CI 5441: Shea Response

Shea, Pegi Deitz. Tangled Threads. New York: Clarion Books, 2003.

Tangled Threads by Pegi Deitz Shea tells the story of twelve-year-old Mai Yang, a Hmong refugee living in a camp somewhere in Thailand. Mai and her grandmother fled Laos—their homeland—during the Vietnam War after their village was attacked by the Vietnamese Army. For seven long years after their flight and arrival in Thailand, Mai and her grandmother have stuck together, caring for one another and supporting themselves by selling their pa’ndau—“flower cloth” that is a needle-and-thread form of art. Finally, Mai and her grandmother are given permission to travel to America to live with Mai’s uncle and his family who left the camp five years before. Along the journey to America, Mai becomes more and more aware of her grandmother’s dependency on her ability to speak English and her education of the American way of life. This shift in dependency places a great strain on their relationship, a strain that is intensified after they arrive in America and encounter the completely foreign way of life in which their family members now live. Mai struggles to maintain her own identity despite the pull of her Americanized cousins to give in to a new way of life, to understand and cope with her grandmother’s increased dependence, and to successfully integrate the two worlds in which she now lives—Hmong and American existences that pull at her.

I think that the book was very well done. Because the author is not Hmong herself, I was relieved to find an author’s note at the back of the book which details her interest in Hmong refugees and their culture, experiences, and new lives in America. The list of references in the back of the book adds to the validity of the research upon which the story was created. I think Shea does a great job in illustrating the confusing and frustrating experience of a young girl who struggles to cope with immigrating to a new land that is vastly different from the world she was so accustomed to. Mai’s experience brings up important themes of family, identity, maintaining cultural identities and values in a new land, new vs. old ways, and self-development. Mai’s story is unique, yet, it is accessible to those who read it. The text can be related to anyone who has experienced immigration themselves and there are enough issues not completely related to the difficulties associated with immigration that all readers can find some common element within the story. Personally, I enjoyed the book because it expanded my understanding of Hmong culture and history. After reading the text I did my own research into the Hmong and it added to my understanding of the text. I also enjoyed the story itself. I enjoyed following Mai to school and reading about her experiences, her love for knowledge, and her growth as a person.

I think this book is teachable because it has so many different levels on which students can relate to the text. On a broad level, students can identify to the confusion and frustration of growing up—the drama of middle school and the angst associated with becoming a teenager. On a narrower scale, the story documents a girl’s immigration to the United States and that is a connection that many students can identify with—either experiencing it themselves or having relatives who have had similar experiences. Going back to critical theory, the many layers within the text allow for the use of different lenses to analyze the text. Students can reflect on their personal reactions to the text (reader’s response); the power struggle between old and new ways, the refugees and the Thai soldiers, the new immigrants and the settled immigrants (Marxist); the gender roles and expectations of the Hmong culture (gender); to name a few. The many different themes and the different applicable lenses lend themselves well to discussion and the cultural element of the text lends itself well to various research-based/analysis projects. I would love to use this book within book clubs—as a choice text for those interested in this topic, or as a classroom text in which students would do research into the struggles of immigrants/refugees when coming to America—what difficulties they face in coping with distinctly different cultural values and norms.