The Sorrow of War - The Importance of Setting

Often the setting in a text will carry symbolic significance, supporting as well the writer's key themes. Discuss these concepts in the light of The Sorrow of War.

The setting plays a huge role in The Sorrow of War as it is the setting, the places that hold the most importance to Kien. Every time he sets foot on a battle field or somewhere touched by war, memories come flooding back to him, dragging him back to the time when he was fighting. Everything thing Kien sees he can relate back to war, it is as even though the war is over, the war inside his head is not. When watching "a pantomime...many years later...an artist bent over, writhing his body in agonised desperation, by magical association Kien recalled the moments when Thinh had similarly crouched in sobbing despair"(pg 31)

Though the war has ended years ago, his memories are still so vivid, so graphic that it feels like yesterday and he as started to loose concept of time; "how many long years have passed? Ten or eleven? Twelve? No. Thirteen?...Or was it longer?", Kien often thinks to himself, not completely sure what the answer is.

The Sorrow Of War - Setting from the Book

"Kien knows the area well. It was here, at the end of the dry season of 1969, that his Battalion 27 was surrounded and almost totally wiped out....That was the dry season when the sun burned harshly, the wind blew fiercely, and the enemy sent napalm spraying through the jungle and a sea of fire enveloped them, spreading like the fires of hell....The diamond-shaped grass clearing was piled high with bodies killed by helicopter gunships....No jungle grew again in this clearing. No grass. No plants." page 2.

The setting of an area in the Jungle of Screaming souls really lives up to the name of the jungle. This was the area where Kiens battalion almost got completely wiped out which must have been a horrendous experience and for Kien to go back later with the MIA team to collect remains of bodies and to know what occurred there must have been difficult.

Hearing that the grass clearing is diamond shaped, I thought that it might have given some hope as diamonds are associated with happiness and prettiness, however then describing that the clearing was "piled high with bodies killed by helicopter gunships", contradicts the shape of the clearing and suggests that even the few pretty places in the jungle are covered with death and sorrow. The fact that "No jungle grew again in this clearing. No grass. No plants." is almost like that section of jungle has been so tainted by death, so destroyed by the war that nothing new, nothing good can ever grow there again. This, I believe is a metaphor to how Kien feels. He was a survivor of the war, walked away from the war physically fine but was so scared mentally and so effected that surviving the war may have not been the best outcome as though he may still be alive and well on the outside, is he really on the inside?

Even the weather was fierce and unforgiving, suggesting that the war was affecting the weather as much as the land and the people.

The Sorrow of War - Extract from an article commented on.

""Even me, I'm nearly forty. I was seventeen at the start of the war in 1965, twenty-seven at the fall of Saigon in 1975. So, how many long years have passed? Ten or eleven? Twelve? No. Thirteen? Another year with the MIA team. Or was it longer? And more time wandering as a veteran. Closer to fourteen years lost because of the war." - page 48

The atrocity of the war also made it hard for him to readjust to peacetime. Almost everything reminded him about an event during the war. His life was now full of flashback, vivid blood, dead bodies, screaming souls, sounding explosions, and much more. Although the war was over, Kien was living it still in his mind and soul."

http://www.helium.com/items/784901-book-reviews-the-sorrow-of-war-by-baoh-nihn

This illustrates just how difficult it was for Kien and all the other surviving soldiers to come back after the war and try and live a normal life again, and not just the soldiers, the Vietnamese people too. After the war, there was great focus on the Americans and how the American soldiers were coping once the war had ended, that no attention or thought was paid to the Vietnamese despite them loosing more men.

The struggling to remember how many years it has has been since the war shows that while in war, time has no significance and days, months and years just merge into one. And, though the war was a major and dramatic part of his life and when the war finally stopped, it was a definite change, Kien struggles to remember how long along it was because war has taken away his sense of time.

The Sorrow of War - The non-lineal time scheme.

An aspect that interested me is the non-lineal time scheme present in the book.

It is as Kien is just writing as it comes to him without any clear order or reason. The story frequently has analepsis', dating back from his childhood to wartimes.

The style of the book is like a metaphor to the war, as nothing is planned and you can never guess what comes next, for me, this shows just how much the war has impacted and changed his life - consciously and unconsciously.

At first, it is hard to comprehend and I found that I was often second guessing my initial thoughts, not too sure about what tense he is talking in. But I found as the story progresses and the unreadable pattern continues, I became accustomed to the flashbacks and the non-lineal time scheme, I think this too is a symbol of war as after enough time passes you grow accustomed to the death and gory surprises and stop noticing the ever-changing circumstances.

Krogstad

(Pages; 169-176, 197-200, 207-211)

a) what role does Krogstad serve in the play?

b) In what ways does Ibsen develop the character, i.e. how does he change and what are the reasons?

c) What themes does Krogstad assist in conveying to the audience

Krogstad is created initially to play the "villain" in the play A Doll's House. In the first two scenes with him present, he comes across rude, aggressive and determined. He has caught wind that Torvald Helmer is firing him from his post at the Bank and comes to Nora to blackmail her into persuading Torvald to repress his decision. "...let me tell you that the thing that I once did that ruined my reputation was nothing more - and nothing worse - than that.", Krogstad believes that by intimidating Nora that Torvald will come to her rescue and inevitably his and agree to his terms and be able to stay posted at the Bank so he can continue to build up his reputation.

Nora came to Krogstad because she didn't know anyone else that had the means of getting a loan or who would be willing to help, however though Krogstad agreed to help and did find the money he did not make it easy on Nora "-the way you made difficulties although you knew how desperately ill my husband was" suggest that Krogstad had no sympathy towards Nora and partook in the deal solely for his own enjoyment.

The third scene he is in, is one between himself and Mrs Linde, who is revealed to be his old love, however Mrs Linde broke it off with him and married a richer man. This is the scene where the audience sees a completely different side to Krogstad than what has been portrayed previously. Nils Krogstad was devastated when Mrs Linde left him and he never completely understood the reasoning for it, "Was there anything to understand - except what was so obvious to the whole world: a heartless woman throwing a man over when someone richer turns up?". Mrs Linde wants Krogstad back in her life again and has learnt that money nor status can ever make you truly happy. This event forces Krogstad to change his perception on things and immediately regrets what he has done to the Helmer's wishing he could "undo it". Mrs Linde's love is what changes Krogstad from the "villain" of the play and forces the audience to rethink their initial opinions of the man.

Relationship Between Mrs Linde and Nora Helmer

Mrs. Linde is the most functional character in terms of plot development, as by having her in the play serves as a way for Nora to tell the audience of her 'other' life.

Immediately you see two main differences between Nora and Mrs Linde, not really in their characters but in their relationship/marriage roles. Nora and Torvalds relationship appears to be very typical of that era. There is no fairness in their relationship, with Torvald controlling everything Nora does. Nora's most important role is to please her husband and Torvald considers himself superior to her by calling her names like "skylark" and referring to her as "little" which is diminutive, whereas the relationship between Mrs Linde and Krogstad is much more open and equal.

They both, however, have the unselfish personality trait as they have both made major sacrifices to protect the ones they love. Nora - taking out a loan secretly to save her husband and Mrs Linde - refusing her love (Krogstad) marriage proposal in order to keep her family happy. This lead her to being so submissive and not being able to have her own mind, which she hated.
Nora also is in a marriage that is very domineering which she also wishes to escape.

The occurrence of a wife leaving her husband to become their own individual was very rare, almost unheard of, and certainly frowned upon in that day and age, therefore for two women to be going through exactly that, or been through that and to know each other is extremely rare which also shows their likeness.

Torvald Helmer

Re-reading the book A Doll's House, trying to get a better insight in the character of Torvald, I noticed a great deal more traits about Torvald that I failed to note the first time. One scene that really stood out and gave me a greater understanding of Torvald was in Act III, near the beginning. Torvald and Nora have just come back from the dance upstairs when Torvald tells Nora how much he cares for her and how "[he wishes] that [Nora] could be threatened by some imminent danger so that [he] could risk everything [he] had - even [his] life itselfs - to save [her]" (page 219), yet just moments later when Torvald has read the letter and that exact situation has presented himself, one where his wife is in need of his help and he is able to "save [her]", his mood changes completely and yells at her; "You've completely wreaked my happiness!", "I shall not allow you to bring up the children...I shouldn't dare trust you with them".

This symbolizes to me Torvald's ego and his hypocrisy which adds another layer to the character. Not only is he a work and status orientated man, believing that he is of the upper most class and standing with a controlling behaviour towards his wife, he is also a hypocrite and very fickle.