The Red Plastic Chair is a Vietnamese Cultural Institution, and My Anchor (VCE SSCE English): Revision Notes

Authorial Purpose

Amy Duong's 2020 essay for SBS Voices, titled "The Red Plastic Chair is a Vietnamese Cultural Institution, and My Anchor", was written during Victoria's COVID-19 lockdowns when many people were reconnecting with their cultural roots. The essay explores a seemingly simple object—the ubiquitous red plastic chair found in Vietnamese communities—and transforms it into a powerful symbol of identity, belonging and cultural memory.

Understanding an author's purpose means identifying why they wrote their text and what they hoped to achieve. Duong's essay pursues multiple interconnected purposes, each carefully crafted to reach different audiences whilst maintaining an authentic, personal voice.

Overview of Duong's purposes

Duong wrote this essay to elevate humble everyday objects from invisible functionality to national conversation. She transforms the simple red plastic chair into a profound symbol of migrant resilience, community reciprocity and cultural memory preservation. Her approach is tender yet incisive, celebrating Vietnamese-Australian culture whilst honestly acknowledging the generational drift that occurs through assimilation.

The essay bridges two worlds: the bustling sidewalks of Saigon and the suburban streets of Springvale in Melbourne. By doing so, Duong transforms what might seem like an unpretentious continuity into something that mainstream Australian readers can recognise and appreciate. She humanises successful second-generation professionals by confessing her own estrangement from cultural practices, modelling vulnerability that validates hybrid identity without falling into victimhood narrative.

Primary purpose: Validate cultural artefacts as identity anchors

Duong's central purpose is to elevate the $1.25 red plastic chair from a mere street food prop to a perfect example of synecdoche—where one object represents an entire cultural experience. As she powerfully states, the chair "weighs almost nothing; represents so much". This simple phrase encapsulates how everyday objects can carry profound cultural meaning.

The essay draws parallels between the boat people's endurance (referring to the 1976 Darwin arrivals of Vietnamese refugees) and the chair's stackable resilience. This connection is not coincidental—both the refugees and the chairs are practical, adaptable and built to survive challenging circumstances. The chairs continue to serve Vietnamese culture recognised by UNESCO for its gastronomic democracy, visible in the phở stalls of Springvale.

Sensory validation

Duong uses sensory details to prove the chair's Proustian power—its ability to trigger vivid cultural memories. The phrase "petrol fumes swirling" demonstrates how a glimpse of red plastic can unlock memories of Saigon that are absent from mainstream Australian furniture stores like Target.

This sensory validation serves a crucial purpose: it helps readers recognise their own culturally significant objects. Just as Vietnamese-Australians have red plastic chairs, Italian-Australians might have their nonna's coffee pot, or Greek-Australians their yiayia's tablecloth. By making the specific universal, Duong invites cross-cultural recognition and empathy.

Secondary purpose: Reveal migrant reciprocity networks

Duong's second major purpose is to educate mainstream audiences about the mutual aid networks that exist within migrant communities. She unveils what she calls a social contract, expressed through the simple act of lending chairs: "Lending a stack establishes social contract: back-and-forth of favours until one dies".

This revelation is profound because it shows how migrant communities created their own support systems to fill gaps in 1980s welfare provisions. The funeral practicality she describes—keeping chairs ready "in case all of Springvale shows up"—transforms what might seem like simple pragmatism into profound community care.

Duong's purpose here is specific: she wants to educate mainstream Australian readers on collectivism that veils love in ways that Western individualism often sentimentalises. In Western culture, we might express care through emotional declarations or purchased gifts. In Vietnamese-Australian culture, care is expressed through practical actions—bringing chairs means being ready to support your community.

The unspoken grammar of community

One of the most powerful examples Duong provides is her mother's instruction during her aunt's death: "Bring the chairs in, more people are coming". This simple statement reveals an unspoken grammar where more chairs equals more community, which equals more support. There's no paid catering service, no formal arrangements—just the understanding that chairs represent lives interlinked through mutual obligation and care.

Tertiary purpose: Confess second-generation cultural drift

Duong's third purpose is perhaps the most personal and vulnerable: she confesses her own disconnection from the cultural practices she describes. The admission "I own none... no idea where to buy them" humanises the experience of urban success and professional achievement. She describes driving to her aunt's funeral with purchased chairs in the boot—a small detail that speaks volumes about generational distance.

This purpose serves to validate fluency loss without shame. Duong demonstrates that professional achievement and cultural disconnection can coexist, and that this is a common experience for second-generation migrants. Her aunt's death crystallises a generational chasm that chairs alone cannot bridge.

The clear-eyed close of the essay—offering no lament, just witness—models mature reckoning with cultural inheritance. Duong doesn't apologise for her disconnection, nor does she romanticise her parents' generation. Instead, she simply observes and reflects, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.

Audience targeting and calibration

Duong carefully calibrates her essay to reach multiple audiences simultaneously, each with slightly different purposes:

Primary audience: Mainstream Australians

The primary audience consists of SBS Voices readers who are likely unfamiliar with Springvale's Little Saigon community. Duong uses the chair's universality—it "goes with no one's décor"—to invite recognition. She's essentially saying: "You too have these objects that carry cultural meaning beyond their practical function".

This approach makes Vietnamese-Australian culture accessible without exoticising it or making it seem foreign and incomprehensible. Instead, she finds common ground through the universal human experience of cultural objects.

Secondary audience: Vietnamese-Australian diaspora

For Vietnamese-Australian readers, particularly second-generation migrants, the essay validates their experience of estrangement. Duong's confession "I observe rituals without fluency" speaks directly to those who feel caught between cultures. Simultaneously, she honours their parents' sidewalk pragmatism, acknowledging the foundation that makes their current lives possible.

Tertiary audience: Emerging writers

As an SBS competition entry, the essay also serves as a model for emerging writers. Duong demonstrates how to achieve sensory richness and reflective insight within the tight constraint of 800 words. This technical achievement is itself instructive for writers learning their craft.

Purpose progression through structure

Duong's purposes unfold through a carefully structured five-stage progression:

This structure is significant because there's no preaching or didacticism. As Duong states, "That was how they established social contract"—reflection emerges organically from observation. This technique, similar to author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's approach, weaves analysis naturally into narrative without the heavy-handed tone of a TED talk.

Comparing purposes across the personal journey spectrum

Understanding Duong's purpose becomes clearer when contrasted with other authors in the Personal Journeys text list:

Each author adopts a different purpose, voice and cultural strategy. Duong's choice of tender detachment rather than furious confrontation or vulnerable intimacy shapes how readers receive her message. She invites rather than demands, observes rather than accuses.

Reception and impact

The essay received an SBS Highly Commended award, validating Duong's purposes. More importantly, it sparked recognition within Vietnamese-Australian communities with responses like "That's our chairs!". Unlike viral TED talks or controversial pieces, Duong's essay achieved what she set out to do: quiet affirmation rippling through diaspora networks, with Springvale phở stalls reportedly stacking extra chairs proudly.

This reception confirms that Duong successfully balanced multiple purposes—educating mainstream audiences whilst validating diaspora experiences, maintaining personal honesty whilst celebrating community resilience.

Exam advice for analysing and creating texts

When analysing Duong's authorial purpose in essays or creating your own texts inspired by her approach, consider these strategies:

Artefact elevation technique

Voice calibration

Duong's essay balances approximately 70% sensory vignette with 30% organic reflection. This ratio allows the story to carry the meaning rather than explicit statements. When analysing purpose, use metalanguage: "Duong's show-don't-tell approach to reciprocity reveals migrant pragmatism without sentimentality".

Word count and complexity

Contextual adaptation

Remember!