" I knew it was useless to worry about torture the interrogator described it was to try and figure out ways to outsmart him. If I was to survive, I must play the game." Pg.371 When heaven and earth came together Le Ly Hayslip

Word Count:350

    When heaven and earth came together is a very intense story of Le Ly Hayslip getting caught thrown into prison and tortured. She was tortured for things and treated cruelly for helping the Viet Cong. Le Ly Hayslip helped them not be seen, she would wear 3 different shirts that had meanings in order to communicate to the Cong. This text demonstrates how intelligent Le Ly Hayslip was and how she could "play the game" and outsmart everyone. She would use the shirts in order to demonstrate how she could outsmart everyone, in which when the Republicans were coming, she picked up a pail and walked along the road collecting crops and pretending to look like an innocent young girl that brings her family honor, and when she got out of their sight, she would take off the layers of her shirts to show the next group that the Republicans were entering the territory. She single-handedly saved many people's lives from her plan by warning everyone. She was a hero until she was arrested. She held her family in the highest respect even though when she was arrested she was completely looked down upon. After she was arrested the entire village who once saw her as a hero wanted nothing to do with her, she was no longer their hero but someone who has brought the same upon themselves.

    The quote from above demonstrates her intellect but also her ability to do what she had to in order to survive. This could demonstrate how women at the time were looked past due to the fact that they thought they weren't as capable of being a woman. They tortured her in ways that no one could ever imagine and yet she still did not break she just played the game. She demonstrates women's intelligence for a time in which they were looked at poorly. She shows that women were capable of anything, going through torture, and standing up for what they believed in. She truly was a hero and someone that should have been celebrated and not someone who is shameful.