Fathers and Daughters

In chapter 2 of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places Hayslip begins by discussing her close relationship with her father.  Her father teaches her that her main duty to her family and her country is to stay alive.  Hayslip then describes the dilemma her village faced when the Viet Cong and the Republicans began making frequent visits.  The rebels instructed the villagers to dig them bunkers, and the Republicans would often demand they fill the bunkers back in.  The Viet Cong were able to gain control of the village, and the children were recruited to do special things for the rebellion.  They were instructed to steal the weapons of the Republican soldiers that slept in their house.  The innocence established in the previous chapter was maintained, even through the high tensions situations with the Viet Cong.  "For us, the new war was a game for earning medals and an honored place on lists- ideas we had been taught for years in the government's own school."  Again, the reader connects with Hayslip through her lovable childhood innocence.  This connection is strengthened when the innocent child is captured by the Republicans and kept in a cage while periodically being interrogated and beaten until her mother is able to negotiate her freedom.  At the end of the chapter, as well as in the first chapter, the story skips to after the war.  Though the country still faces political instability, Hayslip, now a grown woman who has lived in America for some time, has planned a return trip to her village.  It is revealed that she is now on a death list by the Viet Cong and is not popular with the Vietnamese government because she is writing a book about her experiences.