Throughout The Scent of Green Papaya even though there is very little dialogue the content seems to lead you on its own. I kept comparing the life of Mui and the life of Lam, who is the son of the man Mui is a servant for. I feel that Mui more clearly represents the life of the Vietnamese people, while Lam represents the French culture of their population. The ant scene struck me in particular because Mui is admiring the ants and it’s one of the few times we see Mui get excited and enjoy herself. Lam on the other hand wants to kill the ants and attempts to smash them. Also Lam doesn't appreciate all that the servants do for them he tries to ruin everything they are cleaning and making for them. In my theory Lam represents the French during the Vietnam War because he is trying to control Mui as the French tried to control the Vietnam population during the war. His family overall is in control over Mui and the other servant until their father leaves then things start to fall apart. When the family starts to fall apart after the father leaves represents how Vietnam was not strong enough to fight after they became independent from France in 1941.
Mui growing up represents Vietnam’s effort to become independent. She eventually gets older wants to look older. When she goes to work for the family friend she sees the beautiful clothes the mistress is wearing. She wants to look beautiful just like her. This care for her look shows how Vietnam wants to have its own beauty and not rely on the culture of someone else to shape it.
Throughout The Scent of Green Papaya, even though there is very little dialogue, the content seems to lead you on its own. I kept comparing the life of Mui and the life of Lam, who is the son of the man Mui is a servant for. I feel that Mui more clearly represents the life of the Vietnamese people, while Lam represents the French culture of their population. The ant scene struck me in particular because Mui is admiring the ants and it’s one of the few times we see Mui get excited and enjoy herself. Lam on the other hand wants to kill the ants and attempts to smash them. Also Lam doesn't appreciate all that the servants do for them; he tries to ruin everything they are cleaning and making for them. In theory Lam represents the French during the Vietnam War because he is trying to control Mui as the French tried to control the Vietnam population during the war. His family is overall in control over Mui and the other servant until their father leaves then things start to fall apart. When the family starts to fall apart after the father leaves represents how Vietnam was not strong enough to fight after they became independent from France in 1941.
ReplyDeleteMui growing up represents Vietnam’s effort to become independent. Mui is now growing up and we see she wants to look older. When she goes to work for the family friend she sees the beautiful clothes the mistress is wearing. She wants to look beautiful just like her. This care for her look shows how Vietnam wants to have its own beauty and not rely on the culture of someone else to shape it. In the final part we see a cherry tree, which can deeply represent Vietnam. No matter how many times the tree gets hit it is not destroyed and always stands tall.