response to Oct 24th's blog post
On page 87 in the novel called, "Ship of Fate", the main character Tran is given the opportunity to potentially return to his homeland Vietnam. He originally escaped North Vietnam due to the uprising of communism and he was able to convince his father to move south due to the fear that the communists would not allow people to be catholics. He decided to join the Navy and eventually became a lieutenant. As the scare of communism begins to rise, he is given an order by his superiors to evacuate the country. As he leaves the country, he is forced to abandon his wife and children. Tran at one point is approached by a general, saying he can return home if he can assemble a crew big enough to meet a ship's demands. Many of the crew he recruits also say they will join him just for the fact that they will not have to go to America and get to return home.
I find it very interesting that these people would rather go and risk their lives in a war rather than go to America to get a new start. I understand the concept of people returning to their families but why would they pass an opportunity to go to America instead of going to fight communism. People would rather return to their war torn land than to go and try something new in America. This message can really show how the Vietnamese people felt during the war. The book also states that South Vietnam was just a pawn to America and the war was just one big game and whenever America left or lost, they totally forgot and abandoned Vietnam entirely. This point shows that in the world's eyes, America was not such a perfect place.
I find it very interesting that these people would rather go and risk their lives in a war rather than go to America to get a new start. I understand the concept of people returning to their families but why would they pass an opportunity to go to America instead of going to fight communism. People would rather return to their war torn land than to go and try something new in America. This message can really show how the Vietnamese people felt during the war. The book also states that South Vietnam was just a pawn to America and the war was just one big game and whenever America left or lost, they totally forgot and abandoned Vietnam entirely. This point shows that in the world's eyes, America was not such a perfect place.
Throughout the reading of “Ship of Fate” this far, the two key concepts that stand out to me in the book are the idea of Tru’s self regret, and family. There are many times in the memoir where we learn about the depression and almost guilty feeling that is taking over Tru. He is feeling regretful and depressed because of the difficult situation he and his family are placed in and he has to make major decisions that ultimately decide what his life will end up like. On several pages he states how he is depressed by the whole situation that his home country of Vietnam is in. He mentions that he hates how such a new constructed country like America can have so many opportunities while Vietnam, which has an ancient history is still torn with conflict, corruption, and poverty. The concept of family also plays an enormous role in this memoir because almost every single decision that he makes is influenced by his wife and children's well being. On page 73 he says “If my wife and children were by my side, then it would make sense for me to go to America and start a new life- but all by myself? It does not make sense for me to go. I’m going back at all costs. I must return.” He then continues to say how he believes that his experience in the military will at least give him the ability to survive through the struggles in Vietnam and eventually leave his life up to fate. We can ask why Tru wouldn't just go to America and start a life without the difficulties he is used to in Vietnam, but it is obvious that his family is most important to him and he would rather fight through the struggles than continue his life overseas without them. Even during other parts of the memoir, he is found thinking about his decision and asking himself how things would be different if he had decided to leave during that moment, but he always finds himself thinking about his family again. Connecting this situation to the past few days in class where we have been discussing the process of people becoming refugees and the daily life of the people crossing borders, we often fail to think about the family aspect of things. It is easy to think of why someone would make the decision to flee their home country and head to America but we must also think about the things some people might be leaving behind and the fact that it isn’t an easy decision to just abandon everything and depart on the journey from country to country. As I was reading this memoir, the inner thoughts of Tru were the points that stood out to me the most and I found it interesting how family oriented he was, despite how distant his job is.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first half of Ship of Fate by Trân Dình Tru, it is really apparent how the United States dominates over other countries. On page 57, Tru says, “Americans always placed the interests of their country above all else, and so small and weak countries were only pawns in a larger game.” He is claiming that the United States doesn’t care about what happens to the south Vietnamese. The United States is fighting communism for their own interests. The U.S. is helpful, however. Tru mentions on page 39 how powerful the U.S. is. He, along with other junior officers, went to Subic Bay to receive training from the U.S. Navy. He gives an example of how they were trained to transfer supplies from one ship to another. In this situation, the U.S. is very beneficial to the South Vietnamese. The United States is doing a good thing by training these soldiers, and helping to fight against the North. However, as Tru described, the U.S. puts their interests first. This even occurs amongst individual soldiers. On page 43, Tru says, “Other American advisors wanted to be in charge without considering the chain of command, even when they had lower rank and less experience than the Vietnamese unit chief.” At a large scale, the U.S. forces its way into Vietnam, and as Tru puts it at the end of 57, “Not only did it not win the war in that country, it had also abandoned it.” The United States is selfish, and does not do any good to the people in Vietnam. With the anti-war movement back home, you would think that if they are going to fight a war, they would win. This is how the U.S. uses South Vietnam as a pawn in their war against communism.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the Ship of Fate I found it interesting that the author, Tru, discussed his feelings toward America early on in the book and how that changes as he is displaced from Vietnam to a Guam camp.
ReplyDeleteEarly on in the book Tru has clear ideas about American exceptionalism he views America as this powerful and impressive country. This idea is only enforced by those around him who also believe positive things about America. An example would be from pg. 40 “America. My supriours constantly praised America, and its people had created a modern civilization with a high level of technology and science. People in America could enjoy everything.” This might be connected to thoughts on the “American Empire” in which one of the central beliefs is that because of America's greatness or American exceptionalism we must assist other countries. Although this is often for America’s benefit.
After Tru’s evacuation from Vietnam the reader witnesses his perspective shifting towards something far more negative. He starts to believe that the war had been controlled by America as well as the Soviet Union. He states that while the war would last as long as these groups wanted it to last. He also point out that America was only interested in Vietnam as long as it was relevant and necessary for them to be there. Creating the argument that the pursuit of the American Empire comes at the cost of creating refugees.
This makes me wonder if the involvement of America in foreign affairs could be part of the cause of displacement. If America had not attempted to control the situation in Vietnam would the creation of this number of refugees have ever happened?
In my reading of the first half of Ship of Fate, I thought it was interesting how family and community was such a big part of who Tru is. Tru starts with a description of his home as a child and how his community was small and close-knit, with each person having a duty and how they spent their time either working or strengthening religious practices. Tru grew up in a fairly peaceful and untouched area of Vietnam and yet when he had the decision laid before him, he joined the South Vietnamese Army to stand for his country and protect his community. His family and upbringing play a huge part in who he is. His insight into his self-conflict on whether or not he should leave the refugee camp for America or return home for his family is also interesting. Tru spent a good bit of time in America and understands the culture and led a successful military, so he would most likely succeed easily in America. Even his friends and other family try to persuade him not to return to Vietnam, yet his familial dedication prevails. This certainly shows some insight into what it is like to be a refugee as there are those who lose everything because of war or persecution, and yet when it comes down to it, it's not the physical objects like a home and other possessions , but family. I can only imagine what it would be like to lose everything and family just to be told that you are not able to go and find them. And yet Tru will stop at nothing to go back and find them even though he has the potential of a new and better life laid before him.
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ReplyDeleteIn Ship of Fate, there is an overarching force that forces him to return home rather than go to the United States for a fresh start: Love. On page 42, Tru expresses his life for his wife and how he would do anything for her, “I could never live far away from her, and my love became fiercer every day”. It is his love for her and his family that forces him to return to Vietnam. You see his longing for his family while he’s at the refugee camp while also get an understanding of the questioning and rationale behind not going to the US: “Having lost all my property, my home, and my family, if I settled down in the United States, what meaning would my up rooted life have?” (58). I believe that is the key question that Tru struggles with throughout his time away from home and facing the options of what to do next, ultimately coming to the conclusion that in order for his life to have meaning and worth, to him, he must has his family, and more importantly, his wife with him. On a different subject, it was interesting in one particular passage how the military unites people, especially people that are supposed to be fighting with one another, “A number of naval officers expressed their affection for me, and they took very good care of me…the men treated me as their superior. I felt joy in this enduring sense of camaraderie, living in the camp, getting meals for one another, and sitting down together to eat…I recognized our common humanity.” (91). It was interesting to see what a positive view Tru had on the military in general, and America’s specifically.
The U.S. Government was forced into a difficult situation with the Vietnamese protesting their asylum in the U.S. The question that I was challenged with throughout the book was, would these South Vietnamese be considered refugees or prisoners, and is there a difference? As I read through Tran’s accounts of the reeducation system it really challenged my idea of the U.S. policy on refugees, if we wouldn’t have listened to these 1,500 protesters and eventually brought them to the U.S. what would’ve been their outcome. The communists didn’t treat these people like their fellow Vietnamese, but instead like scum. This is something that is seen throughout history, and currently with the refugee crisis in the middle east. Tran says “The VC not only transformed us into false people, but they transformed us into beasts."(184) This shows the complete disregard for human life and also the mentality toward the southern Vietnamese. As a member of ROTC we have learned that human life comes before war, this is a philosophy that the US military has adopted throughout the years as a cause of crisis’s like these. We are taught to treat enemies just like friendlies after a combat situation in hopes of bettering our reputation. We as soldiers are the first impression that these people get on american's and we want to treat them not as prisoners or refugees but as humans, something the communists didn't do. But yet we still as a country have yet to fully embrace the care of these groups of under privileged groups. The memoir has showed me that the decisions that we make such as letting the Vietnamese go have long and terrible consequences involved with them. As a future Army officer these stories carry much weight for me and I hope to create a growing positive impact when I am commissioned.
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