“You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives.”
Ultimately, it will become clear that the first-person narration by Tricia takes the epistolary form of a missive she has written in her older years to the daughter of a friend who was very significant earlier in life. This assertion to that younger woman is a general reference speaking to the patriarchal role of women in society in the mid-20th century. More specifically, however, it is a reference to the patriarchal role expected of women during the era of the Vietnam War. That war—like all wars—ultimately produced enough books to create an entire genre, but this quote that appears on the very first page immediately situates how this entry belongs to a much lesser populated sub-genre of Vietnam War fiction. Right from these words, the novel sets itself to the task of documenting one of the biggest gaps in the fictionalized telling of one of the most controversial and difficult periods in American history. The word choice gets right to the point, leaving little room for ambiguity on the subject.
“Charlene turned to me—I might say she turned on me, her face to mine, smothering my confusion at the question with a blanket of girlhood camaraderie. `I don’t know,’ she said, speaking into my eyes. Hers seemed to be flashing at the moment. `What did we decided to charge? Five dollars, did we say?’”
Charlene is the mother of the daughter to whom Tricia is addressing her narration. This scene takes place very shortly after Tricia has just met Charlene and the relational tension that will mark the friendship is already being established. Tricia and Charlene will become close friends, but it will be one of those friendships that is heavily dependent upon recognizing and accepting one’s role within the dynamic. The turn of phrase used by Tricia to suggest that this woman who is still basically a stranger at this point has turned “on” her rather than merely turning toward is a heads-up to the reader to recognize that trouble is likely to develop between the two. This passage serves to indicate the nature of this developing friendship as one clearly based on a dominant/submissive division of status. The significance of the body language being manipulated for the purpose of one character communicating silently to another will prove to become a significant theme of the story overall in which appearances may not be what they seem and intent may not be immediately apparent.
“There's a real danger in the bestowing of gifts upon the hopeless only to inflate the ego of the one who does the bestowing.”
This observation by the narrator is essentially the central point of the entire story. That story is about the inherent tension associated with altruism. The relationship between Tricia and Charlene ultimately becomes one that dares to inquire whether charitable benevolence is done to help the beneficiary of the gift or the gift-giver. In the broader sense of the story, of course, this becomes a question applicable to American involvement in Vietnam. The underlying question being asked is whether America interfered in the region to actually help those seen as needing protection from the perceived evils of the spread of communism or whether such a benevolent intent was merely a convenient façade for the less benevolent intentions of an opposing ideology. On the surface level, Tricia is criticizing the personality of Charlene outlined in the previous quote while also undergoing critical self-analysis for her own submission to her friend’s dominant personality.
