"With canina one smoked to forget the daily hell of the soldier's life, smoked to forget hunger and suffering."
This passage stood out to me because it shows the stress that the war caused them. There was constant physical and mental stress brought upon them. Canina was a type of escape from it all. They would sit around together and dream about whatever made them happy. Many soldiers dreamt about family, while others dreamt about food or women. It was their own oasis away from all of the chaos. A time to let go of all the fear and anxiety, allowing them to travel to a place of personal bliss. There was the constant fear of losing one's life at any moment. That is a tremendously large stress to carry. They needed escapes like these in order to get some sense of peace. They also got a sense of happiness when they were together hanging out and playing cards. They went through and saw so much that even the smallest escape from reality got them through their days. It is heartbreaking to see all that soldier's endure, and their longing for their families and relationships at home. It shows the bravery and courage that soldiers exemplify.
I find it interesting that drug always finds itself into war. I am not condoning the use of drugs or am against it but I thought it was interesting that a substance is usually the most sought after thing by people who are extremely shaken by war. Being a product of war, the soldiers may have never discovered the drug but due to a mere coincidence possibly they were able to let out their sorrow of the war. See what I did there?
ReplyDelete-Paul
I too found the whole canina smoking part of Kien's experience significant because it shows that drugs played a part of relaxing soldiers during the war. There are numerous reports of drugs being used by American soldiers and how some of the soldiers returned home as addicts, but there we hardly hear of drug use by the North Vietnamese.
ReplyDeleteThis section in the novel was extremely depressing (aside from the novel itself, of course). The drug was their only escape from the horrors around them. The other thing I found interesting is that Kien said that the flower grew where death was present. In the midst of death, a beautiful flower was able to bloom and offer a sweet scent. This was not the same for others in the jungle.
ReplyDelete