Trung

Tran Dinh Trung

Tran Thi Lan Huong
ACAF120 3
18/04/2024
On earth we’re briefly gorgeous
“A piece of literature born from the most beautiful memories”

In Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same:
nhớ. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, Con nho me khong? I flinch, thinking you
meant. Do you remember me? “I miss you more than I remember you.” (Vuong, On Earth
we're briefly gorgeous)
There are no words that can describe the beauty of the work "On earth we’re briefly
gorgeous", from the book cover to the words written by author Ocean Vuong. Honestly, it is very
difficult, too difficult to comment on this work with the limitation of words, such as temporarily
only being able to say "So beautiful". The sound of “So beautiful!” exclaimed not in praise, but
rather, in the helplessness of description, like an instinctive gurgle. It's ironic that I use the power

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of words to describe this work. For me, no matter how many words I use, it's not enough, and no
matter how many words I use, it's redundant.
Ocean Vuong (Vietnamese name: Vuong Quoc Vinh; born October 14, 1988) is a poet, essayist
and novelist. Tell me a little more about the author, Vuong was born in Saigon but immigrated to
the US as a child with his family as war refugees. This book is the author's first novel and the
story told in the work is largely taken from a true story that happened to his family. The book is
written in the form of fragmentary letters from a son to his illiterate mother, hoping that if there
is an afterlife, she will be able to read his words, but it is also like diary pages that From there, a
story emerges about the author's journey of growing up with his mother, grandmother, and
boyfriend as he entered adolescence. However, it is not just an ordinary autobiography, it is rich
in narrative and above all, very poetic with many contemplations about human life and the
impermanence of life. The cover of the book "On earth we're briefly gorgeous" is a painting of a
burning sunflower against a blue sky. The painting is painted in an abstract style, using bright
and vibrant colors. The sunflower is the central image of the painting, painted in large size and
standing out against the blue sky. Sunflowers are a symbol of life, strength and hope. The
burning flower symbolizes human passions, aspirations and dreams.
The book is divided into 3 parts and when reading, you will somewhat feel its linear sequence,
from when your son is 6 or 7 years old until he begins to enter adulthood. However, this
sequence is never really clear or told clearly in a chronological manner, it is like fragments of
memories that are sometimes blurred and sometimes clear, the next calls the previous and
sometimes the memory calls a memory. Other locations are more remote. On the background of
those memories are confessions, sometimes lines of poetry, and very gentle and delicate
observations and feelings of the author. With this way of writing, the work attracts readers not
because of curiosity about the story's developments but because of immersion in the flow of the
author's memories and thoughts and then feeling sympathy from themselves.
Famous Vietnamese writer - To Hoai was right when he said: "Character is the only place
where everything is concentrated, everything is resolved in one composition." It can be said that
the "Gorgeuos" of Ocean Vuong has a colorful touch through the appearance of the characters.
To talk about the characters, the characters that touched me the most are the female
characters in the work: the mother and grandmother. The mother's name is Rose, or Hong in
Vietnamese. She was a mixed-race child - the child of a Vietnamese mother and an American
soldier, whom she never knew for her entire life. Having white skin like Americans, she was
bullied and rejected by children in Vietnam all her childhood, to the point that she had to dive
into the water to escape. Then when she came to America, because she did not know English and
was illiterate, she forever played the role of a strange immigrant, not accepted because she could
not integrate. Without a father and later abused by her husband, she only had her mother, sister
and son for company. Living in poverty and unable to integrate in both countries, her life was so
full of hardship and sadness that she had to say "good things only happen elsewhere". Although
not clearly described, through Ocean Vuong's writings, the mother who appears is sometimes
very harsh, but above all there is still love and understanding, which can be felt through the close
relationship. profound relationship between the author and his mother, and in the way he

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describes his mother as being so gentle and loving. That's when that young, small, wandering
young man put pen to paper and said: "Mom, I'm writing this letter to get closer to you - even
though every word I put here is one more word farther away from you.” It was the moment he
started writing to his mother who couldn't read. The mother beats her child, the child
understands. The brilliance of the book does not lie in the details and plot, but in the words, in
the way it gently touches our hearts, in the way a 7-year-old boy thinks his mother is a monster,
but is an overly loving and harsh monster, a monster that is not bad: “Mom, you are mom. You
are also a monster. But neither do I - that's why I can't look away from you."
A mother with so many deep sadnesses in the past, a woman who lives over and over again the
memories of a difficult childhood, the pain of domestic violence, the horrors of war, of bombs
and bullets, he used that panic to vent on his children. Let that child feel his own burning pain
and nameless pain, uncontrollably and uncontrollably. But then, the mother also stopped,
because the child, who had been silently receiving hurt from her for so long, told her to stop.
Because the child does not want to receive the pain, and also does not want that pain to be
repeated again and again in his mother's heart.
Another character that appears very beautifully is the grandmother. Having lived in Vietnam
most of her life, her memories of Vietnam, the war, and the land of Go Cong where she lived are
also deeper and more haunting. She was the one who gave Vuong the name Dog Pu to call him at
home because in Vietnam in the past, people called their children bad names to protect them, to
prevent them from being taken away by bad things and evil spirits. She told Little Dog stories
about the old days when she was young, stories that had been more or less changed to tell
children and more or less distorted because of the distortion of memory. But sometimes, she also
gets lost in her own story, to utter sorrowful words, to mourn, to pity herself and to return to
being a little girl hoping to have someone to protect her. Even though she was devastated by life
and the war, to the point of having to live her last years with schizophrenia and nightmares of
being burned by fire, she still appeared to be a strong woman. Wise and understanding, the
person who ran away from the forced marriage took her daughter with her, gave herself a new
name Lan - the name of a flower, and was alone in a strange land. She had to sell her body to
American soldiers to raise her children, and even when she came to America, she couldn't reunite
with her second husband, and in the end, there were only a few mothers and children living
together in a poor area in Hartford. In the end, when she passed away, she was able to return to
her motherland, the land of Go Cong that she always remembered, even though she had endured
so much pain there. On a talk show, Ocean Vuong said that he wanted to ask everyone one thing,
which is that if you go to Go Cong Dong, there is a grave there named Le Thi Bay, which is his
grandmother. He hopes everyone will take the time to light a stick of incense for her.
Another person who cannot help but mention is Trev, or Trevor, Vuong's teenage boyfriend.
Trev is a white boy who lives with his father in a van - a type of mobile home for poor people in
America. He met Vuong when they both worked part-time at a tobacco farm. Two children lost
on the farm and perhaps in the whole country, found each other initially as teenage friends and
then naturally, became each other's boyfriends. Trev appears full of anxiety in Vuong's writing,
both fierce and gentle. Trev, like any character in this book, was also beaten down by life, and

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also appeared to be an incomplete person, with many pains and many contradictions. He seemed
to be trying to struggle but also seemed to give in to life, and he shared with Vuong his teenage
years of confusion and concern about himself, about his identity, about life and how those years
would turn out. into memories that are both painful and brilliant.
It can be said that the appearance of characters in the flashback of memories, or as I
euphemistically say, "the flood of memories". Helped Ocean Vuong's work become special. The
timeline in "On earth we're briefly gorgeous" is linear. Fragments of memories are intertwined,
and the appearance of characters who are closely associated with Vuong's life appear and help
make the work clearer in the eyes of readers. They feel the story through the author's memories
with people around them. That's the beauty of Vuong's novel, the sticky substance that makes the
story stick to your mind: the feeling of authenticity, the intimacy of a conversation between close
friends.
“On earth we're briefly gorgeous” is a poetic work, light, and tenderly sad. The work is a
picture of words, of puns, hints, and descriptions that make us overwhelmed by the flexibility,
ingenuity, and beauty of the words and expressions. Entering the work means we enter an
adventure, where we grope and contemplate the meaning of those words, immerse ourselves in
them, understand them, breathe in the air they convey to us, let us Reach out your emotional
arms and touch my heart. The book brings readers desolate sadness, sadness depicted with
brilliant strokes, and brilliant strokes described with a sad pen. Perhaps no one will be able to
best describe this book to another person, because only when we actually pick up the book, touch
the words, and immerse ourselves in the author's story can each of us truly You can really find
your own feelings. To me, this is a beautiful book with beautiful words and beautiful writing
style, worthy of spending more time to ponder than regular autobiographies.

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Works Cited
Vuong, Ocean, and Khang Nguyen. Mot Thoang Ta Ruc Ro o Nhan Gian. Writers Association
Publishing House, 2022.
Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. Penguin Books, 2021.
“Ocean Vuong.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2023,
vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_V%C6%B0%C6%A1ng.
“Mot Thoang Ta Ruc Ro o Nhan Gian.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2024,
vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%E1%BB%99t_tho%C3%A1ng_ta_r%E1%BB%B1c_r%E1%BB%A1_
%E1%BB%9F_nh%C3%A2n_gian.
Nagin, Emily. “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong.” Fiction Writers Review,
2024, fictionwritersreview.com/review/on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous-by-ocean-vuong/.