During several flashback-vignette's, Pham switches to a third person narration. One may assume that this is because he is conveying stories of himself that he heard from another family member, or because he does not identify himself as the same person as he was in his youth.
When Pham inserts flashbacks about his exodus from Vietnam, especially on the boat, the sentence structure becomes much more choppy, almost frantic. The structure of these vignettes fits with the mood of the flashback.
During the early days of his journey(in California, Japan, and the beginning of his travels in Vietnam), when An has money and energy to spare, he takes his time creating more thorough descriptions of his surroundings. Later in his journey, when he is both financially and emotionally bankrupt, he is much more brief, as he has lost his patience with the Vietnamese people.
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