“The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea Essay

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The topic of war has always been one of the most interesting and widely-spread in literature. The books related to this topic attract the readers’ attention and make them think over this problem and evaluate all that sorrow and disgrace which people underwent. Needless to say that all those people who came through the war will remember this period of their life with wormwood and tears. The novels about Vietnam War enframe a period of 40 years. They describe people who fought, those who dreamt about home and their families and friends; those who came back from war and bravely died, fighting for peace and independence. These books are about war in Vietnam and in China, Thailand and Cambodia. Moreover, they describe the problems of social and cultural differences and solidarity of people who were united by common fatality. Great number of such books deal with the aftermaths of war, looking for understanding among the readers. The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh is the brightest example of such books. It provides the reasons for better understanding of those times, which effected all world publicity.

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The Sorrow of War written by Bao Ninh in 1994 comprises a lot of different themes. This book is mainly devoted to the topic of memory, reappraisal of values and society after the war. The main character of the story is a Vietnamese soldier Kien, who enters the war in order to fight for the alliance of Vietnam on behalf of the Communists. During the whole book the readers are able to feel Kien’s enthusiasm and desire to fight for his country, his dreams about future, his desires and aspiration to win in the name of his society. Before this war, Kien had everything in his life: home, family and the girlfriend, whom he loved most of all, but the war brought the misfortune to their lives and after the war is finished, they asked themselves whether they have really won. Memory is a constant companion of Kien, as the events of war and all that he had to overcome are in his mind:

Sure, thinks Kien, it’s hard to forget. When will I calm down? When will my heart be free of the tight grip of war? Whether pleasant or ugly memories, they are there to stay for ten, twenty years, perhaps forever. From now all my life will e always dark… (Nihn, p. 32).

While analyzing this book it is necessary to pay attention to life of Vietnamese society and its people during that awful period. When reading about the Vietnam War, the reader can completely imagine all misery and hell that American and Vietnamese soldiers had to experience. Due to the style of presenting information, we can clearly understand all hardships and sufferings that the Vietnamese people had to bear during this war. The thirty years period of war has led to the destruction of the value structure of Vietnam culture. This crushing war distressed the country, families and villages: “Thanh Hoa station was completely destroyed. Bomb craters gaped everywhere, opening their horrible mouths in the early morning sun” (Nihn, p. 201). So, are these results worth fighting and pain of all innocent people who suffered and died during this war? The image of soldier Kien in The Sorrow of War demonstrates the difficulties of the Vietnamese people before, through and after this war. Recollecting all the events in his memory, Kien changes his attitude to the society. While his writing, Kien depicts his difficulty to get accustomed to the peacetime. He demonstrates the way this war shattered his youth and life of his fellows and countrymen. Of course, after all those disastrous events it is actually very difficult for him to start living a regular life due to different reasons. Kien became the soldier being a young man and during his youth, and later, after a couple of years this awful war has finished. This period seemed to be the happiest in his life, but after rejoining the society in which he used to live, he found that people he knew were dead. For those who were lucky to survive, this war had so tremendous effect on them that Kien did not manage to treat them as earlier. This war changed not only their attitude to others, but also their inner state and emotions. This also concerns Kien and his memory of the war. He preserved certain images of his family, close people and relatives in his mind before the war. He was living with these images and dreams during the war and hoped to live together with all of them in peace time. But as a result the readers see his despair, because he returned to an entirely new world that had nothing in common with all those memories hidden in his mind. The violence of the war made it very difficult for Kien to live in peaceful society and almost everything around him reminded about those disastrous events. Now, his life was filled with flashback, bright blood, murders, injustice, dead bodies, shattering souls, explosions, and everything that other people could hardly imagine. Despite of the fact that this awful war was finished, Kien was experiencing it over and over in his mind and heart: “Victory after victory. Withdrawal after withdrawal. The path of war seemed endless, desperate and leading nowhere” (Nihn, p.13). These words can fully describe the inner state of Kien when he remembers the war and everything that he had to face.

Except the memory of the war, that constantly returns Kien to those events, there is one more reason that makes his existence in peacetime unbearable. It is the loss of Phuong, Kien’s lovely girlfriend. After coming back to Hanoi, Kien found his loved Phuong as completely changed woman, who was living another life, totally different from that he was dreaming about. Unfortunately, this war influenced both of lovers. It made them completely different and alien people and their past was the only common thing that could unite them as earlier. Vietnam war has stolen their happy future and broke their innocence. Love seemed to Kien to be the only positive thing that could help him to recover from all his memories and start living again, but such unpredictable change appeared the last reason, which helped to change completely Kien’s attitude to the war. In order to cope with all his feelings and throbbing memories, Kien made up his mind to become a writer. To his mind, only writing helps him chase away all the nightmares and thoughts about this war. This activity helps him to cope with hopeless present and chase away the nightmares of the war. Now he realizes that it is not the present that worth sacrificing and fighting for. Writing is the only way to express his memories and describe the dreams which will never come true.

The Sorrow of War is an exceptional and powerful book, as it is written by one Vietnam soldier, that is why it is sodden with disgrace and understanding, as only a person who came through the war can transfer the memories so completely. This book can be regarded as a voice of the Vietnamese people. Bao Nihn in his novel managed to open the other side of the conflict and demonstrated that people were not only faceless gun fodders, but humans with their own thoughts, dreams and memories. Reading about this war, most people consider only all the victims from American side and they completely forget about suffering and losses of the Vietnamese people. War is the event that will always be in minds and souls of the soldiers. That is why the topic of memory, attitude and lost dreams are so deeply touched in this novel. The author demonstrates how disillusion about the society and way of life can effect the inner state of the person and his memory of the war. This book is not only about the horrors of war, but hesitation, looking for distinctiveness and respect. It is the so-called declaration of sincerity and hard trip for self-realization, with the help of love, faithfulness, and post-war shock.

References

Ninh, Bao. The Sorrow of War: a Novel of North Vietnam. New York: Riverhead Books, 1996

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""The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea." IvyPanda, 17 Dec. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/the-sorrow-of-war-by-bao-ninh-memory-as-a-central-idea/.

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IvyPanda. 2021. ""The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea." December 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-sorrow-of-war-by-bao-ninh-memory-as-a-central-idea/.

1. IvyPanda. ""The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea." December 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-sorrow-of-war-by-bao-ninh-memory-as-a-central-idea/.


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IvyPanda. ""The Sorrow of War" by Bao Ninh: Memory as a Central Idea." December 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-sorrow-of-war-by-bao-ninh-memory-as-a-central-idea/.

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