Blog 1

One thing that truly stayed with me after the PBS documentary was the Monks sacrificing themselves. I had heard of this before, but I did not realize that there were numerous instances of the Buddhist Monks setting themselves on fire. The global impact of their actions was immense and truly brought the world to realize the atrocities taking place in Vietnam.

Robert Robert Olen Butler combined two narratives in his piece, "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain," to illustrate the continuing political conflict the Vietnamese still face. The dream narrative is between Dao, a Vietnamese man who is reaching the end of his life, and Ho Chi Minh, one of Dao's old friends. The actual narrative depicts Dao's visit with his son-in-law and grandson. Over the three nights Ho visited Dao, he recalled them working together at the Carlton Hotel in London, "where I [Dao] was a dishwasher and he [Ho] was a pastry cook under the great Escoffier" (236). When Ho visited Dao he had a glaze of sugar all over his hands, which reminded Dao of his past in France. Ho asked Dao, "do you still follow the path you chose in Paris?" (240). The path Ho was referring to was that of religion, Dao chose to become a Buddhist, following the path of harmony. This is not the path that Ho chose, he chose the path of politics, however remains "not at peace" despite the fact that according to Dao, Ho "won the country" (245). In the other narrative Dao was sitting with his son-in-law, Thang, and grandson, Loi. Once Dao appeared to fall asleep creating the opportunity for Thang and Loi to discuss the murder of Mr. Le. Mr. Le wrote a small newspaper in their community, and prior to his death had written that "it was time to accept the reality of the communist government in Vietnam and begin to talk with them" (238). Thang pointed out twice in the conversation with his son that "there was no murder weapon" (239), and later said to Loi, "you proved yourself no coward" (247). With all that said, Dao knew his family had been involved in the murder of Mr. Le. However despite his family's involvement in a political killing, Dao decided to take that knowledge to the grave. Throughout the story the reoccurring idea is the political conflict that the Vietnamese, who live in the United States, face after the war was over. The men who chose the path of politics continually refuse to even consider talks with the Communists, which is one of the causes of the ongoing strife to find peace. Dao had seen the value in peace and harmony, and chose to devote his life to that rather than fighting.