Heaven and Earth Chapter 7

Le Ly continued her job selling wartime souvenirs for about two years.  Her mother basically raised Hung while she was away, which was most of the time.  My first cousin, once removed, Ingrid had a daughter when she was very young, and her parents raised Hillary until she was nearly an adult.  The situation is very similar to Le Ly's, except she started to take care of her son when she took him to America with her and my cousin Ingrid did not.

Le Ly was also able to return home for a short visit with her father.  She learned that he had been imprisoned and beaten numerous times and found that many people her age had left the village to join the war or start their own family.  After she arrived back to Danang, she heard news that her father had indeed succeeded in his next attempt at suicide and mourned with her sister.  However, Le Ly was able to learn a lot from the passing of her father.
"I was no longer confused about where my duty lay--with the Viet Cong?  With the legal government and its allies?  With the peasants in the countryside?  No--my duty lay with my son, and with nurturing life, period. ...From my father's death, I had finally learned how to live."

The death of Le Ly's father was a Turning Point, the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs, for her because she was able to realize her duties in her life.