Chapter Two- Fathers and Daughters- Roles in the Family

In the second chapter Le Ly starts out talking about her father: her relationship with him, the way he disciplines, his story-telling. Le Ly explained her father as one of the more "liberal" fathers in the village. When her mother left home to go visit Uncle Nhu, Le Ly and her father had a special bonding time that was uncommon for a father and a daughter. Le Ly's father taught her to make a wood duck and a doorstop out of scraps of wood, and while looking back, Le Ly thought, "This was unheard of- a father doing these things with a child that was not a son (29)!" Le Ly felt lucky to have this kind of relationship with her father. While sitting under a tree that same day, her father told her a story of a woman named Phung Thi Chinh, who led Vietnamese fighters against the Han. Phung Thi Chinh, in one battle, delivered a baby, tied it to her back, and cut her way through the Chinese with a sword in each hand. Le Ly's father spoke of her with great admiration, despite their village's traditional belief on women's roles in families. Her father even said to her, "follow in her footsteps", which meant a great deal to Le Ly. She even foreshadowed her future in the book by saying, "Only later would I learn what he truly meant."