1. Fulbright-Hays GrantSponsored Project: Key
Vietnamese Literature
1.1. Project Info
1.2.
Acknowledgements and
Thanks
2. Story of Kieu by
Nguyen Du (17661820)
2.1. Critical
Claims
2.2. Brief Bio of
the Author
2.3. Key
Background Info
2.4. Plot
Summary
2.5. Main
Characters
2.6. Main
Theme(s)
2.7. Topic for
Writing
2.8. Bibliography
for Further Research
3. Luc Van Tien by
Nguyen Dinh Chieu
(1822-1888)
3.1. Critical
Claims
3.2. Brief Bio of
the Author
3.3. Key
Background Info
3.4. Plot
Summary
3.5. Main
Characters
3.6. Main
Theme(s)
3.7. Topic for
Writing
3.8. Bibliography
for Further Research
4. Dumb Luck by
Vu Trong Phung (19121939)
4.1. Critical
Claims
4.2. Brief Bio of
the Author
4.3. Key
Background Info
4.4. Plot
Summary
4.5. Main
Characters
4.6. Main
Theme(s)
4.7. Topic for
Writing
4.8. Bibliography
for Further Research
5. Paradise of the
Blind by Duong Thu
Huong (1947- )
5.1. Critical
Claims
5.2. Brief Bio of
the Author
5.3. Key
Background Info
5.4. Plot
Summary
5.5. Main
Characters
5.6. Main
Theme(s)
5.7. Topic for
Writing
5.8. Bibliography
for Further Research
6. Monkey Bridge:
A Novel by Lan Cao
6.1. Critical
Claims
6.2. Brief Bio of
the Author
6.3. Key
Background Info
6.4. Plot
Summary
6.5. Main
Characters
6.6. Main
Theme(s)
6.7. Topic for
Writing
6.8. Bibliography
for Further Research
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Section : Critical Claims
Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History:
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“A memoir in the form of a novel, Monkey Bridge is a perceptive and poignant account of a young
Vietnamese refugee’s adjustment to America. Exquisitely written, it tells more about the tragic
Vietnam War than most histories.”
Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent
from a Strange Mountain:
•
"How wonderful to hear a voice from that remarkable generation of postwar Vietnamese
immigrants who are encountering our culture in fresh and direct ways. Even more
wonderful is this writer Lan car, a genuine literary talent."
Kim Chernin, author of The Woman Who Gave Birth to Her Mother:
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“Burning richly at the heart of this complex novel about war, memory, and betrayal, there
is a powerful mother/daughter story that crosses ethnic boundaries and speaks across
generations. How skillfully Lan Cao has caught the infinitely subtle, tender, tragic
dimensions of the mother/daughter bond.”
Nora Okja Keller, author of Comfort Woman:
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“Step by breathtaking step, Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge traverses memory and dream to reinvent Ba Xuyan, Vietnam and Falls Church, Virginia as a single luminous landscape infused with karmic history, personal war, and mythic beauty.” Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Brief Bio of the Author
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Brief Bio of Lan Cao
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Born in 1961 in Vietnam
Left Vietnam for US in 1975 when 13
Got BA in political science in 1983 from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts
Obtained J.D. degree from Yale University Law School
Currently lives in New York
Teaches international law at Brooklyn Law School
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Teaches international law at Brooklyn Law School
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Key Background Info
Historic Background of Vietnam in the 20th-Century
The American-Vietnamese War (1956-1975)
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The Communist North Vietnamese and the southern Viet Cong engaged in a long war to
overthrow the pro-American government of South Vietnam.
The U.S. and other allied nations sent troops to aid the Saigon regime.
The last U.S. combat troops left in 1973.
Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.
Known in the U.S. and much of the world as "The Vietnam War." Known in Vietnam as
"The American War."
Conflicts inside Vietnam
Binh Xuyen Suppression (April, 1955)
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The South Vietnam government of Ngo Dinh Diem used military action to eliminate the
paramilitary power of the Binh Xuyen criminal organization.
Hoa Hao Suppression (June, 1955)
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The South Vietnam government of Ngo Dinh Diem used military action to eliminate the
paramilitary power of the Hoa Hao religious sect in the countryside around Saigon.
Cao Dai Suppression (1955)
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The South Vietnam government of Ngo Dinh Diem used military action to eliminate the
paramilitary power of the Cao Dai religious sect.
North Vietnamese Peasant Uprisings (1956)
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A peasant uprising in opposition to the Communist government's policy of forcing the
rural population into collective farms. The government put down the revolt.
Post-Unification Southern Resistance (1975-mid-1980's)
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Armed resistance by several groups against the Communist Hanoi government following
the fall of Saigon in 1975. These groups include: the Montagnard ethnic group in the
Central Highlands; the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao religious groups (who reportedly ceased
fighting in the mid-1980's); and various anti-communist groups collectively known as
chu quoc or "national salvation." The chu quoc included the Dai Viet and the Viet Nam
Quoc Dan Dang, two armed nationalist (and therefore anti-communist) organizations
and soldiers from the old South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). Further research is needed to
determine when the resistance ended.
Quoc Dan Dang, two armed nationalist (and therefore anti-communist) organizations
and soldiers from the old South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). Further research is needed to
determine when the resistance ended.
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Plot Summary
Plot Summary
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao begins with Mai's mother in the hospital suffering from a
brokerage in the brain. Her mother keeps calling Mai's grandfather's name 'Baba Quan' in her
sleep, who fails to join Mai's mother years ago when fleeing Vietnam to America. Mai with her
high-school best friend Bobbie drive to Canadian border to try to call Vietnam to find her
grandfather, but does not carry out the plan for fear of not being able to return. Two stories are
told at the same time: recalling the life in Vietnam through Mother's letter, and recalling their
early days in the States as immigrants. The climax occurs in Mother's last letter when she
reveals what she has discovered in her last days in Vietnam: on her way to bury her mother in
the family burial site, she witnesses Baba Quan murdering Mr. Khan, their landlord and realizes
that she is not Baba Quan's but Mr, Khan's daughter. She has kept this family secret from Mai
so as to protect her against the bad karma the family has created. The story ends with Mother's
committing suicide and Mai moving away to college, starting a new life.
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Main Characters
Main Characters and Their Character Traits
Mai: 1st-person narrator, a smart, observant and thinking girl
Mother: a scar on her face; born with long ears; pretty when young; in the story, mostly
skeptical and defensive about life in America
Baba Quan: dressed in bright colors; does not tend his farm; loves to do art work; let his wife
to become a concubine to Mr. Khan to avoid paying rent for the land, who gives birth to Mai's
mother; Baba Quan is later found out to be a northern Vietnamese spy and his jealousy and
rage eventually leads him to murder Mr. Khan toward the end of the story
Bobbie: Mai's best high-school friend--very understanding, helpful and supportive to Mai
Uncle Michael: An Amerian colonel who is once saved by Baba Quan in Vietnam, and who out
of gratitude, has adopted Mai and sponsored her to come to America
Mr. Khan: a rich land-owner, who is later killed by Baba Quan
of gratitude, has adopted Mai and sponsored her to come to America
Mr. Khan: a rich land-owner, who is later killed by Baba Quan
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Main Theme(s)
Power of a mother's love:
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Whatever Mother has done is to cut off the bad family karma for Mai to have a clean,
good future.
Treacherousness of human emotions and relationships:
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Baba Quan uses his wife to have sex with Mr. Khan as a way to avoid paying for the
rent of the land, yet he still hates him and kills him.
War and its destructions and complications:
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How the American troops, northern Vietnam and southern Vietnam all try to win over
the village people, and turn the village into a fire-free zone.
Struggles of Immigrants in America:
Self-knowledge that Vietnamese immigrants are not "wanted" and are "burdens" to the
American economy has made Mother view America with a negative eye.
Monkey Bridge: A Novel by Lan Cao
Topic for Writing
Topics for Writing & Research
1. “All around me, the bare walls expanded and converged into a relentless stretch of
white. The bedsheet white of the hallway was an anxious white I knew by heart.
White, the color of mourning, the standard color for ghosts, bones, and funerals,
swallowed in the surface calm of the hospital halls” (1).“The expanse of white
blinded my eyes. In spite of the darkness in her curtain-drawn room, the walls and
the tiles and the stark white of my mother’s twisted sheets and pillows emitted a
flurry of bright, funeral-white lights” (4; emphasis mine). Why do you think Lan
Cao starts the story this way, emphasizing "white"? What kind of mood is set up at
the beginning of the novel? And how does this "white" image relate to the story
development.
2. Why is the novel titled 'Monkey Bridge'? What does the title refer to and mean?
How does the image relate to the theme of the story?
the tiles and the stark white of my mother’s twisted sheets and pillows emitted a
flurry of bright, funeral-white lights” (4; emphasis mine). Why do you think Lan
Cao starts the story this way, emphasizing "white"? What kind of mood is set up at
the beginning of the novel? And how does this "white" image relate to the story
development.
2. Why is the novel titled 'Monkey Bridge'? What does the title refer to and mean?
How does the image relate to the theme of the story?
3. “I avoided looking too closely at it, her red blotchy face that had been burned by a kitchen fire
years ago. As she told it, she had been preparing caramelized pork when flames from one of the
burners had caught on a silk scarf loosely wrapped around her neck. This web of tender skin
that she referred to as The Accident had been diagnosed as permanent, and, worse still, she
seemed to accept it as such without question." (3) What is the real "Accident" that has left this
red blotchy face? Why Mother has been hiding the truth from Mai? Explain to show your good
reading of the story.
4. “A month ago, I would have handed it over to her with perfect Confucian etiquette—clasped in
both hands. The right hand would have been too flippant, the left hand an insult, but both hands
were perfectly, exquisitely polite” (8). To what extent does Confucianism play a role in the story,
especially in Mother's life? Collect relevant details and explain how Confucianism is viewed by
the characters, and how does it contribute to the themes?