Imani Barnhill

Does the ending of the play resolve Kieu’s trauma? That is, does bringing to justice the people who wronged Kieu actually help her progress? The fact that Kieu become the judge of the people that wronged her seemed to be very poetic. She was able to dole out forgiveness on her own terms. But again,… Read more 4/12 Tale of Kieu—Daily question

In Act 20, when Kieu meets Tu Hai, they decide to marry. How might their relationship potentially be complicated? “He’d heard about Kieu’s beauty throughout his trip,” (Line 2175). This might mean that he heard of her line of work and her ”fame as a beauty queen” and at the end of the scene he… Read more 4/7 Tale of Kieu— Daily Question

How does the characterization of both Kieu and the flower change from the beginning of the play to acts 12 and 13? In act 13, in the district office, the judge claims that Kieu is ”A wasted and discarded flower,/ Who used to trick people with scent and powder.” Previously Kieu was regarded as this… Read more 4/4 Tale of Kieu—Daily Question

“Watching the scene, Kieu felt a heart-tearing pain, This was wrong, she could only to Heaven complain”. Why might the author insert Heaven again in this text (they did so in the prologue)? In the previous class, we talked about Heaven being this determinant of human suffering, specifically women’s suffering. If that is the case,… Read more 3/31 Tale of Kieu— Daily Question

How does the language pertaining to the women in the Tale of Kieu differ from that of Shakuntala? I think there is still this underlying pervasiveness in the language of both texts, however, for some reason, in the Tale of Kieu, the language seems to be gentle. That is, the language is gentle and almost… Read more 3/29 Tale of Kieu—Daily Question