Blog 1 A Good Scent

The two narratives Butler combines in “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain” are the stories of Dao’s son-in-law Thang and his grandson Lo’I possibly killing Mr. Nguyen Bich Le for political reasons, and the story of Ho Chi Minh appearing in Dao’s room at night with sugar on his hands. Mr. Nguyen Bich Le wrote a newspaper for the Vietnamese community living in New Orleans and made a comment that it was time for the Vietnamese to accept that there is a communist government in Vietnam. Thang and Lo’I were visiting with Dao and Thang “…said it again, more slowly, like it was code. ‘There is no weapon’” (239). These comments gave Dao the impression that they were involved in the shooting. Ho Chi Minh appears to Dao at night with confectioners’ sugar on his hands. Ho Chi Minh and Dao are old friends and worked together in France at the Carlton Hotel, Ho Chi Minh as a pastry cook and Dao as a dishwasher. Ho Chi Minh seemed like he needed help remembering how to make the glaze that the chef at the hotel made. He slowly began remembering the temperature and then asked Dao if he was still a Buddhist. Ho Chi Minh had gone to France to try to speak with Woodrow Wilson about rights that the Vietnamese wanted to gain in the French Parliament. He rented a dark suit and a bowler hat to try and seem more western. When Ho Chi Minh would visit Dao he would remember his past more clearly. Once he asked Dao about the temperature Ho Chi Minh said “’It’s all right,’ I remember the temperature now. Two hundred and thirty degrees...” (237). Dao also said “He and I will be together again and perhaps we can help each other” (249).

Butler puts these two narratives in the same story because they compare the western ideals to the Vietnamese ideals. Butler wanted to show the reader how the war continued in the hearts of the Vietnamese people after the physical conflict was over. Dao comments on the killing of Mr. Le in his Chevrolet pickup truck and says “I find a detail like that especially moving, that this man was killed in his Chevrolet, which I understand is a strongly American thing” (238). Dao also believes that his grandson and son-in-law were involved in the killing of Mr. Le. Dao shows his distaste for his grandson and his actions at the end of the story when Ho Chi Minh and Dao are pacing the room and Dao recalls when he held his grandson as a baby. He says “…after handing him to me and the boy turned his head and I turned mine to him and I could smell his mother’s milk, sour on his breath, he had a sour smell and there was incense burning in the room…” (248). He then discusses Ho Chi Minh’s smell and says “He was very close and the smell was strong and sweet and it was filling my lungs…” (249). Dao feels strongly about his home land of Vietnam and believes in his Buddhist beliefs of harmony. Lo’I and Thang are still not at peace and find it necessary to continue the war in America. Dao recalls a time when Ho Chi Minh rented a dark suit and a bowler hat to go to France and try to get a meeting with Woodrow Wilson to discuss possible representation of Vietnam in the French Parliament. Ho Chi Minh thought it necessary to dress the part of a westerner in order to get what he wanted instead of staying true to his country. Ho Chi Minh and Dao talk about the relationship Ho Chi Minh had with the Americans and that he had friends within the conflict, despite the war. Dao seemed confused by the difference between the Vietnamese and the Americans and Ho Chi Minh said “There are a million souls here with me, the young men of our country, and they are all dressed in black suits and bowler hats” (246). Ho Chi Minh meant that the young Vietnamese citizens are trying to be more like the westerners and take up their ideals and attitudes. The hearts and souls of the Vietnamese were placed into westerner’s bodies after the conflict and the author shows that the young Vietnamese are still not at peace.