Pride And Shame Analysis

The Complexity of Forgetting In Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le, readers are acknowledged the reason behind the conflict between the two protagonists, the father and the son, in the story that it is rooted from overly strict nurturing. Not to let readers dislike the character of the father too far, the story of Thanh, the father, about his experience in Vietnam War is inserted to offer the reason of his suffering from the memory of the war which, perhaps, leads him to bring up Nam, the narrator and his son, strictly as if his life is in the war camp. The story probably arouses some readers' pity, understanding, or interest in his attempt to forget the battle in both his action and speech. Yet, in the

I'll remember… Sometimes it's better to forget, no?" (p.25). In one dialogue, his speech is different and confusing. It is definite that Thanh does not want other people to know his story; yet, the case is, it seems he, himself, does not certain that he wants to remember or to forget. It does not clear here whether he wants his son to remember as if two of them have a common secret, as stated in the beginning of the dialogue; or he wants his son and himself to forget as he asks at the end of the dialogue. Besides, the conversation implies that he feels it is better to forget, but it has the sense that he says this because he does not achieve so. Further, by saying 'sometimes', maybe he just says it like an intro word which means nothing; or, interestingly, it suggests that there are other times that it is not necessary to forget. These other times maybe include the time he names his son after Vietnam – Nam – also. Considering the paragraph on page 20 which Nam states that "[T]o my father there was no other name – only mine, and he had named me after the homeland he had given up." The first sentence has two interpretations. The first is that he is the only one who his father cares. The second is that the title my name – Nam – is very significant to his father that no other names can win over his mind when he entitles Nam with this name. Naming his own son after the homeland where the events took place is strange if he really wants to forget the nightmare. It might be very irritating recalling gory events in Vietnam every time he calls his son, but he still denominates his own son with that 'Nam'. In a sense, it suggests that Thanh lives with his son as he has to live up with this name through his life. That is to say, he realizes that he cannot pass over those brutal experiences in Vietnam, so he decides to live with it frankly; he will not try to cut it off anymore.