The Sorrow Of War – A Novel Of North Vietnam (By Bao Ninh)
Introduction
For ages, humans have struggled to cope with the affects of war. In the course of war, innumerable people lose their lives. But the affect of war does not end with the death of these people, it continues even after the conclusion of war. People, who have survived the war, are unable to lead a normal life. The violence, pain and suffering that they have witnessed during the war, alters their thoughts, feelings and behavior. The book “The Sorrow of War: A Novel Of North Vietnam” by Bao Ninh depicts the struggle of a soldier, who has survived the war but is unable to get over the memories of war. The original title of this novel in Vietnamese, literally translated is “The Ordeal of Love” and in this ordeal of love, the role of women is influencing and significant. Bao Ninh, being a soldier who has survived the Vietnamese war, presents his own thoughts through the character of Kien in the novel. Kien, a Vietnamese soldier who has survived the war, is recounting the memories of war and his past life. Kien remembers the women in his life and his relations with them before and after war. The changes that occur in his relationships with women represent the changing relationship of Kien with the Vietnamese revolution and war. The war has altered the thinking of Kien and this change is perceptible in his relationships with women after war.
Relationships with Women
Kien is a veteran soldier, who has spent ten years of his life fighting for his country. Although Kien survives the war, the memories of war keep on recurring in his mind. The trauma, caused by these memories, is so intense that Kien is beleaguered by their effect. In order to relieve himself from the effects of war memories, Kien decides to write about those memories. It is through these memories that Kien describes the women in his life and his relationships with them. Prominent among them is the woman, Phoung whom he loved passionately. Before the commencement of war, Phoung and Kien were deeply in love with each other. They shared a strong bond of trust and affection. But war brings numerous changes in their relationship. In the course of war, Phoung is raped and in a fit of rage, Kien kills the rapist. Phoung loses her purity and Kien loses his innocence. Kien claims that he still loves Phoung after this incident but the loss of Phoung’s purity and Kien’s innocence has started to affect their relationship.
And when the war ends, the years of suffering and pain that Phoung and Kien have to undergo, makes it difficult for them to continue with their relationship. Their relationship ends bringing their love story to a tragic end. “It was sad; although they had been excellent lovers, they were destined to be forever lonely.” (Ninh 230). The war has changed their thinking, behavior and feelings. The war has affected their ability to love. “They had lost not only the capacity to live happily with others but also the capacity to be in love. The ghosts of war haunted them and permeated them their deteriorating lives.” (Ninh 230). The changes in Kien’s relationship with Phoung are symbolic of the changing relationship of Kien with the Vietnamese revolution and the war. Kien realizes that war has transformed him into a different person and altered his feelings for Phoung. In the same way, his relationship with the Vietnamese revolution and the war, caused by it, changes after war. He realizes that war was futile and so were his sacrifices during the war. But he also feels that war has enabled him to perform a noble task, the task of looking for the dead remains of missing soldiers, as a member of MIA team. “A task that is sacred and noble, but secret. He begins to believe that it is because of this heavenly duty that he had such a brief childhood and adolescence, then matured in time of war.” (Ninh 233). He reconciles with his fate, as he has accepted that he has lost Phoung forever.
Another woman, whom Kien describes through his memories, is Lanh. Lanh was the daughter of Mother Lanh, the godmother of Kien. After returning from war, Kien visits Lanh. Lanh had changed a lot since he had seen her twenty years before. “But what Kien saw before him now twenty years later was an intelligent woman, quietly attractive, with mistily sad eyes.” (Ninh 52). While talking to Lanh, Kien realizes that Lanh has lost all her relations, as a result of the war. Lanh surprises Kien when she expresses her love for him. “I knew who you were straight away, although you look very different now. Back then I was so small. But I knew. Perhaps you were my first love and it took all this time for me to realize it.”(Ninh 54). Upon hearing this, Kien is unable to speak anything. The war has affected him so much that Kien is not capable of loving anybody. He cannot connect with the women in his life or develop healthy relations with them.
Along with the memories of war, Kien remembers the women in his life and his relations with them. After war, Kien is a changed person and these changes are noticed in his relationships with women in his life. The author uses Kien’s relationships with women throughout the novel as a metaphor for Kien’s changing relationship to the Vietnamese Revolution and the war. Kien’s thoughts about war keep on changing when he thinks about war from a different perspective. He thinks that war has prepared him to carry out a sacred task. “From the time of that realization he felt that day by day his soul was gradually maturing, preparing for its task of fulfilling the sacred heavenly duty of which the novel would become the earthly manifestation.” (Ninh 51). Through his novel, Kien was able to bring forth the sufferings of the soldiers who fought for their country. The changes in Kien’s relationships with women during and after war are influenced by his changing relationship with the Vietnamese revolution and war.
Conclusion
The novel “The Sorrow of War: A Novel Of North Vietnam” by Bao Ninh depicts the life of Kien, a soldier who has survived the Vietnamese war. While recounting his memories, Kien remembers the women in his life. Kien was deeply in love with Phoung before war, but war changes both of them to such an extent that they have lost their capability to love. The ordeal of their love is captured by the author in the novel. Similarly, Kien is not able to connect with Lanh, the other woman in his life. Lanh loves Kien since her childhood but Kien is unable to respond to her feelings of love. The war has affected his ability to form relationships with the women in his life. The changes in his relationships with women reflect his changing relationship with Vietnamese revolution and the war. He accepts his inability to love in the same way as he acknowledges the significance of war in preparing him for a noble task. He realizes that the sorrows of war have given a meaning to his life. His survival in war has aided him to perform noble tasks in the peaceful times. Kien is a changed man after the war and this change influences every aspect of his life, including his relation with the women in his life.
Works Cited
Ninh, Bao. The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam. Riverhead Books.1996.
