From The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood by Kien Nguyen: I can't go to America. I don't want to go to any foreign land where I don't speak the...

While we cannot
complete writing assignments for you, we can give general thoughts. I don't know about your
personal beliefs or how reading The Unwanted challenged or confirmed them;
however, the passage you quote and your notes on reading it suggest it might work well to write
about the belief that parents are generally safe, trustworthy, and loving, and how Kien's
relationship with his mother challenges these ideas. You might also write more generally about
the general idea that children can have relatively few worries while they grow up, and how
Kien's story changes this. Alternatively, it might be interesting to write about why Kien's
grandfather didn't feel that fleeing to the US was an option and what that says about the
popular image of the US as a welcoming place.

Regardless, what's important
with this kind of assignment is to talk about your experience of reading the book and to follow
the guidelines regarding the structure of the essay. One format that might be helpful is to use
the introduction to mostly talk about the beliefs you had before reading The
Unwanted, use the body to talk about a few sections of the text that challenged or
reinforced that belief, and use the conclusion to talk about how your positions changed after
you read the book. Ultimately, this kind of assignment is a personal reflection, so there are
many options that can work well. Just focus on articulating the experience you had reading and
reflecting on the book.