and feeble. Their devotion to their family bonds lasts even beyond death. Another common form of devotion is the kind between wife and husband. When Hayslip's sister's husband was taken away, she waited for 7 years for her husband to come back. Hayslip writes, "Waiting patiently for rice to grow or mountains to fall or lost husbands to come back was also the Vietnamese woman's way (22)." Waiting and holding faith that her husband would come back was the norm for Vietnamese women of that time.

Steady devotion to the people around them, including family and friends, was the principle belief of the people in Ky La, Hayslip's hometown. Unfortunately, as the war progressed, Ky La was engulfed in a power struggle between the North and South forces. "Life in the village had gone from love and distrust of no one to fear and mistrust of everyone...(70)." The change of attitude in a community where people helped each other out became a fragmented group of people, scared to talk to the wrong person or do the wrong thing. If they were caught doing something suspicious, the southern guerillas hiding in their village would execute them. Needless to say, during the tough part of the war, people hardened their hearts and walked softly in order to avoid being killed, and not just by the southern guerillas. The northern people also interrogated and beat the people of Ky La. After being surrounded by people hurting them, I am very interested in how Hayslip survived such a hard time.