Reflecting on Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”

Because I normally read business and startup books, I noticed authors I read were tending to skew very heavily white and male, so I’ve been making a point to read more books by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ authors this year. I’m really enjoying Ocean Vuong’s “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”, a novel written as a letter to his mother.

This passage in particular struck a chord with me:

That night I promised myself I’d never be wordless when you needed me to speak for you. So began my career as our family’s official interpreter. From then on, I would fill in our blanks, our silences, stutters, whenever I could. I code switched. I took off our language and wore my English, like a mask, so that others would see my face, and therefore yours.

I think every child of immigrants complains at one point or another about having to be this voice for our parents. I know sometimes during arguments over issues at work or pretty much everywhere you might expect to have trouble when you live in a country and don’t speak the language, which is pretty much EVERYWHERE, I would ask my parents incredulously, “How can you have lived in this country for almost FOR-TY YEARS, and STILL not speak English?!?!” But as I’ve gotten older, I finally, FINALLY understand that it’s a gift to be able to speak for them as a small thank for all the sacrifices they’ve made. That I should cherish every opportunity to open doors and crack windows between them and this still foreign world…