Symbolic significance of the settings in The Sorrow of War

Often the setting in a text will carry symbolic significance, supporting as well the writer's key themes. Discuss these concepts in the light of The Sorrow of War.

The detailed settings described in Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War is very significant as it illustrates to the readers, past memories and the terrible consequence of Vietnam war. The settings in this text are noticeably described in depth, allowing the readers to feel the emotions (E.g. pain) that Kien is experiencing. Often, the setting described is very unpleasant as it is related to the tragic scenes of war. When a setting is described, a semantic field usually present and a majority of them create a negative image. For example, 'air is dull', 'the sky lead-grey' (page38) revolves around the idea of no-life present in the Screaming Souls Jungle. Life does not exist in this jungle, only death. 

The Sorrow of War - goolge books

On Google Books, I found this book, which is called The Vietnam War 1956 - 1975, written by Andrew Wiest. The first bit of the page above, talks about the feelings of someone after the war has ended. This can relate back to Bao Ninh's The Sorrow of War because this reflects feelings that Kien might have felt after the war. Although they have survived the war, the influence of war was so great that it felt as if 'so much of [them] died in Vietnam' and there were times where they wished that they died at war instead of having to face the consequences after the war was over. We are able to see that the  experience they had at war haunts them forever.



This is another extract from a book that talks about the life after the Vietnam war.
The war is referred to as a 'heart-of-darkness' experience for the people who were involved and were affected by the war. It says 'guilt at surviving the war' which is what the previous book talks about. Although they have survived, it might have been better off to have died at war because the guilt and the psychological scars are too significant for them to overcome.

The Sorrow of War

Something I found interesting was the non-linear time scheme in The Sorrow of War.
This narrative by Kien, is arranged in no certain order; many analepsis are present in the novel, moving back and forth in Kien's memory. Because of this, the story is unable to be discerned for their chronological order. 
This non-lineal narrative is very chaotic and confusing to understand, but I think that Bao Ninh has purposely did this. The non-linear time scheme demonstrate to the readers the effects of war because it is often as chaotic in construction as the events it describes.
Also, as this non-linear time scheme has no order, it evokes Kien's view of the unpredictable events of war. 
Although it explains that the book could not be written in chronological order as 'any page seemed like the first, any page could have bee the last', I personally think that The Sorrow of War is much more meaningful written in non-linear time scheme as this structure can be a metaphor to the war.