Though the text is meant as a memoir, a portrait of Bee Yang as an artist, what emerges is a portrait of Bee as a father. Bee grapples with the importance of fatherhood throughout the text and considers the loss of his father one of the great tragedies of his life, second only to the war that drove him out of his homeland.

For Bee, a father means both protection and love. He recounts, for example, his deep jealousy of the ways his older brothers treated their own children. When he was a young boy, his older brother visited the city and returned with treats for his children. He did not, however, bring any treats for Bee or Bee’s younger brother, Hue. Bee is devastated, not because he necessarily wanted candy, but because he wanted someone to love him enough to want to treat him to something.

In addition to lacking a father’s love, Bee also feels vulnerable without a father. He believes, for example, that his elder brothers are forced into service for the American soldiers because they had no father to argue for them, and he claims that fatherless sons must be constantly careful and wary of danger.