Crossing Bridges into the Pasts: Reading Lan Cao's Monkey Bridge

Abstract

To Vietnamese Americans, the past has much to do with the Vietnam War, a ”failed war” in the eyes of most Americans. However, whether the stories and experiences were told from the right or the left, they were, almost without exception, from an American perspective. What motivated Lan Cao to write Monkey Bridge was a desire to provide an alternative view of the Vietnam War and its consequences from a Vietnamese, or rather, a Vietnamese American perspective. This paper offers a case study by focusing on Cao's critically acclaimed debut novel which appeared more than two decades after the Vietnam War ended. Part Ⅰ characterizes the author as a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American and highlights her attempt to negotiate personal and collective pasts via novel writing. Part Ⅱ discusses the mother-daughter relationship in the novel and how each tried to make sense of what had led her to the situation she found herself in by way of their different narratives. Part Ⅲ elaborates on the daughter's role as a cultural translator and her strategy not only of survival, but also of success in the New World. Part IV further discusses how the mother and the daughter confront the past in their respective ways-not only to make sense of it, but also to reconcile themselves with it. Part Ⅴ points out that the whole narrative reaches another dimension by bringing in the concept of karma from Buddhism and the possibility of transforming karma by reflecting upon and coping with trauma. And Part Ⅵ emphasizes the monkey bridge as a metaphor to connect past, present, and future. By crossing these bridges, people come to know what has been hidden and repressed. With this new knowledge and understanding, a new present and future will emerge, hopefully, for the better.