Analysis and Interpretation of Crickets

Analysis and interpretation of Crickets In the short allegory Crickets by Robert Olen justler, we be introduced to the main character of the short story, Ted. Ted is non his real number soma, simply a nickname that was rendern to him by his coworkers at the refinery where he works. He does not particularly equal his nickname, only he does not hate it either. His real name is Thieu merely like the former prexy of the Republic of Vietnam. He wasnt named after the president though his pay off named him after his dead uncle.Thieu grew up in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, but later on fled to the U. S. He witnessed the fall of Saigon in 1975 and that was when he decided to fight against the North. The jointure was communistic, and Thieu was throwing rocks at the tanks driving through the streets of Saigon. Because of the mystifyuation in Vietnam, Thieu and his wife fled to the U. S. in hope of a better life. They ended up in atomic number 57 just like umteen new(prenomina l) refugees from Vietnam. He works at the refinery and has been working there for more than a decade.He is considered the best chemical technologist of the refinery, even though he doesnt always feel that his coworkers give him the right or appropriate amount of recognition, which he (in his own opinion) knows that he deserves. He likes his job at the refinery despite his coworkers giving him a American nickname and only using that. Thieu believes that its probably because they dont like the fact that he is from Vietnam where American troops vex just been fighting in a war against his fellow-countrymen. Thieu doesnt believe in the determine of the Northern regime, which is also his rea watchword for fleeing to the U.S. Thieus wife has, darn living in America, given birth to their first and only son. The name of his son is perhaps the most non-Vietnamese name that they could find, mailing. commove is ten years old, and is the product of the first night my wife and I spent in L ake Charles, in a cheap motel with the sky outside(a) red from the refineries. (p. 25, l. 27-28). point is a really typical ten year-old, American boy. Like many other young boys he does not always think that his bring is the coolest person to hang out with, and when Thieu propose the idea of them doing something to tucker outher he answers with Sure, Pop. He said, though there was a certain suspicion in his voice, like he didnt trust me on the subject of fun. (p. 26, l. 5-6). He probably reacts in this way because he would much rather sit in front of the television, watching cartoons which has superheroes, who are fighting the battle of frank vs. evil instead. Thieu and Bills relationship to one another looks very ordinary from an outside perspective, but it is actually quite complex from an inside perspective. When Bill says good-bye to his father in the morning he is doing it in a very Louisianic way Have a good day, yall. (p. 25, l. 30) you can virtually hear the sou thern accent when you read it. And when Thieu says goodbye to him in Vietnamese he just giggles like its a joke. It is clear that Thieu wants Bill to learn Vietnamese because at the moment he only speaks incline he is an American and Thieu and his wife are Vietnamese and to Thieu this is creating some categorisation of cleft between them that is making it securelyer for them to bond like father and son. Thieu wants to thatched roof Bill one of the games that he used to play as a child. It involves catching crickets and then have them fight each other.But when they go hunting for these crickets Thieu realizes that his son and himself has completely antithetic values and that theyre obviously different from one another. For a brief while Thieu believes that he has his son provoke in his game. The game involves catching crickets, either brown coal or enkindle crickets. When they are out in the wild to catch these crickets his sons Americanization shines through. He does not wan t to touch the crickets that he finds, like Thieu did when he was a child. So Thieu has to pick them up for him.And it only goes downhill from there. Bill worries more about getting his new Reebok sneakers dirty than having fun and play with his father and he only worries about if the mother can get them clean again. Thieu is obviously disappointed. He is not disappointed because of the sons lack of interest, but rather because he has not been able to give his own son some Vietnamese ballast, it come alongs like he has no idea where his parents are from or what they have gone through for him. It might be because he is only ten years old.The title Crickets represents the both types of crickets, charcoal and fire, which represents the two different civilization that Thieu and Bill are part of. Just like when Thieu was a child, his son and himself they keep crickets in matchboxes and kept them foment by continuous poking and flicking. This resulted in them fighting each other to d eath. The charcoal crickets represent the U. S. Theyre large and strong, but can easily engender confused and he makes them appear rather unintelligent. The fire crickets on the other hand represent Vietnam, or perhaps Asia in general.Theyre not particularly strong or big like the charcoal crickets, but theyre smarter and faster than them just like Thieu is smaller than his fellow American coworkers, but hes smarter than them. When these two different crickets arent stir up they can live in peace, but when theyre constantly agitated at one another theyll end up fighting, and it will a good deal end with someone dying. Thieu has indeed achieved The American Dream. He has moved to a better place and he has shaped/created his own future with hard work and determination.But while achieving this has he lost some of the Vietnamese values from his upbrining in the Mekong Delta? Perhaps. His son is one-hundred percent American in the way he dress and act he only speaks English and thi s bothers Thieu to some extent. But is that alright, shouldnt he be happy that his son does not have to go through the same that he did one might wonder. Thieu wants to live his Vietnamese childhood through the son, but he does not seem to succeed, probably because the son is too American to understand or rate these values.