her nation, and she refuses to return to a state where she must remain blind in order to survive. She is willing to take her chances and try to change her nation with effort and protest and reform.
Still, the narrator does not simply see her life and past in Vietnam in negative terms. She takes responsibility for her part in the creation of a "paradise for the blind," particularly with respect to her childhood:
Everything seemed precious to me then. . . . This was my corner of the earth, my own paradise etched into the final evening of my childhood. The lapping of waves, a sunset glowing violet over the horizon, a bleached-out mayfly shell floating on the surface of the water. And I had my mother then, the magical, unique paradise of childhood (239-240).
The author loves the natural beauties of her homeland, the sweet memories of her childhood, the determination of the Vietnamese people to struggle in the face of countless obstacle
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