Blog 8 JY

“Madagascar Plum” is about an officer of the Sai Gon army who recollects a story that happened during his time in the army. The story is about a young child that had skin like a Madagascar plum. The army notices that she is always gone every night, and some of the army’s food rations disappear as well. The officer believes that the child is feeding the opposing army and he kills the girl with explosives. In the end the army finds out that the girl was taking food to a group of Vietnamese civilians and that she was a mute child.
I believe that the narrator is a reliable source, because there is no advantage of lying about a story after the war. By retelling these stories it may also help the officer relieve his post-traumatic stress. In the story he talks about how the other soldier were unreliable sources such as the American soldier that prevented the reporters to come along with the army, because he didn’t want the reporters to reveal the “naked truth.” The officer also describes the cook’s sector that was famous for telling fairy tales and bypassing the reality. I think that this shows how much the officer despises lies and is a truthful person. He later goes on to tell about the night when two of his soldiers go off into the woods to follow the little child. Before they left the officer was drinking and offered to go, but for his safety the other two soldiers went instead. When they didn’t return the officer believed that the girl took them to the enemy’s army and killed them. When he describes this event he says how if he wanted to rely on excuses then he could have, but he didn’t. I believe that he is traumatized by the event and by truthfully retelling it he could somehow ease his pain and suffering. Evidence of his pain is his alcoholism and how he intentionally injured himself. People may believe that when someone is drunk they will be unreliable, but in reality that is when a person is most truthful. The only part that may make him unreliable is the last sentence “Excuse me, Brother, was that village the one called Thi uc in the Central Highlands…”