“A good scent from a strange mountain” by Robert Butler, is a story about an elderly man, Dao, who is living his last couple of days of his life. The story starts off with Ho Chi Minh visiting Dao and having a short conversation with him. At first, Dao couldn’t believe his eyes. This story is made up into two narratives; in the first one Dao is visited by his friends and family. In Vietnam it’s a tradition for all your friends and family to visit you during your last days because it’s the way that you tell everyone how you feel and see them for one last time. The first narrative is also where Dao things about his past and what he had gone throughout his life. He thinks about what he went through during the political changes in Vietnam.
In the second narrative, when Ho visits Dao they discuss their relationship and talk about when they first met, working in France. Every time Ho visits Dao, his hands are covered in sugar. The reason for that, is because when they were both working together in France, Ho worked in a pastry shop. During their conversation they talk about the time they were both working in France, and how they became good friends. They also talk how Dao believes in Buddhism and it seems that Ho is not agreeing with him.
The overall connection of the two narratives is that in Vietnam, people went through a lot of changes, which we see through Dao’s and Ho’s conversation. This whole story also represents how close Vietnamese people are with each other. For example, when Ho first comes into the story, he says “Dao, my old friend. I have heard it’s time for my visit.” That shows how in Vietnam, people have traditions that no matter, they always try and stick to them. It represents the unity that exist between all the people.
“A good scent from a strange mountain” by Robert Butler, is a story about an elderly man, Dao, who is living his last couple of days of his life. The story starts off with Ho Chi Minh visiting Dao and having a short conversation with him. At first, Dao couldn’t believe his eyes. This story is made up into two narratives; in the first one Dao is visited by his friends and family. In Vietnam, it’s a tradition for friends and family to visit the dying person, during his last days because it’s the way that them tell everyone how they feel and see them for one last time. The first narrative is also where Dao thinks about his past and what he had gone throughout his life. He thinks about what he went through during the political changes in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteIn the second narrative, when Ho visits Dao they discuss their relationship and talk about when they first met, working in France. Every time Ho visits Dao, his hands are covered in sugar. The reason for that is because when they were both working together in France, Ho worked in a pastry shop. During their conversation they talk about the time they were both working in France, and how they became good friends. They also talk how Dao believes in Buddhism and it seems that Ho is not agreeing with him.
Dao suspects that his grandson, Loi, is the one who shot Mr. Nguyen Bich Le because he had started accepting Vietnam’s communist government. Dao is able to reach peace, because he decides to put his family’s values fist, and forgot what he suspects Loi did. This is very important because it shows, even in the US; the war always came up, not matter how far they ran away. The two narratives, together, show that people, who were part of the Vietnam War, are always going to be part of it, not matter where they are living.