The Non-Human As A Representation Of Queer Asian American Adaptation And Resistance In Ocean Vuong’s Novel 
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019)

Author: Celeste Bloom

Affiliation: Department of Literatures in English, Bryn Mawr College

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Abstract:​​​​

This thesis will explore the non-human as a representation of queer Asian American marginalization within Ocean Vuong’s novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (2019). I will argue that the non-human represents the protagonist's adaptation and resilience to his grief as a queer second-generation Vietnamese immigrant. I will detail how the protagonist relies on the non-human to conceptualize his identity and family beyond their trauma. I will demonstrate how Vuong's portrayal of the non-human reconstructs the queer Asian American subject's sense of identity, home, and community beyond structures of colonialism and heteropatriarchy.

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Keywords: Queerness, Immigration, Trauma, Non-Human, Intersectionality​

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ISSN 3069-8200

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