AEE Blog 9

After reading Madagascar Plum by Nguyon thi Minh Ngoc, as well as many other Vietnam War stories, it is apparent that the “truths” which surfaced from the Vietnam battle fields were not always the most honest tales. Tim O’ Brien in The Things They Carried expanded on the differences between story-true and truth-true, and this short story appears to fall into the “story-true” category. The officer’s memory is fogged by alcohol, as well as guilt and self-justification.

Throughout the story, the officer makes a number of references to how drunk he often was, or how he couldn’t act correctly if not under the influence. He even reflects on how the alcohol often makes him foggy. “The longer I remained inside, the more I lapsed into a stupor and the foggier I became.” (6) While the alcohol may not have impaired his memories or his ability to recollect them, it is commonly known that alcohol often has a strong deluding effect. It’s hard to believe that a man who is constantly under the influence can reliably re-tell a traumatic story.
The other big factor in the story rationalization, which connects to the officer’s PTSD. In the pre-text of the story we learn that the story of the little girl is the cause of the officer’s post traumatic stress disorder. It seems as though the officer may be trying to rationalization his PTSD, or perhaps even his action of killing the little girl, by twisting the conditions so that they are particularly heart-wrenching. It seems as though he is trying to justify to others his feelings of the war by tweaking the details of his adventures. Perhaps he feels as though non-soldiers would think lesser of him had he not had a justifiable story. “So, you laughed to see me turn pale when the waitress set out that tart, bitter fruit.” (1) The office feels that he must have a particularly traumatic story – or else he will be portrayed as weak. The officer has strong feelings of guilt after killing the mute girl with the blind and crippled family, so it is foreseeable that he may cloud his stories with lies in addition to alcohol. There are limited details to begin with, so it would make sense to say the narrator is not very reliable.

The narrator's unreliability both hurts and helps the power of the stories which come back from Vietnam. In one aspect, it adds evidence to the statement that most Vietnam War stories are exaggerated and not completely legitamate. On the other hand, the narrator's instability lends to the idea that Vietnam War has such a powerful, negative effect that those affected feel as though they need to expand upon their stories to help others relieve their tragedies.