During this explication of a scene from "Missing," I am going to explain how this story, and the specific scene, tie into the theme of the aftermath of war and its effects on the people who were involved.
"Missing" is specifically involved with the effect of one former soldier and his decision to stay in Vietnam and start a family. This story is different than most Vietnam war stories. Most talk about the horrors of Vietnam. "Missing" is celebrating the Vietnamese culture and condemning the American culture.
"And I said, 'Each new year when I was a child, the god of the hearth went to heaven from my house in America. He came to the council of the gods and he said, There are children in this house and they sleep each night in great fear and they have places on their bodies that are the color of the sky in the highlands of Vietnam just after the sun has disappeared. And they pray, even the youngest of them, a boy, for escape and when they love each other, these children, it is to pray that each of the others escapes. And they know that this will happen for them, if at all, one at a time. And this house is empty of incense. And this house sees no spirits in the world....' And I thought of this place in Vietnam where I lay and how it grows coffee and it grows tobacco, and in that other life there was a time in the morning when I could slip out of the house and there was no one around but me and I knew that one day I would escape, and inside they drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and read the newspaper" (Bulter).
Bulter is trying to make a contrast here for the reader. The narrator mentions that he grows coffee and tobacco, and later he alludes back to the coffee and tobacco that were wasted in his American life. He is trying to show the difference between the consumerist American culture, and the Vietnamese culture. In a way, this is just a model of creation versus destruction. Vietnam creates, and America destroys. That is really what "Missing" is trying to tell the reader.
It also shows America in a bad light by describing the house and the children. The children have "places on their bodies that are the color of the sky in the highlands of Vietnam just after the sun has disappeared" (Bulter). The narrator is showing that he is safer in Vietnam. He isn't beaten and given bruises in Vietnam. The house is also "empty of incense" (Butler), which shows a sign of disrespect for the gods, because they "burned incense in [their] kitchens for the god of the hearth" (Bulter).
This short story gives us a different perspective on Vietnam war literary, reminding us that there are other points of view out there. The aftermath of the war for the narrator of this story left him free of all his ghosts from his previous life, and an acceptance to his American heritage, as well as gaining the understanding of his Vietnamese family, friends, and neighbors. Overall, this passage specifially shows the difference between an arrogant, greedy America, and a reverent and submissive Vietnam, shown by the life of one man.
2 comments:
I love the "Vietnam creates, and America destroys" idea and I think you presented it really well. I feel that its a very important part of the story because its one of the main reasons he stayed in Vietnam and started a new life. Back in America he was "destroyed", now that he has a loving family, he can "create".
It's funny that you commented on the same part. I have never thought about it that way but it is true with many countries. They export and we consume, and that theme of destruction is relevant throughtout the story not just with the coffee but also through the example of him appearing in the newspaper. Even though the editor of the newspaper probably wasn't inteding to cause turmoil within the village, the appearance of the American in the newspaper had the potential to destroy all he had worked for and tried to escape from.
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