Nam Le

I was intrigued by Nam Le's Reading in the Joynes Reading Room. He read a chapter from the Yaar (I don't know how to spell it), but the story was relevant to our class discussion at the time. The main persona in this story has an older brother who would frequently beat him. In the most simplest of sense, the main character (younger brother) believes that he is at peace when under the fury of his brother's fists. This may be difficult to fathom, but it makes sense as there are things in life that we don't enjoy and, at the same time, can't imagine life without them. Around the time of Nam Le's Reading, we were discussing our multiple selves in my World Literature class. If you have any siblings, then you know that at times they can be rather annoying; I love all of my siblings more than anything in the world, but every now and then I will feel so annoyed that I just want to scream, "Shut Up!" But I don't. I'm too loving, and I can't bear that sad little face that they pull over themselves. Right there in that moment, I'm at peace.
I'm at peace in that moment, like this woman who's at peace in the mountains!


Even though I can't scream at them, I still try, and whenever I try to, I can't seem to find the strength in my voice. Sometimes, a whisper of the phrase might escape my lips, but never have I been able to yell it. I believe somewhere deep down within me I want to be like my siblings, and therefore, I can't part with some of the obscenities they do because those memories are some of my fondest and most treasured moments. The main persona in the Yaar suffers from this very same dilemma. He wants to be like his brother, but his big 'bro' is a tough fellow. He's sort of the bully, and he's got a girlfriend, so I imagine the little brother wants to have a girlfriend and be a bully as well, but his brother won't let him. He wants his little brother to be a better man, to follow the path of academics and to earn a respectable name for himself in society, and to keep his little brother from following his path, he beats him. Little does he know that during this fit of utter madness, his little brother has found a sense of peace and belonging. I know this probably happens all over the world. Everyone everywhere finds a sense of peace and belonging within their immediate environment. It's sort of like an equilibrium state where everything is balanced and in perfect harmony. Sometimes this harmony is a little twisted as in the case presented by the Yaar, and sometimes, reality is more beautiful than a fairy tale!

The author of the "Yaar," Nam Le


All in all, it's quite surprising that Le has found a means to summarize the most ultimate struggle in the world into a small chapter of his short story titled Yaar. You might wonder what this ultimate struggle is as there is relatively little mention of it earlier in the passage, but relax my friend. This ultimate struggle represents the need of man to belong and to be at peace. There have been struggles in history that you may refer to as examples, but the specific tales are up to you because this place of harmony is an imagined place within our minds, and everyone is different. Perhaps you are like the main persona in the Yaar or perhaps you are a more amiable person like myself, but you are defined by what you imagine yourself to be, and for that matter where, you imagine yourself to be in your place of harmony.

Where is your place of harmony?