Asian American Research Journal

 Following the Vietnam War over 140,000 Vietnamese refugees sought safety in the United States, carrying with them the invisible scars of war. However, survival did not mark the end of their struggles; rather, it introduced new challenges of assimilation, financial instability, and fractured family relationships. Through a comparative analysis of Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do and the oral history of Duong Truong, this paper explores how the trauma of war is inherited and reshaped across generations, influencing identity formation in first-generation Vietnamese Americans. Furthermore, it examines how the tension between cultural preservation and adaptation creates a complex, ongoing negotiation of selfhood, a pinnacle aspect of the Vietnamese refugee experience in America.