Term Paper on "Compare and Contrast a Vietcong Memoir and the Sacred Willow"

Term Paper 4 pages (1287 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Vietnam Memoirs -- The Same Conflict, Seen Through Two Different Pairs of Eyes memoir is a literary document that, unlike an autobiography, attempts to provide a specific window into a period of the author's life, rather than simply document the life of an author from a first-person perspective and relate the events in a chronological and dispassionate fashion. By this definition, A Vietcong Memoir by Truong Nhu Tang and The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the life of a Vietnamese Family by Duong Van Mai Elliot are both memoirs. Tang's book chronicles the struggles of the communist Vietnamese fighters known as the National Liberation Front led by Ho Chi Minh while Elliot discusses the relationship of her own history, and the history of her near and distant family members, to the Vietnam War that eventually resulted in North Vietnamese communist control over the entire country.

Tang's book offers the reader the perspective of one of the war's most dedicated fighters. It helps to illustrate the profound emotional connection fighters in what Tang calls a war of liberation felt for the cause. In contrast, The Sacred Willow by Elliot offers the perspective of a woman who initially supported the South Vietnamese and the American's military involvement in her country. But despite the fact that they began the war supporting opposite sides, both authors experienced profound reversals in their political perspectives. Shortly before the Vietnamese nation was united, Tang became a Minister of Justice, and grew disillusioned with the political corruption of the newly united land. He eventually left his country, after fighting so long to free it from foreign control. He felt his dreams of a pure, liberated nation had been betrayed, and the new regime had fallen into "drug transactions, debauchery, and the buying and selling of power," much like the original, corrupt regime he loathed. (Tang 270) Tang settled into exile, ironically, in Paris, the city where he first became a dedicated communist in the service of Uncle Ho.

Elliot, educated in the United States at Georgetown University, and raised in a well-connected South Vietnamese family, initially opposed the communists. But after interviewing Vietnamese prisoners of war for an American think tank in Washington D.C., she became horrified at the effects the conflict was having on her nation. Furthermore, "neither they [the Rand Corporation] nor the American officials in Saigon could stop the mistreatment" of the prisoners and defectors. (Elliot 322) She could no longer feel certain that America had her nation's interests at heart.

It should be noted neither author's experience should be read as perfectly emblematic of an ordinary Vietnamese person's experience during the war. Tang met Ho Chi Minh when he was a student in Paris, and immediately became struck by the man's "personal strength and generosity." (Tang 11) Thus Tang was highly educated, familiar with foreign customs, and from a highly connected family, back in the days when Vietnam was a French colony, not unlike Elliot. He was also a highly placed figure in the military struggle of the North Vietnamese, rather than a common jungle guerrilla fighter. Tang personally knew the man whom he called Uncle Ho.

Nor should Elliot's experience should not be read as a 'perfect' embodiment of the anti-communist journey of an ordinary Vietnamese woman. Although younger than Tang, she was also descended from a highly influential family in South Vietnam, whose aristocratic roots extended even before French control. She had an older sister who later married a Communist, although her brothers supported the anti-communist fighters. Because her grandfather was a mandarin, or highly placed official, as was her father in the French colonial government, political debate was a part of her daily life. Socially and culturally both Elliot and Tang came from a higher echelon of society than the average Vietnamese person, and from families with a greater articulated political commitments, that extended… READ MORE

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