Butler, "A good scent..." Blog 1

In the short story “A good scent from a strange mountain” Robert Butler combines two narratives. The narrator of the story, Dao is a Vietnamese immigrant who is now settled in New Orleans, Louisiana with his family after the war. Since Dao is nearing death and he is using his final moments to spend time with his family and reminisce regarding his past. The first narrative Butler describes is Dao’s memories of Vietnam and especially with his friend Ho Chi Minh. Dao describes Ho Chi Minh carrying a sweet smell in his hands. Dao spent his younger years with Ho Chi Minh working in London and Paris. The second narrative takes place in the U.S where Dao is spending time with his life with his family. Dao suspects that his Son in-law Thang and grandson Loi are involved in a murder of a popular Vietnamese author Nguyen Bich Le. Thang was a former colonel in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and his grandson was a lieutenant. Although Le was a patriot of the Republic of Vietnam, Dao believes that Thang and Loi killed Le because he wrote an article stating the people of Vietnam should accept communism.

This story opens up with Dao having a dialogue with Ho Chi Minh, who appears in his dreams a few times through the story. Dao explains how each time Ho Chi Minh comes in his dream he gives off a sweet smell. The sweet smell of Ho Chi Minh reminds him of Vietnam and how innocent people were killed in the war. The sweet smell also reminds him of memories that he shared with Ho Chi Minh. Dao speaks to Ho Chi Minh and asks him “Are you at peace, where you are?” Ho Chi Minh replies “I am not at peace” (245). and Dao replies “you won the country. You know that don’t you” Ho Chi Minh Shrugged. “There are no countries here” (245). This seems to suggest that although Ho Chi Minh led his country to victory, he is still not at peace because many innocent civilians were killed.

The second narrative claims that although the war is over people continued to carry on the conflict. The death of Le suggests that people were very passionate about their beliefs even after the war was over. The two narratives combined suggest war and violence will not bring peace in our afterlife. Although Ho Chi Minh and his army won the war he was still not at peace. In the afterlife there are no countries and no politics, therefore we spend our lives fighting for political reasons when in fact in our afterlife politics, war nor do countries exist. “I will never say a word about my grandson. And perhaps I will be as restless as HO when I join him” (249). Dao finally comes to the understanding that he should forget about the past and should try to live in Harmony with his family.