My Final AP Lit Essay
Anneke DeJong
Mrs. Spevak
AP Literature and Composition
20 April 2022
Trevor and Little Dog: a River Embodied
A river is an experience that leads us to the destination we are meant to reach. But in love, what is the river, and what is the destination? In the novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong’s speaker, Little Dog, writes to his mother explaining this path. In this letter, Little Dog describes the challenges he faced growing up and the experiences that marked his childhood and adolescence, one of these things being Trevor, a boy he met while working. Trevor was a turning point for him, showing him what pure and intimate love was, and proving that love was more than the hostility he received from his mother.
To understand the profound nature of Trevor, Little Dog’s backstory must be known. He was born in the Philippines to a woman enduring the harsh reality of the Vietnam war. In an act of fleeing, they migrate to the United States, specifically to Hartford, a rural community in Connecticut. Being born to a Vietnamese immigrant mother meant he inherited her trauma in seeing her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and violent tendencies. Surrounded by violence growing up, it was all she knew of love, which resulted in Little Dog being raised a beaten child, affirming that with love came violence. “The first time you hit me, I must have been four,.” Little Dog writes on only the third page of his letter, establishing that this abuse was the foundation of the challenges he faced with his mother (Vuong 5). He was not only abused by his mother but by peers as well. “‘Speak English,’ said the boy with a yellow bowl cut, his jowls flushed and rippling… They waited to see what would happen. When I did nothing but close my eyes, the boy slapped me.” (24). Being different in America means being singled out; he was bullied and went unnoticed for anything other than his skin color and lack of English. He went unnoticed like this until one day, while working on a tobacco farm, Trevor came up to him (94). For the first time, he felt seen. Glowing from this approach for reasons other than malicious intent or humiliation, Little Dog writes “I was seen — I who had seldom been seen by anyone. I who was taught, by you, to be invisible in order to be safe…” (96).
A shot of Trevor is often chased with descriptive symbolism highlighting the deep and poetic nature of this romance. One piece of symbolism, in particular, is that of a river, which is referred to consistently within Little Dog’s description of Trevor and the moments they share. This river is a theme describing the love that Trevor leads him to see, to redefine. It first appears in a scene that Little Dog describes to his mother, one wherein Trevor’s name isn’t actually mentioned at all: it was when Trevor was high on Oxycontin and crashed his Chevy truck into a tree. “Although it covers both of their faces, the blood belongs to the tall boy, the ones with eyes the dark grey of a river beneath somebody’s shadow.” (75). Although this moment occurred after their meeting, it is where Little Dog first mentions Trevor, perhaps in reminiscence. From the perspective of Little Dog reminiscing, it can be assumed that in this metaphor, he is the one standing over the river that is Trevor, looking upon the affection that he has shown him. Additionally, this symbolism is very intentionally introduced within this scene, as it too is repeatedly brought up throughout the novel, indicating that this was a defining moment for Little Dog. Vuong has a way of planting metaphors perfectly throughout the book, always very carefully and intentionally. The fact that he linked these two things together is indicative of their meaning to Little Dog, further proving that the symbolism of a river is important in describing Trevor and his relationship.
The next time it is brought up, it is a mere few days after they meet, where Little Dog uses it to provide imagery of Trevor’s body. “And maybe it was there in the barn that I first saw what I would always see when flesh is pressed against the dark. How the sharp edges of his body — shoulders, elbows, chin, and nose — poked through the blackness, a body halfway in, or out of, a river’s surface,.” narrates Little Dog as they increasingly grow physically close to each other (104). This mention of a river not only portrays the descending into the metaphorical river that is their love, but being paired with the color black, it also signifies that Trevor is a “light in the dark” spotlighting that there is more to love than brutality and belligerence.
Then, in a chapter written encapsulating all that Trevor was to him, Little Dog writes “Because he tasted like the river and maybe [I was] one wing away from sinking.” (158). This line in the poem that is this chapter embodies the love that Little Dog was sinking into. This chapter deviated from the writing style of the rest of the book to a prose poetry to write about what, quoted by Little Dog, “Trevor was.” (178). Its mention of the river only further proves the connection between a river to Trevor and Little Dog’s love for each other.
The defining scene of this theme begins on page 203, when they had anal intercourse for the first time after engaging in sexual activities in other ways up until this point. This was a moment where all curtains were dropped: they were no longer afraid of being gay and succumbed to each other’s love without allowing the judgement of society to seep in. Little Dog gave himself to Trevor without fear of his vulnerability being taken advantage of, and it wasn’t. When this act of intimacy went wrong, and Little Dog accidentally defecated on Trevor, he was accepting, and instead of responding with anger, simply led them to the river to wash off. Even when Little Dog expected hostility, hearing “Lick it up” instead of “Get up”, thinking “How did I already know he would react like this?” in response to the mishearing, Trevor only acted with kindness and acceptance (204). This scene is the river theme in itself, explaining why Little Dog used a river and proving the deeper meaning. When Trevor accepted what had happened, it proved that he was deviating from the hostility that Little Dog knew to be love. When they entered the river, it was a metaphor for entering love, being engulfed by it. “The river up to my chest now, I waved my arms to keep steady.” (205). Little dog is floating in this now overtaking, all accepting love that he has never experienced before.
Rivers are notoriously known for being symbols of paths that lead a character to a certain destination, be it a journey or realization. In this case, the river is the realization of what love can be, and how it can escape the confines of what Little Dog learned it to be. He was raised abused, understanding that love is violence and submission. Trevor changes this for him, showing him kindness and intimacy without judgment. Throughout this novel, it is made clearer with every allusion to a river that it symbolizes the love between Little Dog and Trevor, and how this river guides Little Dog to see what pure love is. Love is a journey we all take, and for Little Dog, this journey leads to a profound realization of what love is capable of.
thank you and even after almost half a year having past since i read this book, i'm still enraptured by it's depth and beauty. i highly recommend reading the puzzle that is this novel.