Essay --

The Sorrow of War is a novel written by Vietnamese writer, Bao Ninh. First published in 1990, it came from being his graduation project to one of the most prestigious piece of literature in history. This work of fiction focuses solely on a seventeen-year-old male named Kien and his life from pre-war to post-war. What many people are oblivious to is the fact that Ninh had his own share of time in war when he served in the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Having said that, it is utterly safe to imply that Ninh’s time in war has a strong reflection in Kien’s characteristic traits and experiences that he endured in the novel. The Vietnam war was the struggle between the nationalist forces attempt to unify Vietnam under a communist government and the United States effort to prevent Communism from spreading even further. This explicit war lasted from 1959 through April 30, 1975. It was a very long, costly war that disturbed the peace of many nations during the 20th century. In total, more than 500,000 soldiers were involved in the conflict and the price that the fighting nations had to pay economically, politically, and morally were annihilating figures to look at. The United States, alone lost over 60,000 soldiers in Vietnam. Most of them were killed while some vanished in the thick jungles located there. In total, between 3.2 and 5 million people were disables, disfigured, or wounded for life. In comparison to the author, Kien served in the 27th Battalion and only â€Å"ten men survived from the Battalion after fierce, horrible, barbarous fighting† (Ninh 5). Ninh was also one of the ten men that su rvived out of the five hundred that had went to war. That kind of fate and fortune shared by both men is conferred in the Saintil2 n... ...o terms with his new identity, a survivor just like Kien. He hoped that the novel, The Sorrow of War will open the eyes of many who are oblivious to the effects of war and will at the same time help anyone that are in the same boat as him. By the end of the novel, Kien regained his self-confidence and focuses more on making his life better in the future instead of reminiscing on the past. The Sorrow of War ended in such an abrupt manner that shocked most, if not all, of the readers. Ninh commented on that fact by claiming that the only reason why the he chose the ending to be like that was to reflect on the suddenness of the Vietnam war. He also admits to having a strong personal connection to the novel, and in many ways Kien and Kien’s troop represents him and his troop. Aside from everything else, Kien will always be a part of Ninh that nobody but him understands.