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57 pages 1 hour read

Kao Kalia Yang

The Latehomecomer

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2008

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Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary: “A Return to the Clouds”

Yang and her family are sitting on the cold airport floor in Tokyo, waiting for the plane that will take them to America. Yang has to pee, and her father walks around the airport trying to ask for directions to the bathroom in English. Yang notices how everyone, even the women, are taller than her father, who had always seemed like a tall man in the refugee camps.

The family board another, much bigger plane. Yang’s parents are worried because they don’t know what they will do when they get to America, and they don’t know how they will pay back the expensive cost of their plane tickets. Yang falls asleep. When she wakes up the plane has landed at San Francisco International Airport. Yang stares at two American adults kissing, an act Yang has never seen any Hmong adult do.

Once off the plane, the Hmong refugees are divided into different groups and put on different planes. Yang’s plane takes them to Minnesota. It is July 27, 1987. Once the plane lands, Yang’s family reunites with long lost relatives, including Uncle Chue and his family, and Uncle Nhia and his family. It is decided that Yang and her family will temporarily stay with Uncle Nhia’s eldest son. This is Yang’s cousin, someone that she has only met as a baby. They live in the McDonough Housing Project, nicknamed “Meenano.” Yang is fascinated by seeing so many city lights for the first time, and by the American bath that is able to mix hot and cold water to the perfect temperature. That first night, Yang and her family sleep on a blanket on the hard floor, just as they had done in Phanat Nikhom. 

Chapter 8 Summary: “Before the Babies”

Yang and her family move into their own townhouse in the McDonough Housing Project. The townhouses were built after World War II for returning soldiers and their families, and were the first low-income houses in Minnesota. Made completely of concrete, they are strong but plain, with small windows covered with steel screens, and are home to many Hmong refugees. Yang and her family live in a small, two-bedroom unit.

Although there has been an incredible influx of Hmong refugees in America (5,204 in 1980 to 90,082 by 1990), the Hmong people aren’t welcomed by many Americans. When walking on the street, people yell at Yang’s family and hold up the middle finger.

Yang’s grandma lives in California with Uncle Hue, and Yang is unable to visit her because her parents don’t have enough money to travel. Since Yang’s mother and father are taking classes to learn English, they are unable to work and living on welfare checks. Yang’s family learns to live frugally by shopping in secondhand stores and rummaging through church basement sales. Yet despite not having much money, Yang’s mother always gives her and Dawb a quarter to get treats from the ice cream truck.

Yang and Dawb go to many different schools before finally ending up at North End Elementary School. Dawb excels in school and wins fifty dollars in the school spelling bee, while Yang finds it difficult to speak English. However, she can write. Unable to visit her grandma, Yang writes her grandma letters instead. Yang begins writing stories, and writes one about a watermelon seed that wishes to live somewhere else, a metaphor for her unhappiness in America.

To pass the time, Yang’s family gets into WWF wrestling and watches it on TV with Yang’s aunts, uncles, and cousins. Yang recalls how “It became our idea of family fun. Every time there was a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) special match, my cousin called the cable company and paid special fees so that we could watch” (149). 

Chapter 9 Summary: “Coming of the Son”

After saving the money the government gave her, Yang’s grandma is finally able to come to Minnesota to visit. When her grandma gets off the plane, she is in a wheelchair. Because she doesn’t speak any English, she wears index cards on a chain that have common English expressions and accompanying pictures on them, such as “‘Please take me to the bathroom,’ with a picture of a toilet to let her know what it meant” (155). Her grandma stays with Yang’s family all summer, and makes many subsequent summer trips.

Yang’s mother gives birth to a baby boy named Zong Xue, which means “forest of knowledge, forest of skill” in Hmong. Yang is initially jealous that she’s not the baby of the family anymore, but she grows to be protective of Xue. Yang does well in school, but she is still unable to confidently speak English, and so instead she often remains silent at school and in public.

Yang’s extended family holds frequent family meetings where the elders essentially give pep talks to the youth, telling them how lucky they are to be in America. They point out the bad cousins who are not taking advantage of all their opportunities, and ask the younger children to state how they are going to work hard in America.

A year and a half after Xue’s birth, Yang’s mother gives birth to a little girl named Sheelue, meaning “love” in Hmong. Yang’s mother passes her high school equivalency test and her father receives his machine-operating certificate. It is becoming increasingly difficult to survive on the welfare check, so Yang’s mother and father take a night job working as assemblers at a factory. Yang and Dawb are forced to take care of Sheelue and Xue while their parents are at work.

By the end of the chapter, Yang’s mother also gives birth to Shoually, Taylor, and then many years later, Maxwell. 

Chapters 7-9 Analysis

Chapters 7 – 9 deal with the resettlement experience of the Hmong in America. The American government attempted to resettlement the Hmong throughout the US, often separating family members. This was devastating to the many refugees who were placed in predominantly low-income and often violent neighborhoods, isolated from their family. This happens to Yang and her family who are resettled in Minnesota, while her uncles and grandma resettled in California.

Many Hmong found themselves living in poverty in America. After being placed in low-income housing projects, they were given welfare and offered vocational training. However, soon after the Yang family started receiving welfare, the welfare program began changing their policies. This change was strictly enforced in California, causing the Hmong to lose their benefits. Minnesota continued to allow their refugees to receive benefits, which caused a spike in the Hmong population, as the Hmong left California and rushed to Minnesota. Today, St. Paul, Minnesota has the largest population of Hmong of any city in America.

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