A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (Themes)

Themes

War

The problems of the Indochina War and the Vietnam War are themes in the story, though Dao does not refer to them directly. Dao brings up the Indochina War — the war between the Vietnamese nationalists and the French, which took place from 1946 to 1954 — when he asks Ho whether he is disappointed that Dao did not join him in this struggle. Ho further expands upon this topic when he talks of the mutuality of the Vietnamese and the Americans, both of whom wanted to stop the spread of the Japanese empire. Ho’s feelings connect him and the people who joined in this first struggle with the Vietnamese who fought in the Vietnam War and their struggle, both in the war and with the division of their country afterward. Ironically, Ho’s comments link him directly to Thang and Loi, who fought on the opposing side in the Vietnam War.

Dao, who appears not to have been directly involved in that war, still evokes it in several different ways. Thang and Loi both served in South Vietnam’s army as a colonel and a lieutenant, respectively. They remain bitter about their exile from their country after the fall of South Vietnam, and in part, blame the Americans. Dao also recalls how he and his wife lived through the Tet Offensive in 1968 and listened to the bombs falling outside. Such evocations underscore the struggle the Vietnamese have undergone in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Memory and the Past

As he approaches death (though he is not sick, he is almost 100 years old), Dao focuses increas-ingly on his memories of the past and how they reflect upon his perception of the present. The story begins with the visitation of Ho, whom Dao has not seen for decades. It soon becomes clear that there are many reasons that Dao sees Ho now. Foremost, Dao is experiencing the inner struggle of how to handle the problems within his family. He knows that Thang and Loi are involved in a political murder, yet his religious beliefs and his culture demand that he try and maintain familial harmony. Furthermore, Dao has never, as Ho puts it, “done the political thing.” Dao’s focus on the past is also manifested in his vision of the village square, populated by those people who have died before him. In this afterlife, Dao hopes to find the people who have meant so much to him: his wife, his firstborn son who died as a baby, the first person to call Ho “monsieur” (“mister’’), and the Dakar natives sent to their deaths in shark-infested waters by the French colonial officials. Dao projects his feelings about his upcoming death onto Ho. Dao questions Ho about whom he has met in the afterlife, and Ho evokes the images of those whom Dao does not even think of, such as the young Vietnamese men who wanted their country’s respect from the European powers.

Family

The bonds of family play an important part in the Vietnamese culture and in the story. Dao follows Vietnamese tradition, and, as he is now very old, he gathers his family around him to bid them a final farewell. This custom is followed to allow the older person time to tell the “people of your life . . . your feelings, or try at last to understand one another, or simply say goodbye.” The members of Dao’s family come to pay their final calls over a series of days. His “insincere” son-in-law, Thang, and his grandson Loi, however, mar what should be a time of peaceful leave-taking. He discovers that his family is governed by a web of lies and deceit with the understanding that the two younger men took part, on some level, in the murder of a Vietnamese newsman who spoke of accepting the unified country. Dao’s daughter Lam also keeps this secret — she reminds them not to speak in front of her father — signifying her comprehension and perhaps even her acquiescence. Only Dao’s oldest daughter, whose name is not revealed, plays out a satisfactory role. She is kind, caring, and dutiful. Despite the inadequacies of some of his family members, Dao still holds onto his belief in the family’s importance. His decision at the end to not reveal anything of what he knows about the newsman’s murder is done in part to maintain harmony in the family.

Topics for Further Study

• Read The Deuce, Butler’s novel about a half-Asian, half-American boy living in the United States. How does Thanh-Tony’s experiences compare with Dao’s? How are their perceptions of Vietnam and America alike and different?
• Dao’ s son-in-law and grandson hold very different points of view than Dao, both toward their native land and toward Americanization. Imagine that you are telling the story of the newsman’ s murder from the point of view of either of these other characters. What would you include in the story? What would this character feel about his actions?
• Conduct research to find out more about the Vietnamese immigrant experience in the United States. Investigate how they came here, where they live, what types of communities they form, and how they have adjusted to life here.
• Find out more about Ho Chi Minh. What role did he play in his country’s history? How do you think the fate of Vietnam would have been different if Ho had not done what he did?
• Do you think it is fair of Dao to have refused to take part in the political troubles that embroiled his country for decades? Why or why not? What kinds of difficulties would fighting have presented for a man like Dao? What kinds of problems would he face for remaining uninvolved?
• What do you learn about Vietnamese culture and tradition from the story? What would you like to know more about, and why?
• Read another story from A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, and compare its narrator to Dao.
• Find out about the ways that ordinary Vietnamese were affected by the Vietnam War. Choose one segment of society to focus on. Summarize your findings.