While reading "Missing" I could not help but to reflect back on the "Sweet heart of the Song Tra Bong." They seemed to be so simliar to one another in the first go around of reading it. How when they got to Vietnam it was not much something they thought of much. However, with out realization these two characters became emerged in a deep love for their surroundings. Both of these individuals felt something that had been missing in their lives was obviously filled in some was during there time spent in Vietnam.
Although this story reminded me alot of Tim Obrien's piece it also was very different. Obrien's character fell in love with the war atmosphere. She loved learning about how to shoot guns and war tactics. In "Missing" there was a different kind of comfort found. He found a life there, something he had been missing throughout his entire existence, a place where he felt at home." I am not missing. I'm here. I know the smell of the wood fires and the incense wife burns for the dead father and mother who gave her to me and the smell of my daughter's hair washed from the big pot in our backyard to catch the rain water.." This tells the reader that he wants to be nowhere else not because of the war but because of the location, the people, the culture, everything about this place is what makes him happy and at ease.
3 comments:
I definitely agree. Mary Anne, from O'Brien's The Things They Carried, fell in love with the war and with the excitement that every moment could possibly be her last. The narrator from "Missing" found peace from his hectic and fearful life back in America. They kind of switched if you think about it.
Your post is very similar to mine that I made earlier. I agree with how these two stories are alike. Although these two people decided to stay in Vietnam for different reasons, their unhappiness in their lives in America were the same. The main thing I have noticed is that Vietnam has had a large impact on many Americans.
I also connected "Missing" with the story of "Sweet hear of the Song Tra Bong," and I think it's nice how you make that connection but also recognize the difference in how he was escaping destruction and heartache while she was more falling in love with the land and changing Vietnamese herself.
Post a Comment