Is Heidi Bub a reflection of America?
             The traditional immigrant success story usually portrays an immigrant family who comes to America and is determined to enjoy the American dream of success through hard work. Eventually, the family, or the second generation of immigrant children, becomes a part of the melting pot of America. However, as an adopted Vietnamese girl, the "Daughter from Danang: The Personal Legacy of War" Heidi Bub of Tennessee is not really a hyphenated American, or a traditional child of immigrants. Rather she was taken as a girl from Vietnam to live in America as an American, with little connection to her birth nation. Her journey is a direct result of the Vietnam War, when the American government allowed Vietnamese orphans and children of servicemen like Heidi to be relocated in the United States. When Heidi, now a mother with children herself, reunites with her mother and half-siblings in Vietnam, Heidi must deal with a culture she knows nothing about, as must her birth mother. In the usual immigrant story, both the parents and the children have at least some exposure at home and in the outside world of American culture and their home nation.
             Heidi, as an adoptee, had a great deal of difficulty connecting with her adopted mother, so she hoped that her birth mother would provide her with some emotional support and a sense of connection to her roots. However, both mother and daughter are filled with guilt. Heidi feels guilty when she sees the impoverished conditions of her mother, and her mother feels guilty for giving up her daughter to strangers in a strange land. Also, Heidi wants love, but her mother wants money. The American quality of Heidi's struggle is not just the struggle of an immigrant seeking her origins, but also that of an American encountering a culture that is poor beyond her comprehension. The fact it is Heidi's own culture yet not her own makes it even more difficult. ...