The Speaker/The Son

The speaker in many of the poems appears to be the same person, and shares certain characteristics with Ocean Vuong, such as being Vietnamese, and a man attracted to men. "Immigrant Haibun" describes the speaker's parents deciding to name him after the ocean, which strengthens the speaker's connection to Vuong. He is often referred to as being a son, especially in poems related to his parents and family. His relationship with his parents is examined throughout the collection as he struggles to understand his troubled, absent father, and adores his gentle and kind mother.

The speaker appears to be different ages at different points in the collection. In "Threshold" he appears to be younger, and in "In Newport I Watch My Father Lay His Cheek to a Beached Dolphin's Wet Back" he is 11. In poems like "Telemachus" and "A Little Closer to the End" it...