Essay Questions

How does Viet Thanh Nguyen explore the consequences of war in A Man of Two Faces?

The entire memoir is about the consequences of war and the aftermath of the refugees. Nguyen and his parents became refugees when he was four years old. The war left many people dead and properties destroyed. Consequently, war causes massive destruction of a country, resulting in poverty. When Nguyen and his parents became refugees in the United States of America, they were discriminated against and denied equal opportunities.

Why is A Man of Two Faces saying he is the killer and the person being killed?

The author finds himself in conflicting situations when he revisits his identity. Nguyen is a Vietnamese American, and the reality hits him hard when he discovers that the Americans were behind the Vietnamese War. The American soldiers are the ones who killed most of the innocent Vietnamese. Now, Nguyen is an American citizen, and he feels guilty because they are the ones who killed the Vietnamese. Therefore, Nguyen considers himself the killer (American citizen) and the one being killed (the Vietnamese citizen.)

What is the emblematic connotation of the sunny façade that the author calls AMERICA?

The author uses their house's sunny front elevation to symbolize the Americans' dark side. Behind the façade, the whites recklessly shoot the immigrants because of their ethnicity. At the same point, Nguyen’s parents are shot, but fortunately, they survive. Therefore, the sunny façade is an important symbol that illustrates the evils of American society, including racism and unfair treatment of the immigrants.