The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Kien’s Writing”

In this activity, students will select and analyze a series of passages from the text that best express Kien’s relationship with writing as an art form and as a reaction to conflict.

The Sorrow of War is a novel about conflict, trauma, and memory, but it is also a novel about the act and the art of writing. In some ways, writing is an obstacle Kien must overcome; for example, though he intends to communicate a linear pattern of memories early in the novel, his attempts betray him: “But the act of writing blurs his neat designs, finally washing them away altogether, or blurs them so the lines become intermixed and sequences lose their order.” (Pages 22-76)

Reflect on the ways in which Kien struggles as a writer throughout the novel. What writing goals does he have, and in what ways are they thwarted? What does the act of writing symbolize to Kien? How do others feel about his art? Select and analyze passages from the text that best express Kien’s relationship with writing as an art form and as a reaction to conflict.

• Select 3-5 narrative passages that best express Kien’s relationship with writing as an art form, as a potential path forward, or as a reaction to war. Choose your selections from a variety of places in the text.
• In your notes or a reading journal, create a chart with rows for each passage and columns with space for analysis.
• After noting or citing the passage in your chart, analyze each passage:

o Column 1: Kien’s relationship to writing. Determine what the passage demonstrates about Kien’s relationship with writing. How do his feelings about writing in this passage parallel inner conflict or connect to the novel’s themes or surrounding events? Does the passage show development in his relationship with writing?

o Column 2: Reader impact. Note ways in which the passage impacts the reading experience: Does word choice or tone change or affect the mood? What message about writing (or artistic forms in general) is communicated to readers?

When your chart is complete, consider the passages you chose collectively. What does writing symbolize to Kien? What does the act of writing symbolize more generally, as suggested by these passages? Respond in a brief journal entry.

After analyzing the passages you selected, share one with a small group or the class and summarize, based on your notes, how the passage represents Kien’s relationship with the act of writing.

Teaching Suggestion: For an activity that focuses on oral communication skills, students might offer 1-2 passages aloud along with brief analytical comments. Additional comments or other viewpoints might be contributed by other readers, in the format of Socratic discussion. In this alternative activity, it might be helpful to list the suggested “columns” on the board for quick reference.

Differentiation Suggestion: For an approach or extension that focuses on additional analysis and creative thinking, students might paraphrase the strongest idea about the act of writing in Kien’s passage, then communicate that idea in a short free verse or micro poem. 

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. The narrator notes, “For Kien, the most attractive, persistent echo of the past is the whisper of ordinary life, not the thunder of war, even though the sounds of ordinary life were washed away totally during the long storms of war. The prewar peace and the postwar peace were in such contrast.”

• As evidenced throughout the novel, what is the strongest contrast between the “prewar peace” and “postwar peace”? (topic sentence)
• Explore Kien’s feelings about peace and the messages conveyed throughout the narrative regarding peace in support of your topic sentence. Analyze and discuss at least 3 examples from a variety of locations in the text.
• In your concluding sentences, summarize how this contrast links to the importance of Memory in the novel.

2. Throughout the novel, Kien references various artistic forms.

• How do these artistic forms help Kien to process the trauma of war? (topic sentence)
• Identify 3 examples from the novel to analyze and discuss in support of your topic sentence. What specific role do these artistic forms fulfill? What is the result?
• In your concluding sentences, evaluate the effectiveness of the theme of Art in this text.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the role of gender in the novel. Overall, how are women portrayed? How is gender a defining factor of social mobility as well as safety throughout the text? How are these gender roles solidified by both men and women in the novel?

2. Ninh oscillates between pre-and-post war memories throughout the majority of the novel. Select a pre-war memory and a post-war memory that correlate and in which Memory or Art play a role. In what ways do the two memories compare? What message is conveyed by the juxtaposition of these memories? How does Memory or Art function in the before and the after

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. In Pages 1-76, Kien notes that, “Snakes and centipedes crawled over him, and he felt death’s hand on him.” Which of the following literary terms is used in this quote?

A) Dramatic irony

B) Simile

C) Personification

D) Synecdoche

2. On Page 10, Kien recalls that the days are filled with “[p]olitics continuously. Politics in the morning, politics in the afternoon, politics again in the evening.” Which of the following literary terms is used in these observations?

A) Allegory

B) Alliteration

C) Allusion

D) Anaphora

3. Which of the following words best expresses Kien’s mental state while fighting the Saigon commandos?

A) Fearful

B) Nonchalant

C) Angry

D) Pleasant

4. In which of the following elements does the truck driver reveal that he believes while speaking to Kien?

A) Supernatural

B) Practical

C) Comical

D) Essential

5. Which of the following phrases best describes why Kien writes his memories?

A) To make amends with his surviving friends

B) To explain what he saw to his family

C) To recall the glory days of battle

D) To free himself from the past

6. According to Kien, what type of person loves war?

A) The poor farmer

B) The average Vietnamese

C) The wealthy politician

D) The experienced sailor

7. Which historical event aligns with the beginning of the novel?

A) The beginning of the Vietnam War

B) The surrender of northern Vietnamese troops to the ARVN

C) The unification of Vietnam

D) The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia

8. What is the main difference between Kien and Hinh?

A) Their gender

B) Their sexuality

C) Their education

D) Their postwar experience

9. Which of the following motifs is present throughout the novel?

A) The specter of death

B) The fear of capitalism

C) The desire for nature

D) The love of nationalism

10. Which of the following words best describes the phrase “The sorrow of war” as Kien describes it?

A) Barbaric

B) Lethargic

C) Mystic

D) Nostalgic

11. When the characters use the phrase “Saigonese,” to which of the following groups of people are they referring?

A) Cambodians fighting in the war

B) North Vietnamese

C) South Vietnamese

D) Laotians fighting in the war

12. Which of the following figures appear frequently in the novel?

A) Monsters

B) Ghosts

C) Wizards

D) Warlocks

13. What condition do both Kien and his father struggle with over the course of their lives?

A) Leprosy

B) Narcotics addiction

C) HIV

D) Alcohol addiction

14. Which of the following words best describes Kien’s relationship with Phuong?

A) Prosperous

B) Monogamous

C) Tumultuous

D) Casual

15. Which of the following words best describes the narrative mode of the novel?

A) Stream-of-consciousness

B) Linear

C) Flashbacks

D) Historical

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does time function within the story? What message does time’s function convey about the structure of the novel?

2. Summarize how the novel’s narrative viewpoints connect to events in the novel and to the framing of the novel. How does the narration style relate to the title of the novel?