The Mountains Sing

Hương’s grandmother Diệu Lan comes from a wealthy landowning family from the central Vietnamese province of Nghệ An, though circumstances diminish her social standing as an adult. Her lifespan encompasses the major events of modern Vietnamese history, each of which brings her great pain and loss. Her occupations, which include farmer, beggar, housekeeper, teacher, and con buôn (black market trader), also span an impressive range, making her an allegorical figure for Vietnam itself.

Like the nation she represents, she endures unthinkable and unremitting tragedy, but, also like her nation, she perseveres. Though these experiences devastate and humble her, her undying commitment to family and her ability to think on her feet keep her fighting. In doing so, she helps her family survive against terrible odds, enabling her descendants to carry on her legacy and live better lives.

Hương’s mother Ngọc is Diệu Lan’s second oldest child. Strong-willed from an early age, Ngọc endures the greatest trauma from the tragic events of her childhood, especially her family’s flight northward during the Land Reform. Nevertheless, she emerges resolute and proud, becoming a doctor and enlisting voluntarily in the Vietnam War. Sadly, this decision leads to far greater trauma and immense guilt over having encouraged her husband to enlist, being raped, and obtaining an abortion.

When she returns from the war, Ngọc is listless and unable to care for herself, let alone her daughter. Thankfully, Hương gets through to her, and Ngọc grows into an even stronger and more loving figure than she was before.

Born and raised in the province that borders Nghệ An, Tâm moves to Hanoi as a teenager to increase his educational prospects. As a student in Hương’s school, he woos her with his charm, intellect, and humor. The experiences of Hương’s mother and grandmother have made Hương wary of men, but Tâm’s moral rectitude helps her learn to trust again. While this trust is compromised by the discovery that Tâm’s grandfather is Wicked Ghost, Tâm gets Hương back thanks to his perseverance and the sincerity of his love for her. By the novel’s end, Tâm and Hương are married with two children, and it is clear that he has long been her biggest ally. While Tâm himself is a fairly static character, the crisis he and his family precipitate for Hương and Diệu Lan is a crucial element in both women’s growth.

Though Hoàng never actually appears in the events of the novel, as Hương’s father his importance cannot be understated. Hương spends most of the novel waiting for him to come back from the war, long after hope in his return has become unreasonable. The purity of his love for Ngọc and Hương are beyond question. He enlisted at his wife’s behest, and his longing for his daughter leads him to carve an elegant Sơn ca bird for her, which he entrusts to Đạt to bring home. While Hoàng is absent throughout the story, his Sơn ca becomes his daughter’s most prized possession, an item she keeps with her for practically the entire narrative from that point on, and Tâm’s similarities to Hoàng are largely responsible for Hương’s attraction to him.

Hùng is Diệu Lan’s husband and the father of her six children. An educated local, he endears himself to Diệu Lan by taking her opinions seriously enough to debate her. A loyal husband and devoted father, he is most notable for his vocal opposition to the abuses of the Communist Party, which leads to his death by poisoning at the hands of local officials, though they deny this. His death leaves Diệu Lan to fend for herself, a particular hardship once their family becomes a target of the Land Reform purges.

Minh is the oldest of Diệu Lan’s children. He is a hard worker and a loving member of the family. The 1955 Land Reform purge separates him from the rest of the family, and they do not hear from him again until 1979, when he is dying of cancer.

Though his extended absence causes some concern that he has abandoned his family, the truth of his life during those 24 years reveals that his devotion to his family never flagged and that his lack of communication was beyond his control. On the other hand, he willingly fought for the South, knowing that this would almost certainly position him across enemy lines from his siblings. Though his mother and his siblings, except for Hạnh, are glad for their reunion, the tragic truths this encounter reveals cause deep discomfort, thus precipitating significant character growth for those Minh leaves behind.

The third oldest child of Diệu Lan’s children, Đạt is forced into a position of leadership by the death of his father and Minh’s disappearance. He excels under this pressure but is severely wounded, both emotionally and physically, by the Vietnam War. Having lost his legs, he returns home an insecure, guilt-ridden person with an alcohol use disorder, unable to face his girlfriend Nhung despite her continued love for him and the compassion she has shown to his family during Đạt’s absence.

Fortunately, he does not shut himself off entirely to the efforts of those who love him, and with their help he slowly rebuilds himself into one of the novel’s most virtuous characters, as well as a loving husband to Nhung and father to their son Thống Nhất. Notably, he develops a uniquely mature understanding of the devastation wrought by war, and he wields this understanding to stand up for Minh.

Thuận is the fourth oldest of Diệu Lan’s children. He appears in the novel primarily as a child in his mother’s stories. Like most of his siblings, Thuận is left behind during the flight northward. Diệu Lan leaves him in the care of Hiền, a Buddhist nun who runs an orphanage. Like his brothers, he serves in the Vietnam War, but he does not survive it.

Hạnh is the fifth oldest of Diệu Lan’s children. Abandoned in a loving home, Hạnh fares the best of all her siblings who are left behind during the flight north. This fact in addition to her relative youth during this period might explain her willingness to cozy up to the Communist Party. Unlike her brother Sáng, Hạnh and her family appear to reap significant benefit from this association, and they live a good life in the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. Also unlike Sáng, Hạnh remains loyal to Diệu Lan and her other family members. However, once the family learns Minh’s story, Hạnh casts him off as a threat to her own family’s welfare. Hạnh is, therefore, a stark manifestation of the cruel, conflicting forces that each person must navigate during trying times, as well as the unfortunate choices each person must make as part of that navigation.

The youngest child in the family, Sáng is an infant when his father dies and the purge reaches their home. Like Hạnh, his youth insulates him from the horrors of this time period, and he is the only child Diệu Lan does not leave behind. The Vietnam War makes him into a devoted member of the Communist Party, and, upon his return, he swears off his mother when he learns she is a con buôn. Hypocritically, he and his wife Hoa accept her gifts of food, his state pay insufficient to meet their needs. After Hoa gives birth to a stillborn child, his wartime exposure to Agent Orange the culprit, she kicks him out, and Sáng softens toward his birth family.

Trần Văn Lương is the full name of Diệu Lan’s father, though he is only once referred to in this way. He is a proud, conscientious farmer, as well as a progressive, loving husband and father. He supports Diệu Lan’s romantic autonomy and helps her learn the skills she needs to run the family’s farm herself. He is murdered by a Japanese soldier during World War II.

Lê Thị Mận is Diệu Lan’s mother, though, like her husband, she is only once referred to by her actual name. Like her husband, she is conscientious and progressive, and she fights fiercely to protect her family and bring them prosperity. She goes to great lengths to nullify her daughter’s bleak fortune, and her resourcefulness and bravery enable the family to survive the Great Famine of 1945, although it leads to her murder at the hands of Wicked Ghost.

Công is Diệu Lan’s older brother. He is always there for his family, but he becomes instrumental to Diệu Lan following the deaths of their parents, his wife Trinh, and Hùng. He fights for justice, seeking to punish Wicked Ghost and Hùng’s killers. In the former case, pity for the pathetic murderer stays his hand. In the latter case, he is powerless against the denial and apathy of the Communist Party. He is brutally murdered during the Land Reform purge, a deeply tragic loss for Diệu Lan’s family as he had largely stepped in to fill the void left by Hùng’s death.

Wicked Ghost, the closest thing the novel has to an antagonist, enters the story as an abusive tax collector for the colonial French government in Diệu Lan’s hometown. During the Great Famine, he beats Diệu Lan and murders her mother after catching them stealing his corn. His abuses seem to haunt him, and he descends into depression and develops an alcohol use disorder before he and his family disappear from the village. Years later, he is revealed to be Tâm’s grandfather, which forces Diệu Lan and Hương to confront their past and tests their capacity for forgiveness. Though he never repents for his sins, he confesses them to his daughter on his deathbed, which allows for reconciliation between his grandson and Hương.

Auntie Tú is the housekeeper for the Trần family from the days before Diệu Lan’s birth until the Land Reform purge. After Tú’s family was killed in a fire that left her disfigured, Diệu Lan’s mother took Tú in, and she became one of the family. Unlike Diệu Lan’s parents, Tú is deeply committed to traditional ways. Though this sometimes causes tension, her love and support are clear and unconditional. Her wisdom and attentiveness lead her to warn Diệu Lan about the dangers of the Land Reform, but Diệu Lan downplays the threat. After the purge, she helps Diệu Lan and the children escape, though she remains. Later, she is found dead, almost certainly murdered for continuing to defend the Trầns.

Hải is a friend of Công’s who works for Wicked Ghost. When he discovers what his employer has done to Diệu Lan and her mother, he rescues Diệu Lan, buries her mother, and provides them with enough food to survive the Great Famine. He comes to work for Diệu Lan and Công, and he remains loyal to them during and after the Land Reform. When Diệu Lan is finally able to return, Hải’s is the only friendly face left.

Túc is a fortune teller in Diệu Lan’s hometown. He foresees great misery for Diệu Lan, and, despite the great efforts her mother expends to nullify his predictions, they largely come true, an early and undeniable sign of the power of fate in this novel.

Nhung is Đạt’s girlfriend and later his wife and the mother of his child. While he is gone in the war, she regularly visits and aids Diệu Lan and Hương. When Đạt returns and, feeling he is unworthy of Nhung, refuses to see her, she is unrelenting. Her love and devotion help him overcome his alcohol use disorder and depression, and they resume a caring and fruitful relationship, making Nhung one of the novel’s most inspiring examples of compassion and commitment.

Tuấn is Hạnh’s husband. Though he never actually appears in the novel, his success as a member of the Communist Party brings Hạnh and their family great prosperity and leads them south to Ho Chi Minh City. His concerns about Minh’s past contribute significantly to his wife’s decision to cut ties with her oldest brother on his deathbed.

Hoa is Sáng’s wife. The child of high-ranking Communist officials, Hoa stops associating with Diệu Lan once she becomes a con buôn. However, like her husband, she appears to make no objections to the food Diệu Lan sends them. After their child is stillborn, she kicks Sáng out of the house, inadvertently enabling the cooling of his hostility toward his mother and siblings.

Duyên is Hoàng’s sister. A compassionate figure, she takes Ngọc in soon after her return. Though this greatly distresses Hương, it constitutes an important early stage in Ngọc’s recovery.

Master Thịnh is Công and Diệu Lan’s worldly and progressive live-in tutor throughout their childhood. As one of their father’s closest friends, he contributes significantly to the open-minded way Công and Diệu Lan are raised. Originally from Hanoi, he returns there once the children grow up, and Diệu Lan seeks him out when fleeing the Land Reform purge. Though he has died, her connection with him allows her to get a job from his nephew Toàn.

Hiền is a Buddhist nun who runs an orphanage in a town between Nghệ An and Hanoi. She takes in and cares for Thuận during the family’s flight north. Though she and her orphanage do not survive the Vietnam War, her kindness saves Thuận and brings Diệu Lan to Buddhism.

Thảo is a kindergarten teacher in a town between Hiền’s and Nghệ An. During the family’s flight northward, Thảo treats Hạnh’s food poisoning. Having learned that Thảo and her husband Tiến have failed in their attempts to start a family, Diệu Lan disappears, trusting Hạnh to their care. Though they raise and love Hạnh as their own child, Thảo returns Hạnh willingly when Diệu Lan comes back for her in one of the novel’s most remarkable displays of selflessness. Thereafter, Diệu Lan maintains a connection with Thảo, who remains a second mother for Hạnh.

Toàn is Master Thịnh’s nephew, and Châu is Toàn’s wife. Together, they run a jewelry shop out of the family home in Hanoi. Despite Châu’s suspicions, Toàn is moved by Diệu Lan’s history with his uncle and is sympathetic to her plight. He convinces Châu to take Diệu Lan on as a housekeeper but is unable to protect her from Châu’s jealousy after Diệu Lan saves them from a violent robber. Still, they leave her with highly valuable coins that enable her to get back on her feet and retrieve her children.

Văn is a healer that lives in Toàn and Châu’s neighborhood in Hanoi. When Diệu Lan arrives after fleeing the Land Reform purge, he treats her wounds and begins teaching her a self-defense technique he calls Kick-Poke-Chop. By enabling Diệu Lan to save Toàn and Châu from a violent robber, Văn indirectly facilitates her reunion with her children. Once she returns to Hanoi with them, Văn teaches Kick-Poke-Chop to the whole family, which helps them recover from their trauma. Later, Diệu Lan teaches Kick-Poke-Chop to Hương, which nurtures her closeness with her grandmother and her growth into a confident adult.