Reflective Statement

The Sorrow of War – Bao Ninh

Conor Duffy

How was your understanding of cultural and contextual

considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?

Discussing The Sorrow of War highlighted many themes for me and further
increased my understanding of the context of the novel and the culture of the
Vietnamese.

Culturally, this novel offered an honest and emotional account of the effect the
“American” War had on the young people of Vietnam. So much of my knowledge of the
war is based on the Western version of events, so it was very powerful to see the
perspective of the “other” side. Most tellingly, I suppose, is that the effects of war are
very similar for both sides: both American and Vietnamese (and, all soldiers!) must
experience a combination of guilt, fear, shame, loss of innocence and difficulty
reintegrating with civilian life after the experience of war. In this light, Kien’s experience
becomes universal. In addition, the novel explored some cultural values which may be
considered more Vietnamese. We learned of the power that superstition and ghosts can
have over the people of S.E. Asia, as well as the communist indoctrination that was
taking place in the schools and media of North Vietnam through the 50s and 60s.
Because Bao Ninh, himself, was a soldier in the war, the novel takes on a meta-fictive
truth as both the protagonist and author sometimes seem to be intertwined. This adds
to the ethos of the novel as Bao Ninh is writing from first-hand experience, both as a
solider, and a citizen of Vietnam.

Contextually, this novel was written in the early 1990s as a reflection on a War
that carried national and global repercussions. In an effort to halt the “domino” effect of
spreading communism, the US invaded many countries to stop the perceived threat of
communism. The Vietnamese themselves had only just wrested themselves from the
hold of French colonialism and were seeking to forge their own identity, which
eventually led to civil war and the ensuing American-Communist stand-off. Bao Ninh
lets 15 years pass between the end of the war and the publishing of his novel; it may be
that he needed to time to reflect on and “own” his experiences of the War. In this regard,
he very much resembles his novel’s protagonist.

The interactive oral about The Sorrow of War made me empathize with both sides
of the war, as it emphasized that no matter which political or cultural view you may
hold, everyone suffers.

(Word Count: 393)