Suspended Between two cultures

Monkey Bridge, a novel written by Lan Cao, is a portrait of the Vietnamese American experience. It shows the lives of a mother, Thanh, and a daughter , Mai, who travel to the United States as refugees after the Vietnam War. Mai embraces all that is American by learning flawless English and befriending a white girl. She immerses herself in the way of life claiming not to understand how immigrants can come to the United States and balance on the cusp of two cultures. She asks, “How did those numerous Chinatowns and Little Italys sustain the will to maintain a distance, the desire to inhabit the edge and margin of American Life?” She reveals that after she had spent only eight weeks in this country, “The American dream was exerting a sly but seductive pull.” She remains encapsulated in her new culture while she lives with friends of the family, an American Vietnam Veteran and his wife. She eats their food and consumes their television programs, completely isolated from all ...