The Gift in Wartime by Tran Mong Tu
About the Poet
Tran Mong Tu was born in 1943 in North Vietnam. Moved to the U.S. in 1975 after South Vietnam fell. She worked for Associated Press in South Vietnam in the 1960s.From 2002 to 2005, she served as Editor-in-Chief for the Women and Family edition of the Vietnamese-language newspaper; Nguoi Viet.
The Vietnam War
Ø Conflict between the Communist Regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies were known as the Viet Cong.
Ø Began in 1954 and ended in 1975.
Ø 1969 the U.S. sends in Troops.
Ø President Nixon orders troops out in 1973.
Ø Two years later, the war ends with the communist force taking control of Saigon.
Ø 3 million people were killed including more than 500,00 American soldiers. Let’s see in the next slide:
Ø In the 1950s, Vietnam was divided into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam. The Vietnam War began in 1955 when North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam in an attempt to reunite Vietnam under communism. Ho Chi Minh was the President of North Vietnam, and Ngo Dinh Diem was the President of South Vietnam. The U.S. used the domino theory to justify its involvement in the Vietnam War and sent armed forces to Vietnam to help South Vietnam fight back against North Vietnam and contain communism in Southeast Asia.
Ø Agent Orange is a defoliant During the 1960s, protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew because many Americans believed that the war was unjust. The U.S. failed to defeat North Vietnam and left the Vietnam War in 1973; Vietnam eventually reunited as a communist nation by 1975.
Vietnam War Casualties:
During the Vietnam War, over 58,000 Americans and over 3 million Vietnamese were killed. U.S. Troops Dead were 58,282, and U.S. Troops Wounded 303,644. In North Vietnamese, the number of troops dead in number was 1,100,00, and North and South Vietnamese Civilians Dead was 2,000,000, and South Vietnamese Troops Dead: 250,00. (leaves removed from the plant) the chemical used by the US in the Vietnam War. Napalm is a highly flammable sticky jelly used in inflammable bombs & flame-thrower consisting of petrol thickened with a special soap.
The Gift in Wartime
I offer you roses
Buried in your new grave
I offer you my wedding gown
To cover your tomb still green with grass.
You give me medals
Together with silver stars
And the yellow pips on your badge
Unused and still shining.
I offer you my youth
The days we were still in love
My youth died away
When they told me the bad news.
You give me the smell of blood
From your wardress
Your blood and your enemy's
So that I may be moved.
I offer you clouds
That lingers in my eyes on summer days
I offer you cold winters
Amid my springtime of life.
You give me your lips with no smile
You give me your arms without tenderness
You give me your eyes with no sight
And your motionless body.
Seriously, I apologize to you
I promise to meet you in our next life
I will hold this shrapnel as a token
By which we will recognize each other.
Theme
Enjoy things when you can because one day they might be gone.
Figurative Language
Imagery
It is a description using any of the five senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell. She employs the imagery of roses on the lover's grave. Since roses are usually red they represent both the love of the speaker's beating heart and the blood that the beloved shed for his country. The next imagery is the picture of the beloved as a corpse: "Lips with no smile," "eyes with no sight," and "your motionless body."
Metaphors
This poem uses a metaphor which is the strongest comparison “without using like and as…as.” The speaker employs metaphor: she likens her sadness to the "clouds" in her eyes on a summer day.
Irony
The poet uses verbal irony in this poem that means the opposite of their intended meaning. When she talks about the "gift" in wartime, she is speaking not of a real gift but of grief and loss. A grave and shrapnel as tokens of remembrance are not the kinds of gifts people truly want. In reality, the speaker says, her beloved's "gift" of death has robbed her of her youth: “My youth died away when they told me the bad news.”
Anaphora
Anaphora is the repetition of the same words at the beginning of a line. She repeats the ironic "you give me" in stanzas three and five. This anaphora comes to increase in stanza six, when the speaker repeats "you give me" three times in a row, beating us with the irony of the empty "gifts" of death.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a literary tool that is a direct address to a person who is not present or to an inanimate object. In this poem, the speaker addresses a corpse.
Summary
Vietnamese poet Tran Mong Tu composes the poem "The Gift in Wartime." The poet addresses an absent person in this poetry. When, for instance, she says, "I offer you roses," the person to whom she is speaking is not present and is therefore unable to hear or comprehend her. Using the visual imagery of roses, clouds, and a corpse, the poet bemoans the futility of war.
q In the 1st stanza from the husband’s cemetery, the speaker offers roses and a wedding gown.
q In the 2nd stanza, the speaker is provided medals, silver stars, and a badge due to her husband's bravery though all those are not so important to her.
q In the 3rd stanza, the speaker offers her youth to her husband.
q The 4th stanza, the speaker’s husband provides her the smell of blood that is not significant to her.
q In the 5th stanza, she compares her youthful life are bad winter and summer eyes.
q In the 6th stanza, she says she has her husband's lips that do not smile and arm cannot show delicate affection, and even her eyes cannot show the views.
q In the final or 7th stanza, she apologizes to him and promises to be with him in their reincarnation.