In the beginning of Bao Ninh’s Sorrow of War, he used many literary devices such as diction, imagery, and symbolism and others to prove a sorrowful tone throughout the novel. Bao Ninh starts off the story with “On the banks of the Ya Crong Poco river, on the northern flank of the B3 battlefield in the Central Highlands, the Missing In Action Remains -Gathering Team awaits the dry season of 1975” (Ninh 3). Although most people would not know where the Ya Crong Poco river is, you can really imagine the setting through the author’s use of imagery throughout the novel. The words “northern flank”, “battlefield”, and “dry season” add to the image because they are describing the setting of the novel. This image is important because it is now the end
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The authors author mentions that “the mountains and jungles are water-soaked and dull”, “wet trees”, “quiet jungles”, “water streams”, and “a sea of greenish vapor”. At the bottom of the first page on the novel, the author mentions that there are sunny days, but they are followed by rainy nights. The author Bao Ninh also uses syntax to communicate to the reader that sentence fragments directly relate to the fragmented country . Bao Ninh’s next use of imagery occurs on the second page when he is describing how the old tarpaulin is torn, full of holes, and letting the water “drip, drip, drip” onto the plastic sheets covering the remains of dead soldiers who are laid out in rows right beneath Kien while he is sleeping.Then the author uses a repetition of adverbs to describe the humid atmosphere that is present while Kien is sleeping in a hammock. Bao Ninh’s tone does not shift while he is describing the ravages of war when the helicopter above the soldiers were so close and “shot them almost one by one, the blood spreading out, spraying from their backs, like red mud” (Ninh …show more content…
This quotation shows the reader the ravages of the Vietnam War, and how nothing is alive after the war had happened. Another literary device that I recognized Bao Ninh using were similes. “ Kine screamed soundlessly in his throat at the sight, as the Americans attacked with submachine guns, sending bullets buzzing like deadly bees around him” ( Ninh 5). The author, Bao Ninh uses a simile to compare the bullets to bees, and he used this literary device to continue establishing the sorrowful tone throughout the novel. Another example that Bao Ninh used was on the sixth page, “ Kien was told that passing this area at night one could hear birds crying like human beings” ( Ninh 6). The sorrowful tone is continued through this quote when the author says that they can hear the birds crying like human beings, so you cannot escape the effects of the war because even the animals sound the same as the soldiers. On page 15, Bao Ninh takes a break from the sorrowful tone by introducing and talking about the rosa canina. “ With canina one smoked to forget the daily hell of the soldier’s life, smoked to forget hunger and
The authors author mentions that “the mountains and jungles are water-soaked and dull”, “wet trees”, “quiet jungles”, “water streams”, and “a sea of greenish vapor”. At the bottom of the first page on the novel, the author mentions that there are sunny days, but they are followed by rainy nights. The author Bao Ninh also uses syntax to communicate to the reader that sentence fragments directly relate to the fragmented country . Bao Ninh’s next use of imagery occurs on the second page when he is describing how the old tarpaulin is torn, full of holes, and letting the water “drip, drip, drip” onto the plastic sheets covering the remains of dead soldiers who are laid out in rows right beneath Kien while he is sleeping.Then the author uses a repetition of adverbs to describe the humid atmosphere that is present while Kien is sleeping in a hammock. Bao Ninh’s tone does not shift while he is describing the ravages of war when the helicopter above the soldiers were so close and “shot them almost one by one, the blood spreading out, spraying from their backs, like red mud” (Ninh …show more content…
This quotation shows the reader the ravages of the Vietnam War, and how nothing is alive after the war had happened. Another literary device that I recognized Bao Ninh using were similes. “ Kine screamed soundlessly in his throat at the sight, as the Americans attacked with submachine guns, sending bullets buzzing like deadly bees around him” ( Ninh 5). The author, Bao Ninh uses a simile to compare the bullets to bees, and he used this literary device to continue establishing the sorrowful tone throughout the novel. Another example that Bao Ninh used was on the sixth page, “ Kien was told that passing this area at night one could hear birds crying like human beings” ( Ninh 6). The sorrowful tone is continued through this quote when the author says that they can hear the birds crying like human beings, so you cannot escape the effects of the war because even the animals sound the same as the soldiers. On page 15, Bao Ninh takes a break from the sorrowful tone by introducing and talking about the rosa canina. “ With canina one smoked to forget the daily hell of the soldier’s life, smoked to forget hunger and