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Similes
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Nail Polish:
In the following excerpt from Part 1, Vuong constructs an ironic commentary on Ma's relationship with her White clientele, noting the dichotomy between them:
“This is how you enjoy your life,” you’d say, sucking your fingers, their pink nail polish chipped from a week of giving pedicures. The time with your fists, shouting in the parking lot, the late sun etching your hair red. My arms shielding my head as your knuckles thudded around me.
Explanation and Analysis—Naming:
In the following passage from Part 1, Little Dog considers a certain level of situational irony surrounding his nickname, which is linked to a Vietnamese tradition:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As you know, in the village where Lan grew up, a child, often the smallest or weakest of the flock, as I was, is named after the most despicable things: demon, ghost child, pig snout, monkey-born, buffalo head, bastard—little dog being the more tender one. Because evil spirits, roaming the land for healthy, beautiful children, would hear the name of something hideous and ghastly being called in for supper and pass over the house, sparing the child. To love something, then, is to name it after something so worthless it might be left untouched—and alive. A name, thin as air, can also be a shield. A Little Dog shield.
Related Themes:
Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Unread Letter:
During Part 2 of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Little Dog gives an account of his first sexual encounter with another boy. In an example of situational irony, he addresses Rose directly but draws the strength to be vulnerable from her absence:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The first time we fucked, we didn’t fuck at all. I only have the nerve to tell you what comes after because the chance this letter finds you is slim—the very impossibility of your reading this is all that makes my telling it possible.
Related Themes:
