Teresa's blog on Monkey Bridge

Throughout the novel the reader is able to understand that there is a disconnect between Mai and Thanh. However Thanh is able to maintain somewhat intimate and close relationships with other people. Thanh shares a special relationship with GI’s. This at first seems odd because she can be perceived to have a distain for Americans and the ‘American way.’ However, there is a shared experience between the two. Uncle Michael is able to appreciate Vietnam the same way the Thanh does. And regarding Bill, he is able to connect with Thanh’s status as an outsider. Thanh is considered one because she is a Vietnamese immigrant. Bill is outcasted because he fought and Vietnam and both have stigmas associated with those roles. Than’s lack of connection with Mai could stem from the fact that Mai has not been able to connect with Vietnam outside of a war. Mai’s memories, at least the ones mentioned in the book, only seem to come from the people of Vietnam like her grandfather, and father not Vietnam itself.
-Teresa

Monica's Reflection on Monkey Bridge

"In 1963, in an act that stunned the world, an elderly Buddhist monk stepped clamly from a car into the street, crossed his legs in a serene lotus position, meditated hinself into a contemplative state, and watched in silence as a group of monks and nun encircled him, dousing him with gasoline and lighting him with fire" (253).

This passage had very powerful imagery for me which allowed me to form a connection betweeen the monk's sacrifice, and Thanh's sacrifice of her own life for Mai. I believe that Thanh uses the analogy of this story to convey the reasoning of her suicied not as an act of selfishness, but as an act of the ultimate sacrifice that she can give to her daughter. Thanh believes that if she ends her life, she will end the bad Karma of her family and their history as well, leaving Mai with a clean slate for a better future. Therefore, like the monk, Thanh is willing to make a sacrifice for a greater cause.

Chris' thoughts on Monkey Bridge

The message I got from the novel was not very enlightening. I felt that Thanh was conveying a neglect of her true heritage. She does perform a traditional suicide which preserves and follows her culture, but I still saw some holes in her actions. She could only accept her Vietnamese heritage through lies and highly fabricated stories that only made her feel even more guilty. She claims this was to conceal the tragic and horriffic truth from her daughter. All she is diong is giving her daughter a false sense of hope that will never be gained. She will be in search of a person that she will never find and a truth she, perhaps, would never realize. Mai gained nothing from these lies and ints very selfish of her mother to do this to her. Unfortunately, Mai, who loves her mother dearly, must realize that her mother was a weak person and let her fears overcome her.

I was just thinking of the different thing that separe Mai from her mother. The main thing that came to mind was their different ideologies. Mai does not want to remember the past and the past is all Thanh is and holds unto. Mai wants to sever all ties from the past but cannot. She has nightmares and flashbacks from when she used to volunteer at the hospital. The gruesome images haunt her. They do not try to understand each other. Mai sees her mother as ignorant. Her mother is actually quite knowledgeable. Thanh sees that there is not much difference between Karma and genetics. She says that she and her daughter will always be close there is a close connection between them. Thanh knows that what separate them are their different outlooks on life.
Mai unlike her mother adapts well to the United States. Mai is modern meaning that she does hold unto traditional values. Her father was also considered as a modern thinker. Thanh was married to a modern man who was always chasing big ideas. He never stayed long enough with her and was not satisfied with the way life is. That is why Thanh is afraid that Mai will be just like her father. Her fear is that Mai will always look on the horizon for bigger and better things. She could come to abandon her too and never quite be satisfied with her life as well. This could be the bridge separating yet connecting them at the same time.


~Alice~

"In our way of thinking, it is not enough to obey, you must also, as a child, look deep into your parents' souls, and distill the true meaning behind all the outward conversations. A child born from her mother's womb should be able to unlock double meanings."

I think that this passage speaks to Mai and her mother's unmeshed relationship. Mai's mother, coming from a very deep and rich Vietnamese history, who believes in profound connections, surpasses the logic and science of Mai's more familiar American culture. Mai's mother is still hopeful, or at least longs for, her daughter's understanding of their deep rooted connection to things that are not explicit or obvious. The connection that her mother possess to karma, tradition and a profound respect for the dead, is lost at times with Mai, who does not really comprehend this because she was brought up in this American culture. In writing this in her journal perhaps her mother was trying to reach out to her in hopes that she will read through the journal and discover her true feelings. In the very way that her mother is expressing things to Mai through this journal, she could be showing how her daughter and she have a deeper connection after all-because perhaps she knew she would read it and get the message. The message being that culture and history lies deeper than genes and heredity, it is a state of beig that is as subtle as a breath and as powerful as a monsoon. I think this idea needs to be understood by Mai in order to be totally connected to her mother and her past.

--Yadira

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.

The clock and the astrology signs are reference to Mai going to the fortune teller because she is trying to figure out what happen to Baba Quan. There are many references to astrology within the book and it applies to good luck and a happy life. Time is important concept in the book because it refers to Thanh and Baba Quan not meeting at the right place at the right time. Thanh had to leave without Baba Quan and it became a haunting memory for her. The letters all over the page represent Thanh’s journal; they spell out Baba Quan and love. Two main concepts that are in Thanh’s journal, by Mai reading it she gets an idea of who her mother is. In a way Thanh becomes more human to Mai because she realizes her mother is full of wisdom. Mai and Thanh don’t have a close relationship but the journal is a way that they can cope with it and it bridges them together. The last symbol is the yin and yang sign combined with a karma symbol. Thanh believes in karma and is constantly referring to it. She tries to convince Mai in the belief of karma but Mai doesn’t understand it. Mai believes in the American concept of genetics. Thanh can see that her daughter is slipping further and further away from her Vietnamese roots and embracing the American culture. The yin and yang symbolizes not only Mai’s parents but Mai and Thanh. They are two completely different people but love is what binds them together

-Elaine

What a Daughter Inherits

I really enjoyed reading Thanh's journals because it was so interesting to read a mother's take on her daughter. It definitely made me wonder what my own mother would write about me -- does she understand more than I give her credit for? I don't know if I'd want to read her journal if I stumbled across it. Are there some things about our parents we just shouldn't know? I put myself in Mai's place and wondered how it would feel to learn that my mother loved my father with a quiet resentment, or that there were things she desperately wanted to tell me but couldn't.

The more I think about Thanh's journal, the more I believe that she is writing it for Mai to find. In the first entry, Thanh writes about her ears and how she hopes to pass them on to her daughter. It's interesting to learn about what Thanh hopes Mai will inherit, knowing that Mai believes she's inherited her mother's "flawed eye," or the ability to perceive danger where there is none (20). Thanh doesn't know how to speak to Mai in a way she'd understand, so she writes down what she wants Mai to know for later. She feels that she can't directly tell Mai the story of her ears because Mai wouldn't listen since she's too busy trying to distance herself from Vietnam (language, family, culture) so she'll fit in better in America.

It struck me how much Thanh felt she and Mai were similar. Thanh's journal revealed how much she "gets" Mai even though Mai thinks they are nothing alike. Thanh compares her experience of moving to her husband's family's home, and accepting their ways as her own, with Mai moving to America and learning a new language and adopting a new culture. She writes that she understands what it feels like to discover that a "common dream" had never actually been commonly shared. She was referring to her marriage but also relating to Mai's early experience in America and her growing disappointment. I was also reminded about the difference between Mai and Thanh's perception of what was inherited (eyes vs. ears).

I thought it was interesting to see how Thanh was surprised to discover she was a Traditional wife/woman after marriage. My first impression of her marriage to Binh was that they were in love -- happy intellectuals. Thanh's second journal really fleshed out their marriage. She seemed disappointed with the way her marriage turned out -- the desire to have a perfect marriage was not shared by her husband. Binh didn't bend or change and Thanh followed him with a "muteness and mildness" (187). Thanh felt like an exile in her new life as a wife. This made me wonder what Mai was feeling when she learned about her mother's exile.

The section on karma also stuck with me. Thanh views karma as something passed from parents to children. I wondered what kind of karma Mai will inherit from her mother and Baba Quan. This line really stood out to me: "A child born from her mother's womb should be able to unlock double meaning" (171). With this line, I think Thanh is speaking directly to Mai. It seems to me, there are things Thanh wants to share with Mai but she can't -- either because Mai isn't open to listening or because Thanh doesn't know how to say them. I read the line as an accusation, or a scolding -- especially since she also wrote that it isn't enough for a child to obey, but they should also know their parents true wishes. Maybe there is something Mai should be able to discern without having to be told. I can't help wondering if Mai will come to the "true meaning behind all the outward conversations" all on her own? If Thanh reveals it to her, will she say it face-to-face or write it in her journal for Mai to find?

-Julia

This is a new title and cover for Lan Cao's novel. I renamed it as such for dramatic effect, assuming it might be one hit for those looking for this specific genre. Also, the seahorses are meant to represent Mai and Thanh; the one going right over the United States is Mai because she is absorbing its culture while the other, meant to represent Thanh, is simply being absorbed by the country itself through her reconnections with the people of "Little Saigon." The jungle below depicts rice patties and its farmers, Baba Quan & Thanh. Thus, the cover is representing america's gathering of exiles and how they associate with the country. Also, the red around the novel is meant to symbolize the many shades of red that are associated with Vietnamese culture as depicted by Thanh.

An Inverse Relationship Between Mother and Daughter

So, I was struck by the quote on page 170 that says: "There is no escaping it, the fact of mother and child, as synchronous and inseparable as left and right, up and down, back and front, sun and moon."

It is really interesting to me because so far the relationship between Mai and her mother does not at all sound like this description. In fact, since the beginning of Mai's tale, there has been a disconnect between Mai and her mother. The disconnect associates Mai with the western world (aka America) and Thanh with the eastern world (aka Vietnam). There seems to be no bridge between the two and it only perpetuates this disconnect in their communication and understanding of each other. However, it does seem strange that Thanh talks about her journey being the same one as Mai's because upon a second glance Thanh's story is the story of Mai... only backwards! When Mai came to America, her assimilation was smooth and quick. However, four years later we find that the transition is flawed and incomplete. She begins to question her homeland and tries to find peace with her familial history. Thanh's transition was initially very difficult. She had a stroke, which made it even more impossible to assimilate creating a shadow of who she had been in Vietnam. However, after her rehabilitation from the stroke, she is beginning to piece together a new life and make a slow transition into America. This represents an inverse relationship between Mai and her mother, possibly the root of the disconnect we see between them!

~Lindsay

Monkey Bridge Discussion

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