Kien’s father was a painter who refused to conform to the artistic style prevalent in North Vietnam in the 1960s. At that time, Communist ideals upheld that paintings should be accessible to everyone, including people with working-class backgrounds. But Kien’s father was interested in more abstract, highbrow artwork, and he refused to change his aesthetic style. The art community therefore shunned him, though this didn’t stop him from painting. He considered himself a free spirit who didn’t belong in the patriotic wartime climate of Hanoi in the 1960s. Phuong felt the same way, so they developed a close relationship—closer, even, that Kien’s own relationship with his father. Eventually, though, Kien’s father grew tired of life and decided to kill himself, though not before burning all of his paintings. Phuong watched him burn them, but she didn’t tell Kien about the experience until years later. When Kien returned from Vietnam, he started working on his novel in the very same attic where his father used to paint, suggesting that he felt a connection to the old man while in the throes of agonized artistic creation.
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Kien’s Father Character Timeline in The Sorrow of War
The timeline below shows where the character Kien’s Father appears in The Sorrow of War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 79-100
...on the third floor. He went up to his old apartment and saw that his father’s name was still on the door. Just as he was about to open it, he...
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Pages 108-116
...Kien’s building a few years before the war ended, living in the attic where his father used to paint. Kien has written about her, explaining that she slowly began to realize...
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...his manuscript into the stove and trying to light a fire. She knew that his father had apparently burned all of his paintings before his death, but she didn’t want Kien...
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Pages 116-146
...Kien to look forward to when he’d be able to join the Youth Union. His father, on the other hand, was a somewhat reclusive painter whose art didn’t conform to communist...
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Kien’s father burned all of his own paintings before his death. Kien resented him for a long...
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Although Kien wasn’t close with his father and didn’t understand his eccentric ways, Phuong had a tight bond with him. She seemed...
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...what, exactly, he’d be coming home to. This conversation transitioned into a discussion of Kien’s father. Phuong claimed that she glimpsed into the future when Kien’s father burned the paintings. She...
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