Chapter 7: A Different View
"I believed my father's death was his way of giving me eternal peace...Vietnam already had too many people who were ready to die for their beliefs. What it needed was men and women-brothers and sisters-who refused to accept either death or death-dealing as a solution to their problems. If you keep compassion in your hear, I discovered, you never long for death yourself. Death and suffering, not people, become your enemy; and anything that lives is your ally. It was as if, by realizing this, an enormous burden had been lifted from my young shoulders. From my father's death, I had finally learned how to live." (215) This realization of Le Ly spoke volumes to me. No son or daughter wants to let down their parents, and Le Ly was no exception. Since she was a young girl, her father would always talk to her about her duties as a women in their village. Trong always told her that her main job was to have children, and be a good mother to them. Teach them about their ancestors, country, and how to make peace. However, Le Ly always had the fantasy that she would take up a sword and fight for her country. She wanted to be in the middle of the war and she believed it was her duty to fight, just like the men do. This whole situation reminds me of the movie "Mulan". Mulan disguises herself to be a man, and takes her father's place in battle.
However, after her father's death, Le Ly has an understanding of her role. She comes to peace with the fact that she must focus on being the best mother she can. All of her anger and frustration towards the people who had hurt her disappears, and she realizes that war is the enemy, not those people. Le Ly matures mentally in this chapter. After this chapter I think that Le Ly will become very strong mentally and physically, and will make her father proud.
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