IB HL English
SOW notes
3/28/2014
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3-20
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1. Inferences based on description of setting? “A sea of greenish
vapor over the jungle’s carpet of rotting leaves” (3).
2. What’s Kien’s task in the beginning of the novel?
3. Journal: Compose a short detailed description of a familiar setting,
attempting to make your details subtly reveal insight on what
human experiences may have occurred there.
4. “They are forgotten by peace, damaged or impassable” (3). Double
meanings?
5. Jungle of Screaming Souls – symbolic relevance of name?
6. Personification of the environment – “stream moans”
7. Effect of simile: “The eerie sounds come from somewhere in a
remote past, arriving softly like featherweight leaves falling on the
grass of times long, long ago” (4).
8. “All drifting in a stinking marsh” (5) – the refuse of war.
9. Buddhist mentality towards death and the afterlife – “They were still
loose, wandering in every corner and bush in the jungle, drifting
along the stream, refusing to depart for the Other World” (6).
10.“...passing this area at night one could hear birds crying like
human beings” (6).
11.“Sparkling incense sticks glowed night and day at the altar from
that day forward” (7).
12.Significance of the killing of the orang-utan? (7) Superstition’s role?
13.How does a huge, bestseller in Vietnam criticize the politics of the
war in a communist country – “political indoctrination”? (8)
14. Symbolic relevance of card playing – “fingerprinted by the dead
ones” (9)?
15.On page 12, there is a change in narrative voice – explain – what’s
the effect?
16.“With canina one smoked to forget the daily hell of the soldier’s
like, smoked to forget hunger and suffering. Also, to forget death.
And totally, but totally, to forget tomorrow” (12). Similar to US
soldier’s escape through alcohol/drugs?
17.“The path of war seemed endless, desperate, and leading nowhere”
(15).
18.“Sorrowful Spirit” (16).
19.“He was unconcerned and coldly indifferent, showing no fear, no
anger. Just lethargy and depression” (17).
20.Can’s oncoming spiritual/physical collapse? (20)
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20-40
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-Can’s desertion parallels American soldiers’ plight
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“but it’s the sons of peasants who have to leave home, leaving a helpless
old mother exposed to hardships” (21) …grunts…
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- parallel to One Day on the Life?
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“Kien felt imprisoned by the rain and the thick bamboo jungle wall on the
other side of the stream” (23)
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- Can’s mother’s tragic letter – pain not only for soldiers
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“continue to live and hope, my dear son” (23)
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-cultural insight?
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“…my soul swims out of my corpse…” (24) “the soul of a comrade who
had died in humiliation” (25)
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-more cultural insight on the afterlife
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“Over a long period, over many, many graves, the souls of the beloved
dead silently and gloomily dragged the sorrow of war into his life” (25)
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howl – “love’s lament” (26)
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Shadows? “He could hear them, out of breath, muddy and shivering from
the drizzle and cold air” (29)
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Kien’s love?
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“That was now hard to imagine, hard to remember a time when his whole
personality and character had been intact, a time before the cruelty and
destruction of war had warped his soul” (30)
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Journal: But war was a journey with no home, no roof, no comforts. A
miserable journey of endless drifting. War was a world without real men,
without real women, without feeling” (31).
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consequences of happiness in war?
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“They were such rare occurrences they were considered by some as a bad
omen, as though happiness must necessarily call down its own form of
retribution in war” (31)
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PTSD
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“Later, many years later, while watching a pantomime where an artist
bent over... Kien recalled the moments when Thinh had similarly
crouched in sobbing despair, praying for Ho Bia” (35)
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“Why kill three young girls so brutally?” (37)
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Three commandos?
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“I’ll kill you too! You too!” (40)
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Notes/Plan for 41-60
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Poetry Writing – !
Topics:
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The Jungle of the Screaming Souls (41). In addition, draw a symbol or
quick sketch that correlates with the meaning in your poem.
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or…
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-“Peace is a tree that thrives only on the blood and bones of fallen
comrades” (42)
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-“Yes, but … well, differently. The way you speak in hell. There are no
sounds, no words. It’s hard to describe. It’s like when you’re dreaming –
you know what I mean” (41). Inferences on Buddhism?
-“People have unmasked themselves and revealed their true, horrible
selves” (42).
-“You won’t even speak with your normal voice, in the normal way
again” (43).
-confusing narrative perspective? “When will I calm down?” (44) Ninh
slowly slipping into the character of Kien?
-“Living somewhere between a dream world and reality, on the knifeedge between the two” (44)
-“stultifying” (44)
-“The little trust and will to live that remains stems not from my illusions
but from the power of my recall” (47)
-“From the horizon of the distant past an immense sad wind, like an
endless sorrow, gusts and blows through the cities, through the villages,
and through my life” (48).
-“Kien lays his pen down” (48) Ninh? The effects of writing?
-“Kien seems to write only to rid himself of his devils” (49)
-“He alone must meet this writing challenge, his last duty as a
soldier” (50)
-“sacred force” “secret force” (51) his agency—
-“I live in this shell of loneliness” (54) – Lan – Doi Mo Hamlet – start of
war
-“the stories swirled back deep into the primitive jungles of war, quietly
restoking his horrible furnace of war memories” (57) chaotic retrospective
-stepfather poet – “a human being’s duty on this earth is to live, not to
kill” (58)
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Notes/Plan for 61-80 !
Poetry Writing: Write a poem highlighting the need for having a sense of
awareness of the rapid nature of youth. !
-For Kien, the most attractive, persistent echo of the past is the whisper
of ordinary life, not the thunder of war, even though the sounds of
ordinary life were washed away totally during the long storms of war. (63)
What’s the commonality in the narrator’s descriptions of Kien’s neighbors
in his apartment building.
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-“It is the whispers of friends and ordinary people now attempting
ordinary peacetime pursuits which are most horrifying” (63)
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-The words she (Hanh) longed to say would never be voiced. (67)
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-The passing of beautiful youth had been so rapid that even its normal
periods of anxiety and torment, of deep intense blind love, had been
taken from him as the war clouds loomed. (68)
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-Even love and sorrow (for Phuong) inside an aging man would finally
dissipate under the realization that his suffering, his tortured thoughts,
were small and meaningless in the overall scheme of things. Like wispy
smoke spiraling into the sky, glimpsed for a moment, then gone. (71)
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-Yet the city was coming alive again, this time in a synthetically
generated frenzy of patriotism. (74)
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-No. The ones who loved war were not the young men but the others like
the politicians, middle-aged men with fat bellies and short legs. Not the
ordinary people. The recent years of war had brought enough suffering
and pain to last them a thousand years. (75)
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-It felt like love. Perhaps it was recognition of some wonderful truth deep
inside him. (76) … he starts to write his first novel …
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-What was to be done? What could be done? He coughed, wanting to
moan out loud to ease the pain. (from seeing dying Sinh)
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-Even the most conservative among us expressed wildly passionate ideas
of how they would launch into their new civilian, peacetime roles (80).
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Writing Prompt: Identify and analyze three quotations that reflect Ninh’s
agency in writing the novel.
4/6/2012
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Notes/Plan 81-100
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Poetry Prompt: !
Begin your poem with the line: “We’ve each been ghosts in the other’s
mind” (83).
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-So, the divine war had paid him for all his suffering and losses with
more suffering and loss at home. Throughout his years at the front he
had dreamed – when he had dreamed of home at all – of little else but the
magic moments of return and Phuong, seeing them both in a utopian
dream. (84)
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-We’re prisoners to our shared memories of wonderful times together.
Those memories won’t release us. But we’ve made a big mistake. I
thought we would face just a few small hurdles. But they aren’t small,
they’re as big as mountains. (85) Inferences on Ninh’s agency?
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-He wrote, cruelly reviving the images of his comrades, of the mortal
combat in the jungle that became the Screaming Souls, where his
battalion had met its tragic end. (86)
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-He believed he had been born again… …to resurrect the deep past
within him (87)
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- Writing’s flow “following the course of some mystical logic set by his
memory or imagination” (88)
-…when he began to write, the flames of memory led Kien deep into a
labyrinth, through circuitous paths, and back out again into primitive
jungles of the past… (89)
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-There is no terrible hell in death… Inside death one finds calm,
tranquility, and real freedom. (90)
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-Would the drowned man ever stop floating through his mind? (94)
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-sorrow of war similar to the sorrow of love – It was a kind of nostalgia,
like the immense sadness of a world at dusk – (94)
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-Illusion and reality mixed with each other as the figures merged with the
dark green jungle backdrop. (99)
101-120
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Today’s Poetry Prompts:
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Begin your poem with either:
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“One’s life is only a handspan; he who sleeps too much shortens it by
half” (116).
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Or
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“The novel was the ash from his exorcism of devils” (114)
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- “The lout walked away jauntily, swinging his arms as if he were a
hero” (102)
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Notes/Questions – 121-140
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Journal – Respond to the following quotation. How does art (writing)
become a burden for Kien? What is Bao Ninh insinuating about our
obligation in life towards art? !
“If only he could shed all other needs of everyday living and concentrate
all his energies onto writing, his task would be over sooner. He would
then be released from the burden of life and float freely on the stream to
his journey’s end, where countless familiar souls awaited him” (122).
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Comments, observations, or questions on your Grid Notes – share with
scholar adjacent to you.
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“It was unbelievable. He had let them live. It was uncanny and
uncharacteristic of him, but that’s how it had ended. Absurd” (140)
Absurd!!!! – Camus?
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Group Work:
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In small groups, comment on the following motifs developed in the
reading, supporting your stances with evidence from the text.
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1) Politics – the contrast between Kien’s father and his mother – “Im a
New Intellectual, dear. I’m a Party member. I’m not an idiot, nor am
I dull” (123)? Phuong’s free spirit contrasting to Kien’s modern
ideals – “these are perilous times for free spirits. Your beauty one
day will cost you dearly” (129)?
2) Art – Kien’s father’s “cremation” of the paintings – “He was burning
my life as well as his own” – Phuong (134). How does this
flashback contribute or detract from Kien’s agency in his own
artistic endeavor – the writing of the novel? “…his work was seen to
be alien to the working-class understanding of art” (125).
3) Love – Kien’s relationship with Phoung – why can’t he completely
commit? “He couldn’t. He dared not” (137). What’s Bao Ninh trying
to insinuate about the capacity for love during that time?
4) Existentialism – “Our era is over. From now on you have to be
grown up, fight the battle alone” (126). What’s Kien’s father
referring to? How are the times changing? Any irony in his last
utterances? “So the boy creates his very own man, not mourning
the fate of a lonely orphan” (127)
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121-140
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Poetry prompts:
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“Your beauty one day will cost you dearly” (129)
Or
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“We deserved to have a happy life together, but events conspired
against us” (145).
Or
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“Parts of stories he thought he’d forgotten floated through his mind,
like disconnected mathematical equations” (148).
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- He would then be released from the burden of life and float freely on
the stream to his journey’s end, where countless familiar souls awaited
him. (122)
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-Kien’s mother: “I’m a New Intellectual, dear. I’m a Party member. I’m not
an idiot, nor am I dull. You must remember that , please.” (123)
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-Kien’s father: He would sit there painting quietly, occasionally telling
stories to himself. (124)
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-He (Kien’s father) had been completely out of step with the times, which
required artists to accede to certain social ethics, to display material
understandable to the working class” (125)
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-…his work was seen to be alien to the working-class understanding of
art. (125)
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-From now on you have to be grown up, fight the battle alone. (126)
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-I leave you nothing but that sorrow… (126)
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-Symbolic relevance of Kien’s father destroying all his paintings before
dying? “the cremation of the paintings” (128)
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-Phuong’s attraction to Kien’s father? (129)
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-The love of Kien and Phuong had been as doomed as those paintings.
(130)
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-It was a desperate, pure love, which ached within them and brought
frustrations and occasional resentment for the times which imprisoned
them in this unnatural state. (131)
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- (Phuong) Leave the straw heroes to their slogans. (132)
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-Lake – symbol of Phuong? (132)
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-As he kissed, a sudden sharp pang struck within him and he breathed in
sharply, withdrawing. (133)
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-When he burned the paintings I could see the future through the flames.
He was burning my life as well as his own. (134)
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-You’re offering our life for a cause so I’ve decided to waste mine too.
(136) Why is Phuong so fatalistic?
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-But he dared not accept her challenge to make love to her. (137) Why?
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-four southern commandos: It was unbelievable. He had let them live.
(140) Why?
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141-160
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Today’s Poetry Prompt: !
“We deserved to have a happy life together, but events conspired
against us” (145).
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“Parts of stories he thought he’d forgotten floated through his mind,
like disconnected mathematical equations” (148).
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- “She was from Da Nang, struck dumb in some bad fighting there” (142).
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-PTSD: “Even when he knew it was Phuong and not the nurse, just her
words, her profile, were enough to trigger the same violent
memories” (142).
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-“As she wound herself down from her activities Kien noticed a decrease
in the number of rather sad men knocking on her door…” (143).
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-“this is Mr. Phu, an artist” (144) Irony?
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-“Just like that? Like closing a bad book?” (145)
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-“I must write! It’s going to be like smashing granite with my fists, like
turning myself inside out and exposing all my secrets to the outside
world.” (146)
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-“Military life in the jungles over those long years developed within him a
deep, tender love for his hometown” (149).
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-“It was not that Hanoi itself had changed – though yes, there had been
changes – but that he had changed” (149). Creative writing prompt…
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- Vuong - “but to ride on something squishy and soft, supple and pulpy,
that used to make me vomit” (152)
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- inclusion of “leather jacket” bar story necessary? (155)
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Notes for 161-180 !
Today’s Poetry Prompts: Begin your poems with either:
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As they stood there, his war had started. (165)
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Or
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The luck of the unlucky… (166)
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Or
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The farther we go, the more I’m lost, the better it is.” (176)
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Essential quotations (161-180)
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- “What incredible luck!” she exclaimed… (163)
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- Kien, in fear of a charge of desertion, shook his head sadly. (164)
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- The penalty for desertion was the firing squad. (164)
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- “his war had started” (165)
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-Throwing a dozen untrained men into that battle would be as effective
as throwing an ice cube into a blazing furnace. (165)
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- Kien’s tragic error – consumed by fate? - “Look, if you’d deserted then
no one would have noticed. What did happen, anyway?” (166)
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-Kien was urged on by his inner fear of being branded a deserter… (166)
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- …he was savoring the last moments of freedom and romance with
Phuong (172)
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-The sorrows of war and nostalgia drove him down into the depths of his
imagination. From there his writing could take substance. (173).
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- Eerily similar to Dylan song? (175) “The winds they are achangin’.” (175)
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-The realization they would certainly soon be parted and their world
would soon be changed heightened the desperation. (176)
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- Symbolism of storm? “That’s how the war started, with a storm” …
“even after the war his mental skies were clouded for another ten” (176)
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-Yet she remained for him an enigma, someone ahead of her time in so
many ways and strangely, eternally pure. (176)
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-Now it seemed like fiction, some imagined story on the fringe of his war
memories. (177)
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-Does Kien deserve any blame for Phuong’s tragic fate? “intimate
nonsense” (177)
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-“like a warrior half-drawing a sword from its sheath, then ramming it
home again” (178).
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-“…incredible sight of Phuong lying prone on the floor, fighting a big
man on top of her” (179)
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- “his first war wound” (180)
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Today’s Poetry Prompts:
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Write a poem (elegy) commemorating Hoa’s bravery…
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Or
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Use the following words to craft a poem:
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wormed elephant grass eerie cobra Crocodile Lake grenade
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Or
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Begin your poem with:
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Creating a spiritual beauty in the horrors of conflict
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(181-200)
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- “his emotions were storming; excruciating pain at having left and lost
his friends, ecstatic elation at having survived death once more” (183)
-“You ought to be shot, but bullets wouldn’t be good enough” (185) Kien
cruel? What’s the effect on his characterization?
- What/Who does Hoa’s character represent? “She looked so young. He’d
been about to shoot a teenage girl because she’d lost her way in
unfamiliar jungle” (189).
-“firing at the dog, and the dog only” (190)
- “She gave herself to save me, too” (191). -“he too began to forget about her” (192) Why?
- “sorrow of having survived” (192)
- “those who sacrificed for others and for their Vietnam… …creating a
spiritual beauty in the horrors of conflict” (192).
- “instead to live the life of an antlike soldier, carrying the burden of
every underling” (193) Metaphor?
-“the kindest, most worthy people have all fallen away… …beautiful
landscape of calm and peace is an appalling paradox” (193)
-“the psychological scars of the war will remain forever” (193)
-“Happiness seemed to lie in the past; the older he grew the rosier the
past looked to him” (195).
-“It was a symbol of paradise lost” (196)
-“Inside the house they felt part of a small family circle. Outside the
house was the broad circle of war” (199).
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Notes for 200-233
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Today’s poetry prompts:
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Almost from that moment on, a harsh and cruel wind had blown across
their world (203).
Or
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Write a poem with the title – Catatonic (211)
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Or
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War does this, war smashes and destroys (216).
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-Anyway, I’ve not got the class to own something as lovely as a piano
(200) ***Another example of the ill effects of political indoctrination***
-Her fine soul will be warped by the coarse style of life that’s overtaking
us (201)
-It frightens me that she is attracted by his frightful paintings and his
disrespectful opinions (201).
-Can’t you see? It’s not a wound! It can’t be bandaged! (204)
-I stopped those turds lining up for you again (206)
-She seemed in the sailor’s spell (207). Shellshocked?
-Get away, you whore? (208) Why?
-They were both terrified now, numb, and gasping, like animals wrestling
(210). War’s dehumanizing effects?
-There was little charity or mercy in moments like these (210).
-This was his newfound strength, to stay cool under fire (210).
-Phuong – catatonic (211) -…most dramatic entrances imaginable into the theater of war (211)
-All around him people were stoically going about their everyday lives
(212)
-It was all the same; it amounted to nothing (213). Existentialist coping
mechanism?
-Macabre humor? (213)
-Your duty is to catch up to your unit. Don’t worry yourself about where I
go next (215).
-We had no choice in the circumstances, it was an unlucky coincidence
(218).
-… she was now a hardened experienced woman, indifferent to
vulnerable expectations (223).
-(224) Why does Kien abandon Phuong by the water’s edge?
- A miracle would allow people to emerge unchanged from the war (226).
What?
-Kien dreamed that his life had been transformed into a river stretching
before him (227). Symbol?
- Confusing shift in narrative perspective? Who’s the “I”? (228)
-Any page seemed like the first, any page could have been the last (229).
-… the author had written because he had to write, not because he had
to publish (230).
-His spirit had not been eroded by a cloudy memory. He could feel happy
that his soul would find solace in the fountain of sentiments from his
youth (233). The powers of memory - remembrance?
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Journal – Write a short review of the novel, The Sorrow of War,
including two aspects of the novel that were especially successful, and
two criticisms. Make sure to give possible solutions that may rectify
your perceived flaws. !
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Or
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“It was not that Hanoi itself had changed – though yes, there had been
changes – but that he had changed” (149). Creative writing prompt…
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Or
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Today’s poetry prompts:
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Almost from that moment on, a harsh and cruel wind had blown across
their world (203).
Or
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Write a poem with the title – Catatonic (211)
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Or
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War does this, war smashes and destroys (216).
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1) Paper topic list
2) Last Grid Notes – Share your essential quotations – “His spirit had
not been eroded by a cloudy memory. He could feel happy that his
soul would find some solace in the fountain of sentiments from his
youth. He returned time and time again to his love, his friendship,
his comradeship, those human bonds that had all helped us
overcome the thousand sufferings of war” (233).
3) Make sense of narrative perspective – 228?
4) Journal – Write a short review of the novel, The Sorrow of War,
including two aspects of the novel that were especially successful,
and two criticisms. Make sure to give possible solutions that may
rectify your perceived flaws.