When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: Ch. 5 Losing Love

Le Ly's mother was upset that she became pregnant. She sent Le Ly to a druggist trying to rid of the baby easier but instead, the druggist made the baby stronger. Angry and upset, Lien wanted to throw out Le Ly and her mother. Convinced my Anh, Lien agreed to setting up an apartment for Le Ly and her mother in Danang as long as Anh didn't know the whereabouts of the apartment. This set up makes me think of the movie Juno. In the movie, Juno MacGuff is a pregnant teenager that seeks to put her child up for adoption to a wealthy couple. Her father and step-mother were upset yet supportive of her decision, and the father of the child, Paulie Bleeker, abandoned and ignored Juno when she needed his support. Eventually, like Anh and Le Ly, Juno and Paulie reunite.

Reveal of Juno's Pregnancy: http://www.hulu.com/watch/12728/juno-im-pregnant

In 1986, Le Ly takes a trip back to Vietnam to find Anh as well as visit family. Their son, Jimmy, stayed in the United States during her trip but Le Ly brought pictures to show Anh. Anh, by this time, had a new wife. Le Ly came to realize the relationship she has with Anh was a brother sister relationship and this helped her care for him deeply. The re-connection with Anh brings up memories of Le Ly's older brother Sau Ban. Le Ly has a flashback of the childhood she spent with her brother before he was secretly sent off for the war. Le Ly recounts the protective and caring brother she had a deep bond with and misses him dearly. "Sau Ban taught me how to compete with the schoolboys in volleyball, although they teased him unmercifully about the kindness he showed his baby sister and nicknames me Buon Ut, which is Vietnamese for tagalong" (144-145). Recounts of his marriage and death the following year sadden Le Ly.