During the entire novel of The Sorrow of War Kien is on a quest to find closure for all the death he has encountered during the war. One of Kien’s attempts to get rid of his sorrows and get some closure is when he attempts to burn the novels he has written about the war. Though both characters are attempting to rid themselves from their sorrows, Kien’s sorrows are his memories from the past, from war, while for Darl the cause of his sorrows is his mother’s corpse, which is right there with him at all times and also causes many more sorrows for the rest family. Another effort for closure by Kien is when he goes back to the forest to look for the dead bodies. Kien hopes that by putting to rest those he has lost will finally allow his scared soul get some rest as well. In a way this attempt is very similar to what cash’s attempt with Adie’s coffin. Cash seems to have the same hope as Kien, which is that by doing this deed for his mother he will get some closure. Another of Kien’s attempts for closure is also very similar to Dewy-Dell’s and Jewel’s attempt for closure. Both Dewy-Dell and Jewel attempt to forget their sorrows by getting rid of that object which reminds them of it, Kien attempts the same thing only for Kien no object is needed to remind him of his past suffering. The last similarity is Anse’s replacement of his diseased wife, and Kien’s replacement of his memories with fictive stories. Both characters are trying to replace their sorrows Kien with something spiritual.
In Sorrow of War Kien and Phuong are portrayed as childhood lovers. The setting of Sorrow of War is during the war time which creates this atmosphere for Kien, making him make himself private. But Phuong loves Kien a lot. Kien also loves Phuong, too, because to him she symbolizes physical warmth. A physical warmth that a man needs in war. If you look at it, Kien and Phuong does have a lot of physical “human” touch because “during the night at the lake, Kien dared not sleep with Phuong, yet there was still a sense of completion and fulfillment of just lying there with her” (Ninh 142). But as the story goes on Kien pushes Phuong away because he feels deserted and feels like he can’t be in a relationship at all he had the guilt that he should of died during the war instead of living and feeling all the guilt and he did not want to hurt Phuong by making her feel that she may have a chance in a relationship with him. Kien is portrayed as a private guy; he is not very open so therefore he expresses his thoughts, angers, and feelings onto war by writing it into his journals.
The atmosphere towards the end on their relationship is cold and silent because in the story Phuong is described as a traditional upholding Vietnamese woman. She do have a beautiful face, hair waving, and lovely long leg all description of her being beautiful and fragile. Phuong’s innocence and youth is also symbolized by the lake, which suggest about her immense purity before the war. But because of the war and the events that occurred for Phuong, such as when she was a victim of a gang rape, and Kien being a murderer right then. Phuong seeing that her character and views of Kien changes which turn to where she stops resuming her relationship with Kien. As for Kien he see Phuong more like-of a whore which made her lose the innocence within her, and it’s hard for her and Kien to mend their relationship. The relationship of Phuong and Kien was destroyed by the war because of the events that happens which causes both Phuong and Kien’s loss of their innocence. It takes away Phuong’s loyalty towards Kien, and stops them from resuming their previous relationship. But it may also seem that the war had a greater impact on Phuong as a person, as her optimistic, fragile, happy character is destroyed, and she is no longer able to accept Kien into her life.
Despite the events that even Kien called her a whore on the train at the end; we see her as a strong woman, because, “she seemed to be welcoming her new lifestyle, embracing it with a calm, carefree approach. From a pure, sweet, and simple girl she was now a hardened experience woman, indifferent to vulnerable emotions. To Kien she seemed to be walking away from his life, from herself, from her past, her country, and without the slightest regret” (Ninh 223). This shows how much her relationship and the events that occurred with Kien made her stronger and not weaker. Even at the end when their feelings were never spoken out to one another; they went their own separate ways, with silent feelings for each other that were never spoken in words.
Kien, once a typical innocent youngster who wished to finish his education and enjoy life with loved ones. However his utopia has been intervened and destroyed by ten continuous years of war, fighting for the peasant’s ideology, Communism and an experience worth dying for – independence. Throughout the novel of “The Sorrow of War”, the reader witnesses Kien’s change in personality due ten longer years of war with the French and Americans. The chaos and destruction from fighting has brought Kien’s state of mind to the test. I will evaluate how the havoc surroundings have changed his attitude towards life itself. Moreover, how and in what ways has the war changed himself as a human being.
At the beginning of the novel, the reader initially perceives Kien as a naïve and innocent youngster, shown by his superstition that if he and his comrades had not finished the game of cards, they would be watched over by the Gods, and be able to finish the game later, “Slow Down a bit...If we leave this game unfinished Heaven will grant favors, keeping us alive to return and finish the game.” However his comrades fall one by one, leaving him in despair, and grief, “Kien sinks into reminiscence” which has contributed in making Kien to have somewhat of a death wish, “The enemy had fired continuously from behind a tree ahead of him but Kien hadn’t even bothered to duck. He walked on lazily, seemingly oblivious to the fire.” to relieve himself from the endless suffering and join his fellow comrades in heaven, “He just wanted to be safe, to die quietly, sharing the fate of an insect or an ant in the war…happy to die with the regular troops.” Him wanting to be like an insect further reinforces his lost of interest to live and believes he is so vulnerable that his existence will not progress the war in any way. Moreover, he believes dying for a cause is a “luxury”, since millions of North Vietnamese died innocently, without any valid reason. I think Kien’s death wish is caused by his conscience, that all his comrades; the whole battalion 27 has fallen, except for him. He wants to prove to himself or his dead comrades that he is not deliberately trying to escape death, but solely just not his time to leave the mortal world yet.
In the scenario where the South Vietnamese soldiers were captured and told to dig their own graves, we can learn that Kien although has fought a brutal war, he is not necessarily a cold hearted barbaric murderer and still bares a conscience. This is shown by his hesitating of swiftly execute the captured enemies, “He fired. Over their heads.” He is trying to give himself courage and the strength that would allow him to convict men who are unarmed and pleading for mercy. There would be neither hesitation nor the hassle to respect them before they die, by giving them a cigarette, if he was totally a cold hearted. Furthermore, I think sympathy is shown by Kien, “they asked permission to wash and have a last cigarette. Kien agreed, but his troops were not satisfied”, because the story which the young Catholic told, hoping he would be spared, resembles Kien’s own life, “I have an old mother. I’m going to get married. We love each other…” I believe Kien’s indication of sympathy concisely reflects to the reader that he still has somewhat humanity left in him.
Nearing the end of the war, before the last battles were fought, Kien showed signs of hope and believed he would fortunately survive the war after all, this can be shown by Kien making plans for the future, after the war, “First, finish school. That means evening classes. Then try the university entrance exams…” This acknowledges the reader that Kien is quite an optimist, despite the realities of war. However he can also accept the fact that the horrendous flashbacks of men slaughtering one another will haunt him forever, “When will my heart be free of the tight grip of war? ...they are to stay for ten twenty years, perhaps forever.”
At the end of the war, when Kien finally was able to return to Hanoi, there were no ceremonies, drums or music to welcome their victorious soldiers. Kien has sense of bitterness however he believes every bit of their sacrifice is worth it, “ignore the warmth and passions among the remnants of this fallen luxurious society of the South.”
Ultimately, Kien has changed from an innocent optimist youngster to a man who has, witnessed the most horrendous, experienced the extremes which a soldier essentially does in war and felt the grief which has often brought him to reminiscence. Despite these facts, Kien still grasped strongly to reality and accepted the fate of being the next casualty of war. War has made him become stronger mentally, but has taken away the some of the elements which prevent a human being from acting like a ruthless cold blooded barbaria
In Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War, Ninh helps the reader to understand war as being all-conquering and consuming by comparing it to love, using a series of examples and incidents within the novel. In addition to this, after making the comparison to love, Ninh demonstrates war’s capacity to taint love and in this way indicates its lasting and sorrowful effect. By comparing and referring to the two consistently within the text, Ninh is able to show their importance and the ways in which they affect one another as one of the major themes of the novel.
Ninh’s perception of love within the text flits between the naively sincere and the despairingly hopeful: love before and after the war are almost two different things. Love before the war is pure and fresh. One cannot imagine any scenario under which it might deteriorate and every incident or word is deeply felt and heavy with sentiment. ‘Ordinary love’, as Kien refers to it, is rapt with nonsense and petty elations. With a sense of nostalgia, Kien remembers how, before the war, ‘Those were the days when all of us were young, very pure and very sincere.’ However, after the war has ravaged the soul’s ability to be so naively hopeful and sincere, all interplay between the sexes becomes a desperate attempt to recreate this. In its absence, love is reduced to blind hopefulness which eventually deteriorates into lust. It is almost as if the soldiers have numbed themselves as a result of the war, and that to feel any intense emotion is far too sharp a pain. Two events which display the contrast between these sentiments are Kien’s first meeting with Phuong by the lake and the soldiers in his regiment visiting their farm girls.
We are first shown a representation of love when Kien discovers that some of the soldiers in his platoon have been visiting nearby farm girls. This first portrayal of love is at once excited and desperate: all aware that they are likely to die in the near future. The love that they experience is a frantic refuge from the realities of war. Thus, with the dark cloud of despair hanging over the men, their encounters with the girls are rushed and hopeless as they realise how little time they have together. ‘These small acts of love were an omen of terrible things to come.’ This bitterness comes to a head when the men discover that their sweethearts have been shot. The deaths of these girls represents the end of hope for the men as they realise that even their pure and perfect love is without sanctity in the presence of war. This first portrayal of love is tragic and brief, allowing us to draw parallels with the lives of the soldiers who die in battle shortly after. As this takes place in the Jungle of Screaming Souls, it is fitting that the events indirectly force Kien to re-evaluate the presence of the ethereal in the jungle. ‘Some of us said it was mountain ghosts, but Kien knew it was love’s lament.’
Chronologically prior to this but in terms of the book, later on, Kien’s and Phuong’s trip to the lake is a sharp contrast to this first heartbreaking love story. Both barely children, their petty acts of rebellion seem deeply exciting and delightful. It is ironic, once again, that this should take place while the others are playing war games: everything is light and insubstantial and, unlike the soldiers, no despair or bitterness hangs over their liaisons. Perhaps with the aid of nostalgia, in Kien’s memory, the day is ‘so intimate, so perfect, that it made [Kien] ache.’ Their love is the only thing on their minds and, as such, they are able to experience it fully without the torments of prior heartbreak or the eventuality of upcoming death. At the end of this passage, however, Ninh uses his repeating motif of water to demonstrate that this flawlessness cannot last. Their encounter at the lake is a languidly peaceful stretch of the river. It is the ‘long, new stretch of river, full of fire’ in Kien’s life that will rip the two apart with the sorrow of war.
Although he establishes war’s ability to conquer love, Ninh nonetheless compares the effect of war to the sensation of heartbreak. ‘It was a sadness, a missing, a pain.’ By doing this, not only does he make an ironic comment upon one’s relationship with the mistress of War, but also succeeds in demonstrating the ways in which they are truly alike and can reduce grown men to emotional wrecks. Ninh’s depiction of love lost is essentially a dull ache of sadness which sharpens with any specific trigger. It is interesting to note, however, that, on the ‘recognition of some wonderful truth inside him’; Kien claims that it feels like ‘love’. In this way, Ninh is able to show the last straw of hopefulness in relation to love than Kien and the other soldiers cling to.
Ninh’s depiction of love in war is powerfully sad. However, in its portrayal and the frequent references to the past, he is able to demonstrate the importance of the past as a sort of asylum in times of despair, such as war. Had he lived a normal life, Kien might have been able to forget Phuong and dismiss her as a childhood sweetheart. With war having destroyed this possibility, her ‘beautiful youth’ manifests itself as a symbol of the ‘lost opportunities’ of his youthful love. Although Kien may have loved and lost, it is better this than never having loved at all, as the cliché goes. Kien’s ‘first love had not been in vain.’ Kien’s love for Phuong is still able to live on, in his dreams of the past, and in this way, conversely, Ninh shows how love might perhaps be able to triumph over war after all.
