One thing that I learned from watching the PBS Documentary Film was that throughout the war, Diem was always backed by the United States, but sometimes disobeyed the thoughts of the U.S. There were many times when Diem knowingly did things that were disapproved by the United States, because he felt his ideas were more important than those in support of him.
In A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Butler, he uses two separate narratives of a dying man named Daoto try and explain past and future. First, he has conversations with the already deceased Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh shows up three nights in a row, and each of the nights he has sugar on his hands because he is trying to figure out the recipe for a pastry. This sugar is used to show the original relationship between Ho Chi Minh and Dao. Dao was a dishwasher while Ho Chi Minh made pastries. After their original meeting and friendship, the narrative shows how they took separate ways after that. Ho Chi Minh went into the future, and tried to get an independant Vietnam state, while Dao turned to Buddhism and really looked into his past. Also, the two talk about Dao's lack of support for Ho Chi Minh when they left Paris. Dao felt that Ho Chi Minh was upset that Dao did not go with him and support him. On the contrary, Ho Chi Minh is not upset at Dao, but does show a little unrest while there. This makes Dao a little uneasy because of uncertainty that lies ahead of Dao in the afterlife. The second narrative is about the Vietnamese Culture and how it is similar to the thoughts of Ho Chi Minh. Dao Recalls Ho saying that they should not have trusted the Americans, because the Americans are foolish. Dao's family also states this, making Dao uneasy because he feels there should be harmony. Dao also overhears about how his family members helped in the murder of an innocent man, which links the past to the presents and future. There are still the same problems occuring now that did before. Dao's main focus is that he is happy in the afterlife which he is doubtful of because of Ho Chi Minh's lack of enthusiasm.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
One thing that I learned from watching the PBS Documentary Film was that throughout the war, Diem was always backed by the United States, but sometimes disobeyed the thoughts of the U.S. There were many times when Diem knowingly did things that were disapproved by the United States, because he felt his ideas were more important than those in support of him.
ReplyDeleteIn A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Butler, he uses two separate narratives of a dying man named Dao to try and explain past and future. First, he has conversations with the already deceased Ho Chi Minh. This sugar on Ho’s hand is used to show the original relationship between Ho Chi Minh and Dao. Ho Chi Minh went into the future, and tried to get an independent Vietnam state, while Dao turned to Buddhism and really looked into his past. This shows the different paths that people can take throughout their life. Also, Dao felt that Ho Chi Minh was upset that Dao did not go with him and support him. On the contrary, Ho Chi Minh is not upset at Dao, but does show a little unrest while there. This shows how people can misconceive each other when in fact, the opposite is true. Because Dao was uncertain about his future, he figured it was because of Ho. The second narrative is about the Vietnamese Culture and how it is similar to the thoughts of Ho Chi Minh. Dao Recalls Ho saying that they should not have trusted the Americans, because the Americans are foolish. It shows how often times Americans may think that the people don’t agree with the current power, but in fact they do. Dao also overhears about how his family members helped in the murder of an innocent man, which links the past to the presents and future. There are still the same problems occurring now that did before. Dao's main focus is that he is happy in the afterlife which he is doubtful of because of Ho Chi Minh's lack of enthusiasm.