Family is now something I have created and not just something I was born into."
-- Thi Bui (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote speaks to the nature of family as various stages of one's life. Initially, one's family circumstances are coincidental and uncontrollable when it comes to the agency of the child. However, as one grows and creates a family of one's own, the nature of those relationships change. Creating one's one family involves a degree of choice and personal agency unavailable to the child. As such, by creating a family of one's own, the child steps into the role of the parent and becomes the creator of family instead of the product of family.

I have figured out, more or less, how to raise my little family... but it's being both a parent and a child, without acting like a child, that eludes me.
-- Thi Bui (chapter 2)

Importance: This quote demonstrates how occupying dual roles within an extended family...