Andrew understands that survival and selflessness are linked to prostitution within Vietnam. He communicates this to be his personal opinion when he discusses a taxi dancer named Kim. Andrew writes that he wishes he "could tell her of the warmth and respect" he feels towards her because he appreciates her, "selfless devotion to her family," (135). However, while he is able to recognize the sacrifice of these women, his feelings are more complex due to his personal family history. It was through his familial upbringing that he had begun to see prostitution as a solution despite disparity, but the monetary advantage his family acquired due to the business is one of the sources for his guilt (alongside his limited emotional devotion to Chi). Two instances in the text connect Pham's childhood to prostitution. The first suggests that a prostitution business took place in the home and with familiar people, (Pham 287). The second instance confirms that Andrew's mother was a madam and that her business was a means for leaving the country (which required a lot of cash). Andrew writes:.
"Women came to the window of the cage, chatted with his mother through the wire mesh, and waved at him smiling. They gave his mother money-rent, they called it. Anh put the rent on the table next to the bar-cash, the restaurant-cash, and the cabaret-cash, mounting, heaping great big blocks of bills like brick-a mason laying a foundation.
An wanted to know whose mountain of paper it was. [His mom] told him it was theirs. He wanted to know what she was going to do with it. "Anh said, My son, this money will take you abroad to study. In America you will become a great engineer." (Pham 308-309).
In the eyes of the Vietnamese, Andrew is considered successful because his career and American lifestyle; in the quote it becomes apparent that his success was due to his mother's exploitation of local women.
