38 pages • 1 hour read
Thu Huong DuongNovel Without a Name
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Pages 167-194Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 167-194 Summary
After disembarking the train, Quan searches for Special Unit M.035, which is now under the command of his former unit-mate, Huc. When Quan reaches the unit, he meets a sick, prematurely-old man who guides him to where the rest of the unit is. Quan finds Huc and asks after Bien, who has joined the Special Unit. Bien is doing well with the unit, and Quan finds a good meal and kinship among the soldiers.
Later, Quan finds out that the Special Unit’s mission is building coffins, which he learns when it’s time to go to bed and all of the members of the unit sleep in coffins for protection from weather and tigers. Quan observes of this situation, “It seemed as if I had always slept in this kind of bed” (182). Quan also finds that while Bien is doing better, he is still quite fragile emotionally, and tortured by his own thoughts.
A tiger kills one of the unit the next morning. Quan observes that death is simply part of the journey of being at war, and, “[l]ike the other soldiers, [he] was prepared to accept this strange gift” (192). Quan again dreams of his mother and younger brother before he leaves the unit to continue on his journey.
Pages 167-194 Analysis
While past and present have already collided in the novel, in this section they begin to merge, with sections of internal thoughts (denoted in italics) cropping up more frequently and being more integrated into the rest of the text. As time moves forward, Quan’s thoughts become more fragmented and chaotic, disintegrating slowly in a way that reflects how the country as a whole is collapsing under the weight of the war.
Quan is now on the back half of his journey, retracing his path in reverse. Bien was the last person he visited before going home to the village, and is the first person Quan seeks out after leaving the village. Bien has traded a cell for a job making coffins. While his mental health has improved, there is a bleakness to his new situation as well. Bien tells Quan: “I’m a burden for everyone. And I’m not even happier for it” (187). Bien was always the biggest and strongest of Quan’s friends, but the war ravages even him. Quan wonders: “Would it still be possible, one day, for us to go back, to rediscover our roots, the beauty of creation, the rapture of a peaceful life? (193). While he leaves the question unanswered, Huong strongly suggests that the answer is no.
