The Impact of War in the Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham

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The Impact of War in the Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham
Introduction
The Eaves of Heaven was written by Andrew X. Pham and was first released in 2008. According to Steinnglass (2008) unlike his first book, Cat Fish and Mandala, which told Pham’s story from his childhood to his immigration into America, to his return to Vietnam in the 1990’s, the Eaves of Heaven focuses on telling the Vietnam story of Pham’s family from his father, Thong Van ham’s perspective. In essence, Pham tells of his father’s own experiences in a solid and balanced nature. Generally, the book focuses on what Pham calls “three wars”, referring to the French colonization of Indochina, Japan’s invasion during World War II, and the Vietnam War. In this regard, Pham, through his father’s own voice, manages to uniquely capture the entire progression of Vietnam throughout the 20th century. It is the story of one man’s heartbreaks, reversal of fortunes and resilience throughout the length of the three wars. To a great extent, the title of the book intrinsically captures the alternation of good and bad times and experiences for Thong Van Pham. This paper argues that the Eaves of Heaven reveals that war corrodes civil life and brings strife, by showing the tribulations endured by Thong’s family during the three war period.
The Impact of the Three Wars
In order to understand the progression of the three wars, it is necessary to construct the imagery from the perspective of how Thong Van Pham’s family faired during the French colonial period. Whether or not colonization brought good tidings for the Pham’s is matter of debate. However, according to Pham (2008), the family of his father was one of the feudal aristocracies that owned land in the Red River Delta, which fell within range of French control. Another factor that commands the attention of Thong Van Pham’s family affluence was the fact that Thong’s uncle, Thuan Van Pham was the district’s local magistrate (Pham, 2008). Additionally, the importance of Thuan is shown by Pham (2008) in the fact that Thuan owned one of the only two clocks and cars in the whole province.
However, as shown by Pham (2008), the Japanese invaded French Indochina in 1940, marking the beginning of Thong’s family’s tribulations, ups and downs. The argument of war as a fuel for civil instability and strife is inevitably shown in the fact that according to Steinglass (2008), the Japanese invasion results in the depletion of rice reserves of peasants, who in turn face starvation. It should be noted that as stated before, the Pham family came from a feudal aristocracy that owned large tracts of land. In this regard, it is only natural to assume that a significant ratio of those affected by the depletion of rice reserves was directly known to the Pham’s. It is while feeding hungry villagers that Pham’s family comes across betrayal at the hands of Vi, a child they had helped nursed back to life but who had finally escaped and went to fight for the Viet Minh (Eder, 2008). The role of Vi as an operative of the Viet...