As a portrait of human resilience, Inside Out and Back Again(2011) by Thanhha Lai, a Vietnamese-American writer, sketches the life of a young girl named Kim Ha’ and her family’s migration from Vietnam to Alabama due to Vietnam War. The paper explores various forms of deterritorialization, displacement, alienation, and identity crisis that the central character undergoes owing to the act of being pushed out from the homeland. Here the displaced undergo a process of transformation and renewal that involves refashioning of identity. Emphasis is given to the struggles that Kim Ha’ endured due to language barriers and her counter attempts for survival. It is written in verse form and is a reflection of the sounds of the Vietnamese people and thus gives a sound to the culture to which she belongs. The language features sensory perplexity of cultural variations and complex emotions of a refugee.  The readers get a hybrid experience where Vietnamese and American characters leap to life through the eyes of the ten year old protagonist.  Drawing on the real-life experience of the writer, the verse novel gives a ray of hope to the refugees all over the world to withstand the adversities and lead their lives forward. The paper urges the readers to develop a global outlook on humanity and thereby to get rid of rigid geographical and cultural confinements.

KEYWORDS: Culture, Deterritorialization, Diaspora, Displacement, Hybrid, Language, Survival, War.