Blog 1

The biggest thing I learned from the PBS documentary American Experience: Vietnam War, "America's Mandarin 1954-1963" was the role that the US played in the beginning of the war and also how much they were involved with Ngo Dinh Diem. I also learned about how the priests would set themselves ablaze to protest Diem and the war.

Butler combines two narratives in "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain." The first narrative is Dao and the ghost of Ho Chi Minh, an old friend and the Prime Minister and President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Ho and Dao talk about many different things including their earlier life in Europe and the recipe for fondant that Ho used to make. Ho seems very troubled about the recipe and continually asks Dao to help him remember. They also talk about their religions and Dao inquires about heaven. The second narrative shows Dao, probably on his deathbed talking to members of his family who have came to visit with him. He hears his son-in-law and grandson talking about a political murder. Dao who is pretending to be sleeping, comes to the conclusion that they most likely were involved in the killing. The narratives relate because they both show the struggle of the war in Vietnam, with Ho's eternal worrying and how the war is still going on.