This story reminded me a lot of Hemingway's story that we read previously. The basic premise was the same, a war-torn veteran coming home and having to deal with what he had done during the war. What I found more interesting about this story compared to Hemingway's was the fact that he returns to the place where his bad memories originated from many years later. I found the use of symbolism to be very extensive in this piece and helps to make the piece much deeper then it appears to be.
The entire trip for the narrator is basically symbolism for the Vietnam war. He goes to the country in order to help the people there, just like what the United States initially attempted to do. The narrator attempts to repair Dinh's thumb, which can be easily associated with a number of things. I personally believed the thumb to stand for democracy. The narrator eventually realizes that he has failed to fix Dihn's thumb, similar to how we realized we failed to uphold democracy in the country. And just like how the United States abruptly pulled out of Vietnam, the narrator leaves as well without ever confronting Dihn about the failed procedure or even saying goodbye.
I personally interpreted this story as being a parallel to the Vietnam war. My question is how other people interpreted the events and characters in the story, including what the thumb stands for.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation of the story. I didn't see the correlation of what the character was experiencing to the actual Vietnam War, but I do see that it is possible. I might take it a step further and say that the character was trying to right a wrong that was done in that country and unable to fix what is broken. The USA cannot go back and take away what was done. Just because the grass now covers everything, the cuts in the psyche of the Vietnam people is too deep. Maybe?
I agree with Talena about how the character was trying to right a wrong and how the grass covers all. The story has a bunch of symbolism and I do agree that the thumb is a symbol for the war. I hadn't thought about the story itself being associated with the war, but it does make some sense when you think about it. I thought the thumb stood for the memories of the war though. It was a good story.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretation is definitely different, but very interesting! I think that is a symbol of fixing the past. The narrator decided to go to Vietnam because he wanted to help a country that he had demolished. The failed thumb represented the fact that he couldn't change the past. Both him and Dinh had to accept what happened and I think that they were able find peace after the surgery.
ReplyDeleteSam,
ReplyDeleteI like how you interpreted the thumb, and democracy. I hadn't thought about it, but it makes the story make more sense when you look at it that way. I only saw the thumb standing for repairing the past, and he took his chance because of the terrors he still felt and failed, so he left without mention. But i think it bothered him that the Vietnamese were able to go on with their daily lives as if nothing had happened, when he heard Dinh listening to Western music, or when his driver said "Vietnam believe it better not to remind of the past, Vietnam want to be thought of as country, not war, not just problem in other country's past." Do you think that bothered him?