55 pages • 1 hour read
Ocean VuongOn Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean VuongFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
During Reading
Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
Part 1
Reading Check
1. What is the name of the first book that Little Dog loved?
2. How old is Little Dog when he is writing this letter?
3. What triggers a traumatic flashback for Lan in Part 1, Section 2?
4. What is first referred to as “a god” in Part 1, Section 3?
5. What does Lan’s name mean when translated?
6. Where does Paul live?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why is Little Dog’s mother horrified by the taxidermied buck at the Virginia rest stop?
2. What is different about Lan when she sleeps, and why is Little Dog drawn to her?
3. How does Rose react when she finds out Little Dog was beaten up on the bus, and how does she explain her reaction?
4. What name does Lan’s mother give her, and what does it signify?
5. How does Paul respond to his neighbor’s assumption about Little Dog? How does Little Dog feel about the response?
6. Where are Little Dog, Rose, and Lan going in Part 1, Section 5, and what do they find when they arrive?
Paired Resource
- Ocean Vuong is not only a novelist, but a poet. His poetry deals with many of the same themes as On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.
- This poem connects to the theme of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Mental Health.
- Vuong’s poem is set in South Vietnam as the final evacuation of the Americans out of Saigon is signaled by the playing of “White Christmas.” Consider how the lyrics of “White Christmas” interrupt the surrounding violence. What is conveyed through this juxtaposition? How does this poem add depth to what Lan and Rose might have experienced?
Part 2
Reading Check
1. What song are Trevor and Little Dog singing at the beginning of Part 2?
2. What is unexpected about the woman who comes into the nail salon?
3. Where is Little Dog’s first job?
4. In what grades are Little Dog and Trevor when they meet?
5. What kind of truck does Trevor’s dad have?
6. What does Rose confess after Little Dog comes out to her?
7. What color was the bike that Little Dog rode in the hallways of the tenement house?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. How does Little Dog describe Rose’s hands, and how does he feel about them?
2. What word is common between nail salon and tobacco farm workers, and what does it show about the nature of these jobs?
3. How does Rose react to seeing the plastic army men strewn all over the floor, and what does this reveal about her?
4. What rap artist does Little Dog lie about not knowing, and why?
5. What painting hangs in the hallway of Trevor’s home, and what does Little Dog like about it?
6. While having sex with Trevor for the second time, what does Little Dog realize about the concept of submission, and how is this realization empowering?
Paired Resource
“Found Poem Favorite: ‘The Opioid Crisis’”
- This found poem, written from two different source texts, comments on the opioid crisis through the lens of a hummingbird.
- This poem connects to the theme of Drug Use and Addiction.
- Trevor and Little Dog’s relationship is set against the backdrop of drug use and addiction. How does this poem capture the tone and mood of the presence of drugs in Vuong’s novel? What is the significance between the hummingbird in the poem and the butterflies in the novel?
Part 3
Reading Check
1. How does Trevor die?
2. How old was Trevor when he died?
3. Why does Little Dog never do heroin?
4. What color do the traffic lights in Little Dog’s hometown blink after midnight?
5. What is Lan diagnosed with at the beginning of Part 3, Section 3?
6. Who is present at Lan’s death?
7. Where is Lan buried five months after her death?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Where is Little Dog when he learns of Trevor’s death, and how does he respond?
2. What do Little Dog and Trevor say to each other instead of “goodbye,” and why?
3. Why was Trevor prescribed painkillers, and how did this impact him moving forward?
4. What is the double meaning of the Vietnamese word nhớ, and how does it relate to grief?
5. What does Paul ask Little Dog to do for him, and what does this show about Paul’s character?
Paired Resource
“It’s Been 50 Years. I Am Not ‘Napalm Girl’ Anymore”
- Kim Phuc Phan Thi is the subject of one of the most iconic and recognizable images from the Vietnam War, known as “Napalm Girl.” In this op-ed from the New York Times, she reflects on her experience as a child, her identity as “Napalm Girl,” and how she has transcended that and created a beautiful and purposeful life.
- This article connects to the theme of The Survival of Beauty Through Loss and Violence.
- One mark of the human spirit seems to be the ability to transform something traumatic and destructive into something beautiful. How does Ms. Phan Thi’s story supplement themes present in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous?
“Loung Ung - From Surviving War to Becoming an Activist and Author”
- In this 4-minute video, Loung Ung, an author and activist who survived the Cambodian genocide during the 1970s and relocated to the US as a refugee, discusses the role that connection, creation, and compassion have played in her personal journey toward healing.
- This video connects to the theme of The Survival of Beauty Through Loss and Violence.
- Ung was a recipient of small acts of kindness interspersed between trauma and struggle. Compare her experience to Little Dog’s. What role did those small kindnesses play in Little Dog’s own ability to write, reflect, and heal?
Recommended Next Reads
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Published in 2017, this collection of short stories explores the lives of eight refugees from the 1970s to the 2000s as they experience life in two different countries: one of origin, and one of choice.
- Shared themes include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Mental Health and The Survival of Beauty Through Loss and Violence.
- Shared topics include identity and the immigrant experience, family, home and belonging, and navigating loss and hope.
- The Refugees on SuperSummary
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
- First published in 2003, The Namesake follows the Ganguli family after they immigrate from India to Boston. The novel explores the struggles of the immigrant family as they navigate maintaining cultural connections while also adapting to life in a new place.
- Shared themes include The Survival of Beauty Through Loss and Violence.
- Shared topics include identity and the immigrant experience, and the complexity of generational relationships.
- The Namesake on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
Part 1
Reading Check
1. Thunder Cake (Part 1, Section 1)
2. 28 years old (Part 1, Section 1)
3. 4th of July fireworks (Part 1, Section 2)
4. A Huey helicopter (Part 1, Section 3)
5. Orchid (Part 1, Section 3)
6. Virginia (Part 1, Section 4)
Short Answer
1. She is horrified because she thinks that a corpse should be able to transition to something else, and a taxidermied animal is stuck forever as a corpse. (Part 1, Section 1)
2. Lan gets a reprieve from her traumas and mental health condition when she sleeps, and Little Dog is drawn to this mental stillness, which reminds him of the past. (Part 1, Section 2)
3. Rose berates and slaps Little Dog for allowing the boys to beat him up on the bus. She tells Little Dog that he must act like a “real boy and be strong” because she is not able to protect him. (Part 1, Section 2)
4. Lan’s mother names her Seven because she was the seventh child. (Part 1, Section 3)
5. Paul corrects the neighbor’s assumption that Little Dog is an outsider by telling her that Little Dog is his grandson, and Little Dog finds this gesture deeply touching. (Part 1, Section 4)
6. They are going to protect Mai, Rose’s sister, from her abusive husband. When they arrive, they realize Rose has been having a flashback and has not lived there for five years. (Part 1, Section 5)
Part 2
Reading Check
1. “This Little Light of Mine” (Part 2, Section 1)
2. She has a prosthetic leg. (Part 2, Section 2)
3. A tobacco farm (Part 2, Section 2)
4. 9th and 11th, respectively (Part 2, Section 3)
5. A red Chevy (Part 2, Section 3)
6. She had an abortion. (Part 2, Section 4)
7. Pink (Part 2, Section 5)
Short Answer
1. He describes them as “hideous,” and he hates the fact that they are the result of so much of Rose’s struggles and unrealized dreams. (Part 2, Section 2)
2. Both frequently say the word “sorry.” This shows that the workers, both minorities, know that they are at the lower end of a racial and economic hierarchy, and being deferential is necessary. (Part 2, Section 2)
3. Rose slaps Little Dog across the face multiple times. This shows that Rose is prone to extreme and violent outbursts of anger. (Part 2, Section 3)
4. Little Dog lies about not knowing 50 Cent because he thinks that “[m]aybe I wanted to give [Trevor] the power of this small knowledge over me.” (Part 2, Section 3)
5. Little dog likes the painting of pink peaches in Trevor’s home because it is clearly a mass-produced “fake” that was not trying to pass as real art. (Part 2, Section 3)
6. Little Dog realizes that submission is a kind of power, and that Trevor can only feel pleasure if Little Dog offers himself up to him. Additionally, Little Dog finds empowerment in choosing the ways in which another person treats his body. (Part 2, Section 3)
Part 3
Reading Check
1. He dies from an overdose of fentanyl-laced heroin. (Part 3, Section 1)
2. 22 years old (Part 3, Section 2)
3. He is scared of needles. (Part 3, Section 2)
4. Yellow (Part 3, Section 2)
5. Stage-four bone cancer (Part 3, Section 3)
6. Rose, Mai, and Little Dog (Part 3, Section 3)
7. Vietnam (Part 3, Section 3)
Short Answer
1. He sees a Facebook update while he is in an Italian American literature class in Brooklyn, and he leaves his class abruptly without explanation. (Part 3, Section 1)
2. They say “hello.” Many of their friends died from overdoses, so they promised never to say “goodbye” to each other. (Part 3, Section 1)
3. Trevor was prescribed OxyContin when he was 15 after he broke his ankle, and within a month he was addicted. (Part 3, Section 2)
4. It means both “to miss” and “to remember.” It speaks to the way grief blurs the line between remembering and missing someone. (Part 3, Section 2)
5. Paul asks to see Lan’s grave, so Little Dog shows him through the webcam on his computer. Paul spends heartfelt moments apologizing to Lan and saying goodbye, which shows his compassion toward Lan and her family, and his regrets about the ways their lives turned out. (Part 3, Section 3)
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