The Sorrow of War Essay

The Vietnam War was one of the greatest controversial wars that was fought. Not only was North and South Vietnam involved, but also the United States and others. A common myth is that the Vietnam War was less intense than World War II. In the Vietnam War, those wounded or killed was more than 300% higher. With South Vietnam’s lost in this war, the country today, is a communist country. The Sorrow of War is a story of a North Vietnamese soldier, Kien, during and after the war. The story illustrates

The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial wars that was fought. Not only was North and South Vietnam involved, but also the United States and others. A common myth is that the Vietnam War was less intense than World War II. In the Vietnam War, those wounded or killed was more than 300% higher. With South Vietnam’s lost in this war, the country today, is a communist country. The Sorrow of War is a story of a North Vietnamese soldier, Kien, during and after the war. The story illustrates how

traumatic experience during their time of war. Merriam-Webster defines trauma as “A disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury” (“Trauma”). Kathleen M. O’Connor, a professor at Columbia Theological Seminary, states, “Trauma Theory refers to a loose, interdisciplinary conversation that investigates the lingering consequences of violence upon individuals and communities” (O’Connor). The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh can be analyzed through a Trauma

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects

The Sorrow of War Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a novel that is a personal view of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier. Like the American novel “The things they carried”, this novel brings about the effects of war on people, and especially how it defeats the human capacity for things such as love and hope. Bao Ninh offers this realistic picture of the Vietnam War’s impact on the individual Vietnamese soldier through use of a series of reminiscences or flashbacks, jumping

The experience of war brings out the moralities of war and the tragedies of loss and death. Bao Ninh portrays these realizations and tragedies throughout his novel The Sorrow of War. The stories told follow the central character Kien whose story shows the moralities of war and tragedies of loss and death. Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a novel depicts the horrors that are a result of war. Kien is the main character whose life is used to depict these horrors; a soldier who’s lost all his comrades

beautiful, “The Sorrow of War” written in 1990. The book revolves around the bitter Vietnam War where Ninh served in the 27th Youth Brigade in the North Vietnamese Army. Out of the approximately five hundred young men in his unit, only ten of them survived, including Ninh himself. Although he was on the victorious side of the war, he was scarred because of his experiences. One of the many ways through which Bao Ninh coped with his post-war life was through writing. The Sorrow of War was an outcome

The Sorrow of War and The Deer Hunter are a novel and a movie about the Vietnam War. The novel is written by a North Vietnamese soldier named Bao Ninh while the movie takes on the American perspective of the war. Below, there will be an analysis of the differences and similarities between the novel and the movie. For organizational purposes, the novel and then the movie will be summarized. Then, based on the summary, the similarities and differences between the novel and the movie will be pinpointed

motif of love to characterize Kien in The Sorrow of War” Literary work is often sourced from an author’s inspiration or passionate feelings. Bao Ninh, the well-known Vietnamese author, develops his historical fiction novel The Sorrow of War using the motif of love to develop his novel. Bao’s novel unravels the life of a man named Kien, who as a young soldier and later as a writer, struggles to embrace the savageries he has witnessed in during and post Vietnam war. The novel follows Kien as his internal

is the thought that goes into the title of the book, or translation in this case: The Sorrow of War. It is short and effective, if a little plain, as it exposes the main theme of the book right away while inviting the reader to see how and why. It says what it says: war is bad. War will do nothing but take away everything one knows and loves. War shows the worthless sacrifices of the noble and the virtuous. War forcibly warps human beings into inhuman beasts capable of heinous deeds much like any

In the novel, The Sorrow of War, Bao Ninh uses loss, flashback, and morality in order to show an unforgettable memory of the character Kien and how it had impacted his life. Before Kien went to war he didn’t have any flashback and he had not lose many people around him. But since he had started his war journey he was slowly losing everyone around him. During the war, people who is close to Kien may not die physically but he had loss them mentally and emotionally. After the war had ended, Kien would

Vietnamese novelist is known as a legend for serving in the Vietnam War, and choosing to write his first novel on what he experienced. This novel was wrote in 1990 which tells a story of a soldier’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The main reason this novel was written is to educate readers on what it was like in the Vietnam War. This novel touched many individuals hearts and provided much needed information on what happened in the Vietnam War. Many people felt as if it was too descriptive. While others

meaning of the work. Hoàng Ấu Phương is a Northern Vietnamese veteran of the Vietnam War. Under the pen name Bao Ninh, he is the author of The Sorrow Of War. In his fictional memoir, there is no chronological order and the memoir transitions from event to event based on what triggers the next memories. Ninh recounts the hardships of the war and life after as a catharsis for the trauma he is inflicted during the war. As the memoir is a reflection of Ninh’s traumatized mind, Ninh utilizes an intended

Bao Ninh's Sorrow of War When we think of the Vietnam War, we think of all the hell and torture that American soldiers went through with little regard to the Vietnamese and the hardships they endured. Reading the Sorrow of War gave me a clear understanding of the Vietnamese people and the suffering that the war caused them. The Sorrow of War is unique and powerful in the sense that it is written by a Vietnam army veteran and gives the perspective of the war from a Vietnamese soldier. It is one

and believed in the importance of a proper burial of the dead.  The survival and honor of the family rested on these beliefs.    Through the course of the war, Kien lost these values: his father was not properly respected, the dead were not appropriately buried, and were even forgotten.  After the war, the Kien spends his time struggling to return to these values and purge his soul of these sins.      At the beginning of the novel,

During the Vietnam War, the official ideology of North Vietnam was Marxism-Leninism, which the government tried to force onto their citizens. The majority of the citizens were indoctrinated with their ideology, however, a small number of citizens were not. The most championed campaign was the “‘Three Don’ts,’ which forbade sex, love, or marriage among the young people” (131). This political indoctrination on the citizens of North Vietnam was of great importance to Kien and Phuong’s relationship in

In the novel, The Sorrow of War we find that Kien is telling the story from his point of view as a North Vietnamese soldier during the Vietnam war. The Author, Bao Ninh, tells his experiences and memories of the war through the Character known as Kien. Through these memories, we can find some ideal differences between North and South Vietnam. South Vietnam has some different ideals from North Vietnam. This can be shown when one of the captured South Vietnamese soldiers says “The girls? We sacrificed

The Sorrow of War and Full Metal Jacket both have one main element in common – the Vietnam War. Other than the similar time period, these two representations of the Vietnam War differ drastically. The Sorrow of War, a novel written by Bao Ninh, follows a North Vietnamese solider named Kien during his years fighting for the communist regime and documenting his hardships before, during, and after the war. Full Metal Jacket is a movie that depicts the American side of the war in Vietnam, focusing on

Themes of a Soldier’s War The Vietnam War was hard for the country to handle, let alone a single soldier. Many soldiers dealt with different personal and physiological effects of this war. This war in Vietnam was different than any of the other wars. This war was unconventional, when we first entered it was more about the fight against the spread of communism then slowly changed over the years. Going into Vietnam was different in all senses from battle conditions, weather, and heavy jungle environment

Brien's The Things They Carried and Ninh's The Sorrow of War        Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War is a contrapuntal reading to American literature on the Vietnam War. But rather than stand in stark contrast to Tim O' Brien's The Things They Carried, The Sorrow of War is strangely similar, yet different at the same time. From a post-colonialist standpoint, one must take in account both works to get an accurate image of the war. The Sorrow of War is an excellent counterpoint because it is truthful