Sunday, January 24, 2010
Blog 1
“A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” is a short story written by Robert Olen Butler and narrated by an elderly Buddhist named Dao. In the story, Dao alternates back and forth between a visit from his family and dream-like encounter with his old from Ho Chi Minh. Dao’s friend Ho is visiting from the afterlife as Dao is nearing the end of his life. Ho comes to Dao’s room for three nights in a row, and every night he is very preoccupied with a sugar glaze coating his hands. He tells Dao that he cannot figure out what is wrong with the recipe he learned when working with Monsieur Escoffier, a past employer of both Dao and Ho. The presence of the glaze on Ho’s hands triggers memories of Ho’s and his youth. Dao remembers Ho’s persistence in fighting for equal rights and representation of the Vietnamese. The narration of this fictional conversation represents the Vietnamese struggles of the past. Inversely, Dao’s narration of the interaction with his family illustrates how that same struggle is still taking place. Dao tells the story as he is sitting with his eyes closed listening to his son-in-law talk to his son. Through the undertones of their conversation, Dao believes that the two boys were involved in the shooting of a local Vietnamese man, Mr. Le, who spoke out in favor of Vietnamese communism. “Thang laughed and said [to his son], “You have proved yourself no coward” (247). Both Mr. Le and Ho share the same views that Vietnamese communism must be accepted and represented, and that is the problem that embodies this story. The two separate narrations connect the story by showing the constant presence of political debate as well as the extent of the struggle that the Vietnamese government has had.
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Before watching this documentary, I knew very little about the Vietnam war. I thought that the U.S. was only involved as a form of relief and support, but I now see that the U.S. was involved long before any fighting actually started. The U.S. played a major role in the Vietnam war, in all aspects. They backed Diem and his political struggle long before there was any physical war.
ReplyDelete“A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” is a short story written by Robert Olen Butler and narrated by an elderly Buddhist named Dao. In the story, Dao alternates back and forth between a visit from his family and dream-like encounter with his old friend Ho Chi Minh. Dao’s friend Ho is visiting from the afterlife as Dao is nearing the end of his life. Ho comes to Dao’s room for three nights in a row, and every night he is very preoccupied with a sugar glaze coating his hands. He tells Dao that he cannot figure out what is wrong with the recipe he learned when working with Monsieur Escoffier, a past employer of both Dao and Ho. The presence of the glaze on Ho’s hands triggers memories of Ho’s and his youth. Dao remembers Ho’s persistence in fighting for equal rights and representation for the Vietnamese. The narration of this fictional conversation represents the Vietnamese struggles of the past. Ho’s glaze conflict is a metaphor for his conflict in the afterlife. He died before victory was decided in the war, and victory had been Ho’s single priority. He was a ruthless fighter who sought after only victory, and now in the afterlife he is stuck in an eternal conundrum. He is stuck specifically in the glaze because it represents the relationship between Dao and Ho. Dao knows the answer to the glaze problem, just as he knew the answer to war was harmony.
ReplyDeleteInversely, Dao’s narration of the interaction with his family illustrates how that same struggle is still taking place. Dao tells the story as he is sitting with his eyes closed listening to his son-in-law talk to his son. He keeps his eyes shut because he literally cannot bear the experience of conversing with his family. Through the undertones of their conversation, Dao believes that the two boys were involved in the shooting of a local Vietnamese man, Mr. Le, who spoke out in favor of Vietnamese communism. “Thang laughed and said [to his son], “You have proved yourself no coward” (247). Both Mr. Le and Ho share the same views that Vietnamese communism must be accepted and represented, and that is the problem that embodies this story. Ironically, Mr. Le drove a big American truck. He drove the truck, probably, in attempt to conform to the red-neck society he now lives in. His truck was different from the other, traditional southern-Americans in that it did not have a gun rack. This lack of a gun rack illustrates Mr.Le’s distaste for violence and hence explains his request for the acceptance of Vietnamese government. The two separate narrations connect the story by showing the constant presence of political debate and related violence as well as the extent of the struggle that the Vietnamese government has had.