The Scent of Green Papaya is rich with images that are symbolic of Vietnam and the country's struggles under French and American occupation. Mui, a servant, is very symbolic of Vietnam itself. Mui is a peaceful soul who enjoys studying the details surrounding her. This is reminiscent of the peaceful nature of most Vietnamese people before French colonization. She is hard working and rarely bothers anyone else. Despite her hard work she is often interrupted by outsiders. She is distracted by outside forces, such as the youngest son of the family, who constantly reverse the impact of her work and act disrespectfully. Another way the Mui represent Vietnam is in the world she lives in. The background to Mui's life is never quite. At the least there are crickets chirping. This represents the lack of peace in Vietnam's history. It was always under attack from outside forces. The Vietnamese people never had peace and their history of violent clashes become a normal and expected part of life.
The family's two sons can be seen as America in their treatment of Mui, They destroy her work and constantly involve themselves in her matters while uninvited. The youngest son is very rude to her and shows her zero respect. His actions are very similar to the actions of America when it got involved and ruined the progress that Vietnam had made. Another way the Older son can be seen as America is his action toward hard working ants outside his window. The ants, all working hard for a common goal, represent a communist North Vietnam. The boy has no reason to disturb the creatures yet he goes out of his way to pour hot wax onto them in a manner that represents the use of napalm by American Forces.
The grandmother in the movie represents French colonization of Vietnam. She lives a luxurious life while the people she has working for her have nothing. She has lost touch with the reality of the situation, telling her grandsons to go to school in the summer. While her employees work hard everyday she takes almost everything they accomplish away from them and in turn lives a wealthy life after no work. An example of this is when after cooking the meal there is no soup left for the servants.
Another major symbol in the movie is the young Khuyen. Khuyen represents the wish of the Vietnamese people to have their Independence and their belief that their country would grow. When Mui fist lays eyes on Khuyen she is in love. However she cannot act on her desires because she is a servant to the family, much as Vietnam was a servant to France when revolutionaries began spreading the idea of a free, independent Vietnam. Mui keeps Khuyen on her mind as she continues fulfilling her responsibilities. The movie progresses to a point when the struggle has become so great that the family cannot afford Mui anymore and they must send her off. This is similar to France losing its grip on Vietnam and ending colonization there. Mui becomes the servant of her long time love Khuyen. Khuyen is everything she expected and after some time he realizes he too loves her and teaches her to read. Mui is now free from being a servant and by learning to read she is growing in her capabilities. This progression by Mui represents the Independence of Vietnam and the great progress the nation could make. For its whole life as a country other nations have told Vietnam what its purpose was. When it finally became free it could grow to something beyond its expectations. For years Vietnamese people yearned for an independent country. Mui, like Vietnam eventually get what she wants after much struggle. Also similar to Vietnam Mui begins to grow in many directions after getting her long awaited dream.
The Scent of Green Papaya is rich with images that are symbolic of Vietnam and the country's struggles under French and American occupation. Mui, a servant, is very symbolic of Vietnam itself. Mui is a peaceful soul who enjoys studying the details surrounding her. This is reminiscent of the peaceful nature of most Vietnamese people before French colonization. She is hard working and rarely bothers anyone else. Despite her hard work she is often interrupted by outsiders. She is distracted by outside forces, such as the youngest son of the family, who constantly reverse the impact of her work and act disrespectfully. Another way the Mui represent Vietnam is in the world she lives in. The background to Mui's life is never quite. At the least there are crickets chirping. This represents the lack of peace in Vietnam's history. It was always under attack from outside forces. The Vietnamese people never had peace and their history of violent clashes become a normal and expected part of life.
ReplyDeleteThe family's two sons can be seen as all of Vietnam’s occupants in their treatment of Mui, They destroy her work and constantly involve themselves in her matters despite being uninvited. The youngest son is very rude to her and shows her zero respect. His actions are very similar to the actions of a long line of oppressors when they got involved and ruined the progress that Vietnam had made. One way the older son can be seen as America is his action toward ants outside his window. The ants, all working hard for a common goal, represent a communist North Vietnam. The boy has no reason to disturb the creatures yet he goes out of his way to pour hot wax onto them in a manner that represents the use of napalm by American Forces.
The grandmother in the movie represents French colonization of Vietnam. She lives a luxurious life while the people she has working for her have nothing. She has lost touch with the reality of the situation, telling her grandsons to go to school in the summer. While her employees work hard every day she takes almost everything they accomplish away from them and in turn lives a wealthy life. An example of this is when after cooking the meal there is no soup left for the servants. This is very similar to French colonization in that the French occupiers were the upper class and made the Vietnamese people work for their economic gain.
Another major symbol in the movie is the young Khuyen. Khuyen represents the wish of the Vietnamese people to have their Independence and their belief that their country would grow. When Mui fist lays eyes on Khuyen she is in love. However she cannot act on her desires because she is a servant to the family, much as Vietnam was a servant to France when revolutionaries began spreading the idea of a free, independent Vietnam. Mui keeps Khuyen on her mind as she continues fulfilling her responsibilities. The movie progresses to a point when in the second half of the film the struggle has become so great that the family cannot afford Mui anymore and they must send her off. This is similar to France losing its grip on Vietnam and ending colonization there. Mui becomes the servant of her long time love Khuyen. Khuyen is everything she expected and after some time he realizes he too loves her, and teaches her to read. Mui is now free from being a servant and by learning to read she is growing in her capabilities. This progression by Mui represents the Independence of Vietnam and the great progress the nation could make. For its whole life as a country other nations have told Vietnam what its purpose was. When it finally became free it could grow to something beyond its expectations. For years Vietnamese people yearned for an independent country. Mui, like Vietnam eventually get what she wants after much struggle. Mui’s progression in the second half of the film represents the dream of all Vietnamese people for an independent, fast expanding nation.
The Scent of Green Papaya is rich with images that are symbolic of Vietnam and the country's struggles under French and American occupation. Mui, a servant, is very symbolic of Vietnam itself. Mui is a peaceful soul who enjoys studying the details surrounding her. This is reminiscent of the peaceful nature of most Vietnamese people before French colonization. She is hard working and rarely bothers anyone else. Despite her hard work she is often interrupted by outsiders. She is distracted by outside forces, such as the youngest son of the family, who constantly reverse the impact of her work and act disrespectfully towards her. Another way in which Mui symbolically represents Vietnam is the characteristics of the background of her life. The background to Mui's life is never quiet. At the least there are crickets chirping. This represents the lack of peace in Vietnam's history. It was always under attack from outside forces. The Vietnamese people never had peace and their history of violent clashes become a normal and expected part of life.
ReplyDeleteThe family's two sons can be seen as all of Vietnam’s occupants in their treatment of Mui. They destroy her work and constantly involve themselves in her matters despite being uninvited. The youngest son is very rude to her and shows her zero respect. His actions are very similar to the actions of a long line of oppressors who got involved and ruined the progress that Vietnam had made. One way the older son can be seen as America is his action toward ants outside his window. The ants, all working hard for a common goal, represent a communist North Vietnam. The boy has no reason to disturb the creatures yet he goes out of his way to pour hot wax onto them in a manner that represents the use of napalm by American Forces.
The grandmother in the movie represents French colonization of Vietnam. She lives a luxurious life while the people who work for her have nothing. She has lost touch with the reality of the situation, telling her grandsons to go to school in the summer. While her employees work hard every day she takes almost everything they accomplish away from them and in turn lives a wealthy life. An example of this is when, after cooking the nightly meal, there is no soup left for the servants. This is very similar to French colonization in that the French occupiers were the upper class, and they made the Vietnamese people work for their own economic gain. While the already rich French got richer the impoverished people of Vietnam were left struggling to live even a simple life.
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ReplyDeleteAnother major symbol in the movie is the young Khuyen. Khuyen represents the wish of the Vietnamese people to have their Independence, as well as their belief that their country would grow if allowed to. When Mui fist lays eyes on Khuyen she is in love. However she cannot act on her desires because she is a servant to the family, much as Vietnam was a servant to France when revolutionaries began spreading the idea of a free, independent Vietnam. Mui keeps Khuyen on her mind as she continues fulfilling her responsibilities. The movie progresses to a point where, in the second half of the film, the struggle has become so great that the family cannot afford Mui anymore. Because of this they must send her off to work for another family. This is similar to France losing its grip on Vietnam and ending colonization there. Mui becomes the servant of her long time love Khuyen. Khuyen is everything she expected and after some time he realizes he too loves her. Khuyen greatly exposes Mui to a whole new side of society that is full of lavishness. Khuyen advances Mui’s experiences to the point that he eventually teaches her to read. Mui is now free from being a servant and by learning to read she is growing in her capabilities. This progression by Mui represents the Independence of Vietnam and the great progress the nation could make. For its whole life as a country other nations have told Vietnam what its purpose was. When it finally became free it could grow to something beyond all expectations. For years Vietnamese people yearned for an independent country. Mui, like Vietnam eventually got what she wanted after much struggle. Mui’s progression in the second half of the film represents the dream of all Vietnamese people for an independent, fast expanding nation.