Alicia's Post on Monkey Bridge

I chose to write on the “monkey bridge in Ba Xuyen” (179). This is the second time I was in a class that had used this novel. In the initial class, they had thought that due to Cao’s description of the bridge, as being a “thin, unsteady shimmer of bamboo” and that one needs to “propel themselves forward and across” (179) that Thanh had possessed great physical agility instead of realizing that the bridge was created as a link for light, short trips. They had believed that it must be put together only with 2 long bamboos literally and that there was not much material utilized to walk upon. Obviously they were wrong as it holds netting, I believe something similar to the bridges used at Disneyland. Of course Thanh’s physical ability to cross a bamboo bridge astounded Binh since he was just of the literary world, as he stood waiting to embrace this gymnastic athlete in his arms, for the first time. He probably became in awe with her once he found that she possessed an intellectual dimension as well. Thanh had no idea of the monkey bridge that she will need to cross after their marriage. Also, of the trick that will be needed to distinguish when to speak or keep her mouth shut in America. In both cases, it is a monkey bridge but she already knew how to do the tight rope walk as Thanh had lived with nuns in the convent.