Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Latehomecomer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics, Refugee Camps, and Inhumanity
The Immigrant Experience
Death, Spirituality, and Home
Love and Family
Gender
Summary
Analysis
It’s 2007. Kao and Bee are in the car, talking about the publication of Kao’s first book. It’s been a long road: since Kao started writing this book, her father has gotten old and sick with diabetes. Kao thinks about the violent deaths in wartime and the sorrowful but peaceful deaths like Youa’s. Kao doesn’t know Youa’s shaman rituals and herbal recipes, but she vows to take care of Bee. Bee tells Kao to write about how other people have a homeland, but the Hmong don’t have a place to belong. The United States is their chance at a home.
After Youa’s passing, Kao begins to take on Youa’s role as the family’s protector. In this way, despite Hmong culture’s patriarchal values, women are the strongest and most resilient figures in Hmong communities. Even though 20 years have passed since they family arrived in the United States, they still don’t feel like they belong yet. The hardships of immigrant life continue to affect the family, though they’re still optimistic that they’ll fit in one day.
Themes
The Hmong came to the United States in 1976, and Kao knows that what happened to the Hmong will happen to others in the future. She wonders how many Hmong people will be buried as Americans. She believes the Hmong will find their dreams, even if they only find them in one another. Kao tells Youa that the three of them—Kao, Youa, and Bee—are embracing each other, even now.
Yang ends her story by showing that she still draws strength and inspiration from Youa—Kao’s love for Youa is still the central force in her life, even though Youa died years ago. Yang closes the story by suggesting that family bonds are so important to the Hmong because it’s the closest thing that communities in exile have to a sense of home.
Themes
