Professor Valverde
ASA 150E
In this week's readings, the theme is about the "forgotten, suppressed, invisible histories." In the novel, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War by Viet Thanh Nguyen, he emphasizes how war has been remembered as well as criticizing the influences on people's perception of the war. Nguyen depicts, "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit. If we ignore this sobering reality, we find ourselves organizing 'clergy and laymen concerned' committees for the next generation" (2). This shows that there is more to the memories that are being portrayed; there is always a deeper symbol of these narratives that are being presented in society. In addition, Nguyen brings up "Today the Vietnamese and American revolutions manufacture memories only to absolve the hardening of their arteries. For those of us who consider ourselves to be inheritors of one or both of these revolutions, or who have been influenced by them in some way, we have to know how we make memories and how we forget them so that we can beat their hearts back to life" (3). This displays importance to the theme of the forgotten and suppressed histories because there have always been fabricated and concocted memories or histories made to be told to our society. It has always been told this way where one side is perceived to be the bias side or what is known as the "good side." As I have learned more about the Vietnam war, I have come to learn that there is more to what meets the eye. As well as, there is always more behind the distorted truth and history. A question I have is how come history has become distorted? What is the truth and what is not? How can we differentiate our own truths and lies?
Source: https://usastruck.com/2014/07/22/the-truth-about-the-vietnam-war/
Work Cited:
Nguyen, Viet Thanh. Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War. Harvard University Press, 2016.
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