SSRJ #2: D. Walker
To be honest, I don’t like how the piece ended. I was upset that the operation didn’t go well. Dinh put so much hope into the surgeon and in the end it didn’t work out. Not everything is always a happy ending. Dinh’s thumbs were taken away and it made me realize how something as small as thumbs can make life so much harder to live. It reminded me how thankful I am to have thumbs, hands, legs, to have my entire body.
I think the element that stood out to me the most was the setting. It takes place in Vietnam, a place that haunts the surgeon because that is where he caused pain for others and himself and the war continues on inside him. Going back to Vietnam is reliving the war all over again. He remembers the murder he committed, the rape and the suffering he brought upon others. Being back in Vietnam gives him this chance to make it right again.
There aren’t many situations in my life that relate to this story exactly but I can think of some instances. My God sister was born with a cleft lip and it was thanks to the doctors that they repaired her cleft lip. “I Am The Grass” also reminds me of the musical “Miss Saigon.” It’s a love story that takes place in the Vietnam War. Their stories are different but I feel they are the same because of the suffering the soldiers and the Vietnamese went through.
The author is trying to express his take on war and that war is the theme of his story. War causes death, it causes suffering and pain to people, even the innocent who end up getting caught in the conflict between the world’s disputes. Walker writes his experience in the main character, the surgeon. The surgeon is conflicted with his experiences in the Vietnam War and it continues to haunt him. “I cannot talk about these things I wish I could forget but know that I never will,” (315). There’s a war inside of him and he can’t find peace. In order for there to be peace there must be war and it is said war is peace. Walker describes how the surgeon feels about the terrors he has caused. In the beginning he even describes how he wants his wife and daughter to believe he is good and that he will never tell them his shame. The author then brings the surgeon back to the land of Vietnam, the land being the antagonist of the story. Here he is going to help children with cleft lips and he meets a Vietnamese doctor named Dinh. Dinh has suffered in the Vietnam War and has no thumbs because of it. Having no thumbs represent how the surgeon has no peace in himself. To resolve this, Dinh asks the surgeon to give back his thumbs by using his toe. Dinh puts all his faith into the surgeon truly believing that he wouldn’t eat like a “Frenchmen” anymore and want to use chopsticks (324). The surgeon also has hope as well and I think that this hope is his way of redeeming himself and that both Dinh and the surgeon can find peace. The night before the surgery, nightmares haunt him as he is anxious to perform the surgery, fearing that it may not work out. Unfortunately the operation is a failure. Dinh and the surgeon both fought a conflict in themselves but it was a loss. The surgeon doesn’t hear from Dinh after they find out about the failure operation. The surgeon reminds himself of the war and sees Vietnam again. He accepts the land and that he chose to take risks. This realization brings peace within him throughout the war of shame and failure he went through on the inside. He realizes Vietnam is a part of who he is.
How do you think Dinh felt after the surgeon left? Do you think Dinh could ever forgive the surgeon even though Dinh asked him personally to help him?
I really liked this story myself and I was actually rooting for the surgery to end well, but...it didn't. And I think this was a major part in the "war" within Walker that you talked about. He was ding what he could to heal. I think the trip to Vietnam helped, but looks like there is still some healing he has to do. I think Dinh may not have been angry but couldn't look at Walker after the surgery as it was causing too much pain within himself.
ReplyDeleteI think that the surgery was supposed to symbolize the war that no matter how much you hope for it to come out good it just wont, you think that it can that it might bring something good but it doesn't. Maybe some other wars did (and in those versions of the story the surgery would end well) but for this specific war, it wasn't meant to be. I think that Dinh was really sad after the surgery, even though he was hoping for the best, he knew that the surgery might not end well, i'm sure he was hurt and mad that he didn't get his "thumbs" back. I think he could, because his character in the story seemed understanding.
ReplyDeleteI think that the surgery symbolized the inability to completely heal after war. Both the doctor and Dinh wanted to succeed in the operation because it would bring peace to them. However, the author imposes on his characters the saddening reality of failure. This signifies the incapability to heal themselves after the consequences of war. In healing Dinh, the doctor would have been healed inside and as Dinh's hand was healed, he would not have been constantly reminded of the costs of war. Great post.
ReplyDeleteFrom the story and from the actions of the character Dinh I believe he felt fine after the surgeon left. Meaning he was okay with what happened with trying and failing at trying to fix his hands. I think he has the courage and patience to wait for good things to come in his life or in his next. I don't think Dinh has any disdain towards the surgeon for his transplant to not work, I think he was just majorly disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI totally agreed how he went in Vietnam to make up for what he did in the past. He thought it would cool down his past actions he never made peace with, but in the end when he failed the thumb operation, It was a symbolic moment that symbolizes that he can never make up for the horrors he committed in the Vietnam war. I thought in the end he made "peace" with his past by accepting the "danger" of the place(Vietnam)and mentioned how he welcomed it.
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