Book Analysis: The Sacred Willow

1104 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of vietnam

The Sacred Willow (2013) describes the modern Vietnamese history from the 19th to the end of 20th century through Mai Elliott’s personal experience, as well as stories from four generations of her family. Starting with her great grandfather's struggle to become an imperial government official, the book follows the author’s family’s cycle of fleeing violence and building wealth, almost re-starting from zero everytime. It goes further than many books on the French Colonisation of Vietnam and the Vietnam war, taking a closer look at into people of Vietnam, rather than from a geopolitical or military aspect. Since the author and her father works for the French and then the government of the Republic of Vietnam, her sister was with the Viet Minh …show more content…

The story focuses on her great-grandfather, who was in disapproval of the French occupation of Vietnam, but still excelled at his job as a Mandarin under the puppet imperial court, fearing persecution of his family if he were to resign. In this section, the author also mentions more about the how the values of confusion had influenced the Vietnamese people in attempts to justify her great grandfather’s …show more content…

Following the personal narrative from the civilians of the time, it is as informative as it is suspenseful and immersive. With that said, the book follows the stories of individuals and not necessarily strictly a timeline, making it confusing at times. There are also a few words and concepts only familiar to a Vietnamese person, which could cause the reader to misunderstood the author’s point. Any foreigners who are interested in the Vietnam War or Vietnamese modern history, in general, will find this book interesting as it shows the reasons behind why the Vietnamese people were fighting so hard. On the other hand, younger Vietnamese generations, especially those studying in North America, should also read this book as will help you understand those who fled Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and be empathetic to why they are so hostile and bitter to modern

Show More
Related

  • The U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War Was Justified

    1749 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Vietnam War was a very mismanaged war but our involvement was very crucial. Some people believe that the side we were on was wrong, and the author of this completely agrees. Ho Chi Minh was really a quite conservative communist leader. He was fair and he was also was balanced. He treated his people very fairly. The beliefs of the author are that if Truman would have not set the precedent of opposing all communist leaders than the Vietnam War would have been a lot different.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of A Rumor Of War By Philip Caputo

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    They were tired of just hiding from sniper fire coming from the Viet Cong. The soldiers wanted to go out a fight. Caputo described numerous times were the soldiers almost shot one another in the dark because they thought they were Viet Cong. Caputo does a good job at this as well you can feel the turning point when some of the men start to realize the reality that takes place in Vietnam. Caputo was different he seemed to feel at ease even when a bullet landed only a few feet above him. Later when Caputos platoon were chasing down some of the Viet Cong. they find a camp of the enemy that has letters, pictures, and items from their families back home. This information gives the audience a different outlook on war. Everyone thinks especially me that the enemy are heartless criminals that you would not think twice about killing. Seeing that the enemies have families and kids changes how you view them. That is what makes this book special you have a first hand information that has not been altered to make the story more enjoyable. Unlike how most people view wars through hollywood movies. This book lets you see and feel the war exactly like a marine would have during his time there. As the war goes on the death toll rises. Men start to pile up a deaths start to come daily. I feel like this is Caputos turning point. He is heavily involved in this because he is doing the casualty reporting. When he

    Read More

  • The Boys of ’67 Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam, by Dr. Andrew Wiest

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Wiest used the personal accounts, of the soldiers who fought or of their surviving families, to make this an excellent account of a war so few want to talk about. His exhaustive research and expert writing, lets the reader see the bonds of brotherhood that developed in this division. He shows the soldiers as not just soldiers, but as humans, who suffered both physically and emotionally, both during their year in Vietnam and in their life afterward. He has clearly written a book that is for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. It is a powerful book that shows both the brutality and the humanity of war, through the lives of a group of brothers known as Charlie Company.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    In retrospect chapter one demonstrates how Tim O’Brien and the other soldiers were influenced by the Vietnam War, many of the soldiers had to face the burdens of war, the lost of innocents and the sexual yearning for women. One of the fundamental themes introduced in the first few pages of the novel was the burdens many of soldiers encounter during the war. The soldiers in the novel carried some remarkably heavy physical and emotional burdens; these burdens almost always seem too much for them to carry. For instances Jimmy Cross the leader of the platoon was responsible for the lives of all soldiers in subdivision, however he was unable to keeping his soldiers alive. Another theme introduces in chapter one is the lost of innocent. The Vietnam War both defiles and terminates the innocence of those soldiers who participated in the war. Most of the soldiers in Vietnam War were young, not even twenty. Nevertheless, Tim O’Brien relentless points out that although they are young, they are killers when commanded. Many of the soldiers had to give up their innocence and become men immediately during the war. Other themes that emerge in chapter one is the sexual yarning for females. In addition with fighting Vietcong, soldiers had to endure living without any females around; which cause a lot of anxiety on them.

    Read More

  • A Summary Of Lieutenant Phillip Caputo

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    Based on true story, Lieutenant Phillip Caputo and his experience of the Vietnam War. During this era there was a rebalance act within the young adults community in America, they did not want to live the boring and peaceful life their parents lived. This generation of young adults got fixated on the stories and heroes that came from the WWII and what they can do to experience this “trill” first hand. The novel is written with Lieutenant Phillip Caputo in mind starting when he first enrolled in the Marine Corps at the age of 20 in hopes of chasing his fixated dream of the war. At first Phillip had this elusion that the war would only last a couple of months and that he’ll be the American hero everyone talked about. Then the slap to the face

    Read More

  • The Role of Storytelling in The Things They Carried

    2570 Words  | 6 Pages

    The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.

    Read More

  • Dereliction of Duty, by McMaster

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book would be an excellent source for anyone wanting to understand this period of the entrance into the Vietnam War. It is a great look into the character of each of the participants. It also would benefit those who are studying and learning how to develop strategy and policy for future wars that the United States may involve itself.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Paradise Of The Blind By Doung Thu Huong

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel Paradise of the Blind, Doung Thu Huong explores the effect the Communist regime has had upon Vietnamese cultural gender roles. During the rule of the Communist Viet Minh, a paradigm shift occurred within which many of the old Vietnamese traditions were dismantled or altered. Dounh Thu Huong uses the three prominent female characters – Hang, Que and Aunt Tam – to represent the changing responsibilities of women in Vietnamese culture. Que, Hang’s mother, represents a conservative, orthodox Vietnamese woman, who has a proverb-driven commitment to sustaining her manipulative brother, Chinh. Aunt Tam embodies a capitalistic

    Read More

  • Theme Of Classism In Paradise Of The Blind

    1780 Words  | 4 Pages

    Duong’s novel depicts a Vietnam caught up from the 1950’s through the 1980’s in turmoil and chaos. Many of the ‘land owning class’ were forced to flee their homeland or were sentenced to forced labour camps, this is shown in the novel through the characters Aunt Tam and her brother Ton, both dispossessed of their property. Through Paradise of the Blind Duong is able to personalise the struggles of the working class during these times of political change and criticise the Vietnamese government, “Their fate hung from a thread; and just as an overripe fruit hangs from a branch, they could fall at any moment.” The comparison made between one’s fate and an overripe fruit that could fall at any moment depicts the power that the government had over the people and the many injustices that can occur. Despite doing no wrong, their social class is enough for them to be considered the enemy. This mirrors the lives of the Untouchables in The God of Small Things, namely Velutha whose future is determined by his social status. Duong adopts many differing literary techniques to criticise the actions of the Vietnamese government during the 1950s, “You say our dances are decadent. But haven’t you done some dancing yourself? Invisible dances, infinitely more decadent than ours.” Here Duong compares western style dance and music to the fraudulent actions of

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: Character Analysis

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, the development of the characters’ behaviors and actions they commit are heavily provoked by the setting of the dense landscape of Vietnam which evokes confinement. The suffocating jungles pursue the theme of isolation

    Read More

  • Comparison of the Vietnam War and Trojan War

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most historians view the nature of the Vietnam War as rooted in the history of the French colonies in Vietnam and the growing ethnic, political, and economical division between Catholic and Buddhist Vietnamese. (Brigham, Robert, Hoffman, Kenneth)

    Read More

  • Analysis of America's Longest War: The United States in Vietnam

    1839 Words  | 4 Pages

    Herring begins his account with a summary of the First Indochina War. He reports that the Vietnamese resisted French imperialism as persistently as they had Chinese. French colonial policies had transformed the Vietnamese economic and social systems, giving rise to an urban middle class, however; the exploitation of the country and its people stimulated more radical revolutionary activity. Herring states that the revolution of 1945 was almost entirely the personal creation of the charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Minh is described as a frail and gentle man who radiated warmth and serenity, however; beneath this mild exterior existed a determined revolutionary who was willing to employ the most cold- blooded methods in the cause to which he dedicated his life. With the guidance of Minh, the Vietminh launched as a response to the favorable circumstances of World War II. By the spring of 1945, Minh mobilized a base of great support. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Vietminh filled the vacuum. France and the Vietminh attempted to negotiate an agreement, but their goals were irreconcilable.

    Read More

  • Where The Wind Leads: A Memoir

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Where the Wind Leads, Chung focuses on the experiences of his whole family, rather than simply himself. Because of this, he shares multiple perspectives as well as diverse actions and personalities to color the history which came after the black-and-white Vietnam War. This memoir not only encompasses his family’s fleeing from Vietnam, but it also involves the events preceding

    Read More

  • When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hayslip, Le Ly, and Jay Wurts. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace. New York: Plume, 1990. Print.

    Read More

  • Analysis: Daughter From Danang

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the fall of the Saigon in 1975, Heidi’s mother- Mrs. Mai Thi Kim decided to send her to America as fearing for her uncertain future in Vietnam. Twenty two years later years, Heidi eventually found her Vietnamese mother. However, as she was raised in the States, Heidi is now "101%" American and has little knowledge of her Vietnamese heritage. Undoubtedly, this reality reveals potentials for cultural collision.

    Read More

More about Book Analysis: The Sacred Willow

Open Document