Heaven and Earth Chapter 5

When Le Ly's mother found out that she was pregnant, she immediately sent Le Ly to a druggist for a potion that would get rid of the baby.  He gave her something to make the baby stronger instead, and she eventually gave up trying to kill the baby.  Lien, Anh's wife, realized it was her husband's child and promptly wanted to  throw them out of the house; however, Anh took pity on the pair and arranged an apartment for them in Danang and payment for them and her unborn child.

In my favorite show, One Tree Hill, Karen Roe (on the right) has a son named Lucas (on the left) and raises him all by herself.  She was abandoned by Lucas' father, Dan Scott, when she told him of the pregnancy; they were teenagers at the time, just like Le Ly was when she was pregnant with her first son.  She also does not receive support from Anh, the father of her child, after they separated.  However, both women succeed and raise healthy, intelligent boys.

Le Ly was not really angry with Anh when they left, and when she met up with him on her trip back to Vietnam in 1986, she greeted him warmly because she realized she loved him only as a brother, not a lover.

"He has become my brother--the brother of my soul--and I his soul sister.  Knowing it or not, he gave me a son and helped put me on a life course that brought me to America.  For that I can't be anything but grateful."

Later in the chapter, Le Ly has a Flashback of her older brother, Sau Ban.  A Flashback is the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narration.  She remembers him as her constant childhood companion.  He played with her and always offered to help others around their village, but he was quickly called away to help the goverment with their projects.  He married Nham in 1962 and was killed a year later without any children.