Perspectives on "Truyen Kieu" (or "The tale of Kieu")

Forewords: Please pardon me for the English-icisation of the characters' names :(((, Wix does not have a font for Vietnamese. "Kieu" should be written as "Kiều", "Kim Trong" should be written as "Kim Trọng", and "Van" should be written as "Vân".

"The Tale of Kieu" 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 Kieu", 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 Kieu" 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 Kieu" 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 Kieu", Kieu 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 Trong, 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 Kieu, she returned to her and lived together with her sister and Kim Trong. Well, to some extent, Kieu 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 Kieu or her sister had a happier life overall. One could start the argument by looking at Kieu’s sister's perspectives, or to say Van’s perspectives. Van accepted to help her sister to ‘fulfill’ her oath to Kim Trong, but did she do so willingly? Did she have a happy time with Kim Trong, a person whom she might not love? One could argue that considering the context of the era, Van 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’. Van could have been unwilling to help her sister initially. But as time goes on, Kim Trong will love her and she would feel happy. However, we should know that human nature may not change, even though what is emphasised by each era changes with time. To what extent is it true that Kim Trong will develop a feeling for Van whilst he has already made an oath to Kieu? To what extent is an oath easily broken? To what extent will he be willing to give up on Kieu? 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 Trong did not wait for Kieu and only considered the time with Van as a test of his love for Kieu?

Having said that, we can put Van's story aside and analyse Kieu’s story. Even though Kieu 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, perhaps Kieu’s life can be more desirable than that of Van. Even though she faced hardships and even wanted to end her life, what she gained was experience. And isn't experience 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 did not know. My mentor told me that when I got older, I would gain such knowledge. He acknowledged that not everybody did so. However, I would beg to differ. It seems to me 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 get wiser when they gets older? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. It depends on whether that person learns anything from their experience. Age does not come with knowledge, but rather, experience brings knowledge. My mentor made a very good point about to learn versus to train. When we learn, we actively seek knowledge, we question, and after such reflections, our thinking changes. When we train, we passively gain knowledge, we simply follow what we are taught, and after the training, we gain skills, but our thinking may not change a little. This is where experience comes in. People who gain 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 implications of what we are doing? And return to the argument, with all of the experience Kieu gained, will she see her life as meaningful? The story does not continue after Kieu has returned, but we could take it further. Considering 10 years later, who will feel happier with their life? Considering what Kieu 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 Kieu the one who actually lives? Isn’t Van just a robot, fulfilling whatever her sister demands of her? I admit that “The Tale of Kieu” 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, whose life would you prefer?

November 2022, Singapore.