The narrator in short story "The Madagascar Plum" by Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc is, for the most part, an unreliable narrator. This is because, as a former officer in the Sai Gon army, he is on the side of the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Since he considers the girl that the narrator's cook Mr. Bay found to be a child of the enemy, he automatically suspects her of being mischievous. When it is discovered that she leaves every night and takes some food with her, the narrator and the other soldiers believe she is aiding the enemy. This can be seen when the narrator tries to find a method of discovering where the girl disappears to every night. "The best method was to return to Old Bay's strategy: follow her. That was the only hope for seizing her whole band" (Ngoc 5). The suspicion that the girl is helping the enemy becomes a constant paranoia for the narrator, as well as for the other soldiers.
Another reason why the narrator is unreliable is because he is so strongly affected by the murder of the young girl. He feels guilty for killing the girl, since he mainly did it because he thought she had led his friends to their deaths. The guilt he has for his actions seems to cloud his memory of the events, leading him to justify the girl's actions, almost portraying her as innocent, by the end of the story. "The more we moved on in that direction, the more we admired the small feet of that tiny child running back and forth" (Ngoc 8). The narrator begins to admire the girl whom he killed after he discovers that neither she, nor the people she is supposedly helping, have killed his friends.
Viewing the narrator as unreliable influences my interpretation of the story because it causes me to believe that there was more to the events than the narrator reveals. Since the narrator is so negatively affected by his actions, it seems that he excludes other proof for why he suspected her of aiding the enemy. He wants the reader to be convinced that he was wrong in suspecting and punishing her, so he may not include all evidence he found of her aiding the enemy.
Also, the narrator's justification for why he killed the girl seems to be lacking something. The narrator reveals that he killed the girl after he "saw Nam's wife-to-be and the children they would have," and "Phong's first clumsy steps to the rhythm of soul music" (Ngoc 7). I believe that the narrator leaves out other reasons for killing the girl, such as that he was hardened by the horrors of war, or that he needed to take his frustrations out on the enemy. Instead, the narrator's reveals only one reason for why he blew the child up, which he uses to depict what a bad person he thinks he is now. At the time, however, he must have had other reasons for killing the girl, although they may not be justified.
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The narrator in the short story "The Madagascar Plum" by Nguyen thi Minh Ngoc is, for the most part, an unreliable narrator. This is because, as a former officer in the Sai Gon army, he is on the side of the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. Since he considers the girl that his cook Mr. Bay found to be a child of the enemy, he automatically suspects her of being mischievous. When it is discovered that she leaves every night and takes some food with her, the narrator and the other soldiers believe she is aiding the enemy. This can be seen when the narrator tries to find a method of discovering where the girl disappears to every night. "The best method was to return to Old Bay's strategy: follow her. That was the only hope for seizing her whole band" (Ngoc 5). The suspicion that the girl is helping the enemy becomes a constant paranoia for the narrator, as well as for the other soldiers.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason why the narrator is unreliable is because he is so strongly affected by the murder of the young girl. He feels guilty for killing the girl, since he mainly did it because he thought she had led his friends to their deaths. The guilt he has for his actions seems to cloud his memory of the events, even leading him to praise the child. "The more we moved on in that direction, the more we admired the small feet of that tiny child running back and forth" (Ngoc 8). The narrator begins to admire the girl whom he killed after he discovers that neither she, nor the people she was supposedly helping, had killed his friends.
Also, the narrator is unreliable because he is an alcoholic. When he tells the story, he is drinking, and alcohol is known to cause people to lie about or embellish stories. If this is not the case, then perhaps the narrator is attempting to make an excuse for his alcoholism, or perhaps he simply wants someone to sympathize with him.
Viewing the narrator as unreliable influences my interpretation of the story because it causes me to believe that there was more to the events than the narrator reveals. Since the narrator is so negatively affected by his actions, it seems that he excludes other proof for why he suspected her of aiding the enemy. He wants the reader to be convinced that he was wrong in suspecting and punishing her, so he may not include all evidence he found of her aiding the enemy.
Also, the narrator's justification for why he killed the girl seems to be lacking something. The narrator reveals that he killed the girl after he "saw Nam's wife-to-be and the children they would have," and "Phong's first clumsy steps to the rhythm of soul music" (Ngoc 7). I believe that the narrator leaves out other reasons for killing the girl, such as that he was hardened by the horrors of war, or that he needed to take his frustrations out on the enemy. Instead, the narrator's reveals only one reason for why he blew the child up, which he uses to depict what a bad person he thinks he is now. At the time, however, he must have had other reasons for killing the girl, although they may not be justified.