What Were They Like?

Question 1

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Answer 1

Closed question Q and A format reduces and oversimplifies Vietnamese culture. Undermines the complexity / Boxes in the multifaceted nature of war.

Question 2

bone and ivory,
jade and silver for ornament?

Answer 2

Opulent, nature-rich imagery to emphasise the beauty of Vietnamese culture.

Question 3

Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.

Answer 3

Developed answers + use of formal “Sir” indicates a forced use of respectful tone, reflecting a power dynamic between the two people that is strained by the offense the person has taken to the minimising nature of the questions.

Sensory imagery of stone parallels the loss of life and culture highlighted by the innocent, airy, bright connotations of “light hearts”

Question 4

after their children were killed
there were no more buds

Answer 4

Spring symbolises life, fertility, but the end of that leaves it on a sombre, sinister, macabre note.

Layers of resentment and injustice embedded into the dead children, loss of innocence and life.

Question 5

Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth.

Answer 5

WHAT THE FLIP THERE’S SO MUCH GOING ON HERE?!?!?

1. Formal “sir”
2. Laughter VS bitter creating contrast, highlighting the extent of brutality.
3. Plosives of bitter and burned create sharp, venomous sound, connoting to resentment and injustice
4. Focus on burned mouth highlights their mutilated body parts, creating unsettling, uncomfortable imagery

Question 6

their life was in rice and bamboo.

Answer 6

Bringing attention to the simplicity and rurality of their lives, highlighting their innocence and futility of their deaths.

Question 7

When bombs smashed those mirrors
there was time only to scream.

Answer 7

Smashing a delicate object that cannot be put back together mirrors the deaths
Temporal marker highlights the ephemerality of Vietnamese culture and the extent of chaos/tragedy

Question 8

Who can say? It is silent now.

Answer 8

End-stopped line and rhetorical question end the poem on a defeated, devoid of emotion, note of resignation