Kien+in+the+present+-+P44f

=Pp 44 - 51=

1. What is the purpose of Kien describing his dream about being 'back standing in The Jungle of Screaming Souls'? 2. Page 44 - 'From now on, life may be always dark, full of suffering, with brief moments of happiness. Living somewhere between a dream world and reality, on the knife-edge between the two.' The division between past and present is somewhat blurred in the novel and in this section. How and why? 3. 'Oh my lost years and months and days! My lost era! My lost generation!' (p 45.) In what ways is Kien 'lost'? 4. Page 45 offers a description of Kien's reaction to a ream about Hoa. How does his terror here compare to his descriptions of his experiences during the war? What point is being made? What other descriptions of Kien's behaviour in his 'current' life suggest that the war still has a profound impact upon him? 5. What is Kien's attitude towards the 'greater good' for which he was supposedly fighting? How did the war benefit North Vietnam? (See page 47.) 6. Why does the narrative shift back into third person on page 48? Alternatively, why did it shift into first person on page 44? 7. Page 49 - Why is Kien the writer 'terrrified' by his realisation that his 'hero' has 'disintegrated' and 'inconsistent'? 8. Why does Bao Ninh emphasise Kien's possible unreliability on page 50? 9. Why is Kien writing this novel, given that 'in writing this work he has driven himself to the brink of insanity?' What advice are we getting about how to read it? 10. On page 50, we read that Kien 'believes he exists on this earth to perform some unnamed heavenly duty.' IS this significant? Do we ever find out what this 'duty', if it exists, might be?

=World Lit suggestion:= =Both //**Sailor**// and **//Sorrow//** offer representations of a 'lost' generation of youth. Do you agree?=

=Both //Sailor// and //Sorrow// use narrative technique to deepen characterisation. How do they do this?=

=In comparison to Kien from //Sorrow//, Grenouille from //Perfume// is a one-dimensional, unbelievable caricature. Yet both novels use these characters to make similar points about the mutability of truth and morality. Which, in your opinion, is more successful?=

=Both Sailor and Sorrow offer very unreliable narratives. How does this contribute to the themes of the novels?=

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