Readings: **Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War
Ha Thuc Sinh, "Welcome to Trang Lon, Reeducation Camp"
Turner, Even the Women Must Fight, 167-189
Malarney, "The Motherland Remembers Your Sacrifice," in The Country of Memory: Remaking the Past in Late Socialist Vietnam. Hue-Tam Ho Tai, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.

1. Bao Ninh's novel was originally acclaimed in Vietnam, but then banned. Why do you think the Vietnamese authorities would find the book objectionable?

2. Bao Ninh's novel has been described as "post-modern." What elements of it seem post-modern, and why do you think Bao Ninh chose to include them in his story?

3. Based on Malarney's article, Bao Ninh's novel, and our earlier studies of religion, what do Vietnamese war dead represent, both politically and spiritually? How have different communities defined who these dead are and what problems they and their descendants face?

4. What do the words sacrifice (hy sinh or hi sinh) and martyr (liet si) mean? How have they been defined and redefined by various people and groups during and after the American War?

5. In what ways has war demanded a particularly painful sacrifice for women, both young and old? How does this sacrifice compare to the other kinds of suffering women have endured? (Hint: think back to Gammeltoft's description of women's suffering.)

6. What were the goals of re-education camps? How did they go about meeting those goals?

 

For more information, contact:  aleshkow@holycross.edu