The Key – Vo Phien

The symbolic significance of the key wears refers to the man’s reluctance to let go of his life in Vietnam. This is evident when he tells the story of his father – to leave him in Vietnam while the man and his family travel elsewhere in search of refuge. The man said that if any of his friends or family members chose to stay and watch his father, they could have his family’s money and valuables. To prevent theft, the man locked away the valuables in a wardrobe that could be unlocked with a key that we would give to his father. However, upon the arrival to the United States the man realized that he had never given the key to his father; it had been in his shirt pocket the entire time. Therefore, when the friend comes to collect on the money left behind for watching the father, there would be no way to obtain it unless he or she breaks down the wardrobe.

I believe that the man subconsciously kept the key because he was not ready to move on. He came to America to save his family, but I don’t think that he planned to stay in the long run. Theoretically, if he gave the key to his father and his father’s caretaker collected the valuables as payment, then the man would have nothing if he came back to Vietnam. Therefore, the man kept the key as a security measure in case he wanted to move back after the war. The money he left behind would help him rebuild his life in Vietnam.https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/blackboard.learn.xythos.prod/5a3434ca259b6/4059077?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27The%2520Key.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20190404T191852Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIL7WQYDOOHAZJGWQ%2F20190404%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=88a649b8dd694c166642e48d35b0b180db2bb138616d2ab80c64328cc48db220