realiz wrote:There is no Vietnamese voice
The chapter where Tim shoots the soldier very much showed us the vietnamese as real people, with feelings, dreams, families, and hopes just as the Americans. I have not finished the book yet, but I have so far not got the feeling that this book is racist. Yes, racism existed there when this happened, but we are seeing the folly of it through this book. The Americans should not have been there, did not belong there, it was futile and damaging to all, it made not sense, this message is not racist.
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Yes, this incident does portray the Vietnamese as real people, no question, and Tim's feelings are obviously genuine, but it stops short of giving them any real voice. The perspective of this incident is Tim's and the other soldiers. I think this is deliberate on O'Brien's part.
For comparison, does Lolita have a voice? I think that is deliberate on the author's part too. We are forced to see almost everything through Humbert's eyes and this heightens the perception of Humbert's control and his portrayal of Lolita and the other characters.
I'm not suggesting that Tim is racist or that the book is racist. I'm suggesting that projection of American (and Soviet) colonialism is inferred by the way the book is written, in particular, by the narrators perspective. I think O'Brien is trying to shed light on this colonialism and within that colonialism are racist views. The book itself is not racist, actually on the contrary, O'Brien's message exposes colonialism/racism for what it is and I find it particularly interesting for that reason.