On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The conflict in Vietnam ended two years after the United States ceased combat operations in 1973. Official US orders were to evacuate only United States citizens and their dependents, but this presented a “terrible moral dilemma” for US personnel. What was the dilemma? What does the disconnect between official policy and lived experience reveal about not only this war, but conflict in general?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful for students to have some context of the Vietnam War prior to answering this question. Consider reminding students that the Vietnam War is at the epicenter of the novel, and that the narrator’s story is rooted in his family’s experience of the war itself and as immigrants after it.

• This 30-second trailer to Rory Kennedy’s film Last Days in Vietnam briefly establishes the chaos surrounding the fall of Saigon in April 1975.
• This 7-minute introduction to Kennedy’s film explores the “terrible moral dilemma” faced by US personnel during the evacuation of Saigon.
• This collection of photographs depicts troops and citizens during the fall of Saigon.

2. In the novel, the narrator Little Dog and his mother and grandmother flee Vietnam a decade after the end of the war and relocate to Hartford, Connecticut. What was the reception toward Vietnamese refugees after the war, and how did this reception impact the immigrants’ lived experiences?

Teaching Suggestion: This question aligns students with relevant context that will help them understand the protagonist and his family’s experience as American immigrants impacted by the legacy of the Vietnam War. To prepare students who may not have a strong background in the subject matter, it may be helpful to review the resources below, primarily the interview with Andrew Lam, prior to responding; this will allow students to empathize with and better understand the experience of a refugee growing up in the US.

• This page from the History Channel summarizes the refugee crisis and mass immigration after the end of the Vietnam War. It describes the complex experience of Vietnamese refugees resettling in the US and explores its impact on subsequent generations.
• This article from The Borgen Project details eight facts about the Vietnam War and Vietnamese refugees.
• This interview with Andrew Lam, a Vietnamese American journalist, provides details about Lam’s experiences growing up as a young Vietnamese refugee in the US, as well as general context for the Vietnamese American experience.

Differentiation Suggestion: For visual learners and students with a strong understanding of logos appeals, consider providing a blank chart, piece of paper, or graphic organizer to help students make sense of the content in the above resources. For example, visual learners could create charts to keep track of relevant data for reference, and logical students could create bullet-point lists of facts and statistics that depict immigrants’ lived experiences.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is an epistolary novel, or a novel written in the form of a letter. In it, the narrator Little Dog writes a letter to his mother. Given his mother’s illiteracy, Little Dog knows she will never actually read it, and it becomes a way for him to grapple with and process trauma. In 5-10 minutes, write an epistolary journal entry or short narrative to a person you know, but not necessarily one that this person will read. Consider what to include in your letter. How could an entry like this be helpful in processing your thoughts or an experience? Would you use it to share a secret? How could you use the epistolary form to explore a topic that may otherwise be difficult to express? This content does not need to be shared in class.

Teaching Suggestion: This Personal Connection Prompt can be very deep and personal, but it does not have to be. You may encourage students to write to a friend, neighbor, or acquaintance to express something that is a little more mundane, such as William Carlos Williams’s “This is Just to Say,” which is a short and simple poem written as a note about plums.