Perspectives on "Truyện Kiều", or "the Tale of Kiều"

Forewords: Please pardon me for the broken font :(((, Wix does not have a font for Vietnamese ooff.

"The Tale of Kiều" has been a very familiar literary work to not just the Vietnamese, but also to people around the world. But have we stopped to wonder what makes people so hyped about "The Tale of Kiều", or is it just overrated? Well, in school, we are taught a great deal about literary devices: metonymy, metaphor, foreshadowing, anastrophe, and here the list goes. But I would argue that "The Tale of Kiều" offers an avenue to the interpretation of the meaning of life. When I was discussing with my friends the motif of adventure tales and fairy tales, it struck me that "The Tale of Kiều" does not follow such a motif, which appears weird because most of the tales go with a happy-forever-after ending for people who lead a noble life. I will not summarise the plot of the story, as it can be found on the Internet, so please go read it if you want to be familiar with the topic. In "The Tale of Kiều", Kiều had to sell herself to pay for the debt of her family. And in her journey, she faced a variety of obstacles. Even though she made an oath to Kim Trọng, a person whom she met and fell in love with, she could not fulfill her oath and had to ask her sister to help her ‘fulfill’ the oath she made. After all the things that happened to Kiều, she returned to her and lived together with her sister and Kim Trọng. Well, to some extent, Kiều had a happy ending, but it remains open to debate whether such a thing could be considered a happy ending? And there remains the question whether Kiều or her sister had a more happy life overall. One could start the argument by looking at Kiều’s sister's perspectives, or to say Vân’s perspectives. Vân accepted to help her sister to ‘fulfill’ her oath to Kim Trọng, but did she do so willingly? Did she have a happy time with Kim Trọng, a person whom she might not love? One could argue that judging from the context of the era, Vân led a happy life. During that time, there was a strong emphasis on ‘staying together leads to love’ and ‘love can be nurtured with time’, so even though she could have been unwilling to agree to help her sister, as time goes on, Kim Trọng will love her and she would feel happy. However, we should know that human nature does not change, even though what is emphasised by each era changes with time. To what extent is it true that Kim Trọng will develop a feeling for Vân whilst he already made an oath with Kiều? To what extent is an oath easily broken? To what extent will he be willing to give up on Kiều? The story of a man who could wait for a woman he loves for a decade does not appear strange, so how could it be true that Kim Trọng did not wait for Kiều and only consider the time with Vân as a test to his love for Kiều? Having said that, we can put this aside and analyse Kiều’s story. Even though Kiều barely had a happy ending with the relationship she developed during her journey, and even though she might be treated with harshness when she returned, I argued that Kiều’s life is more desirable than that of Vân. Even though she faced hardships and even wanted to end her life, what she gained is experience. And I believe experience is the key to fulfillment in life. When I first came to Singapore, I had a talk with my mentor, and I realised that there are so many things that I do not know. My mentor told me that when I get older, I will gain such knowledge. He acknowledged that not everybody does so. However, I would beg to differ. I would argue that age does not bring knowledge, age is merely a scale people use to measure time, such as that of centimetre and kilogram. What actually brings people knowledge is experience. Will a person gets wiser when he gets older? Well, maybe yes maybe no. Why is it so uncertain? Because it depends on whether that person learns. Age does not come with knowledge, but rather, experience comes with knowledge. Have we wondered why some people who are adults but think so simple as a child? It’s because that person does not learn. My mentor made a very good point about to learn versus to train. When we learn, we actively seek knowledge, we question, and after the activity, our thinking changes. When we train, we passively gain knowledge, we simply follow what we are taught, and after the activity, we gain skills but out thinking may not change at all. And this is where experience comes in. People who get more experience will have more knowledge, and with more knowledge, the quality of life increases. Well, it is debatable whether knowledge will lead to a more satisfactory life. But as a supporter of wisdom, I believe so. Knowledge is not just what we know, but how we see and how we think of the world. Many people ask me why I chose NUS College. Yeah, I do accept that learning more does not mean that my salary will increase in the future, but learning more means that I will have a more well-rounded view of the world. And it is satisfying. How could we see the beauty of literature, if we do not understand what the work is about? How could we enjoy reading the news, if we only treat information as information, having nothing to do with us? How could we make an informed decision, if we forget about the wider implication of what we are doing? And return to the argument, with all of the experience Kiều gained, will she see her life as meaningful? The story does not continue after Kiều has returned, but we could take it further. Considering 10 years later, who will feel happy with their life? Considering what Kiều has learnt all those years, who will she become? This reminds me of “The Book Thief”, why did Death feel jealous of how Liesel lived her life, and why Liesel lived such a life? It’s because she learnt, it’s because of the experience that she gained. So after all, isn’t Kiều the one who actually lives? Isn’t Vân just a robot, fulfilling whatever her sister demands of her? I admit that “The Tale of Kiều” is open to interpretation, that’s also the reason why it’s held in such high regard by the beholders. But let’s just think about it, who lives a more happy life?