LEANING INTO LITERATURE | LUMEN 21
An excerpt from Sarah ’ s prize-winining essay on the question , “ In Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong and Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje , how does the persona reconcile with the father figure through the act of fictional reconstruction ?”
“ Having attempted to understand the images of their fathers by confronting initial perspectives and assuming their identities , both Ondaatje and Vuong eventually recognize the inherent flaws of the desire to comprehensively understand their fathers . By attempting to reconstruct the father as authentically as possible , the son as writer passes judgment upon this fictionalized figure , bringing into question the potentially problematic implications of doing so . By the end of the texts , one realises that though fictional reconstruction is an effective device , it is only through the acceptance of the imperfections of memory , legacy and remembrance that true reconciliation can be achieved with the father figure .
As Vuong ’ s collection unfolds , it gradually unearths the harm of fabrication in this method of reconciliation . As brought up previously , Vuong ’ s role as a writer in recreating his father ’ s experiences comes with the responsibility of translation , but such refraction of experience may result in an ersatz history of the father figure . These implications arise in the poem Deto ( nation ), where the entangled memory of father and nation is presented . The “ light ” of his father is “ enough to drown in / but never enough to enter the bones // & stay ” ( Vuong 58 ), implying that the effort of reconstructing Vuong ’ s father through fictional means has only resulted in an imperfect and superficial portrait . Though potentially “[ drowning ]” ( line 9 ) and killing Vuong , this hope of the father ’ s history being fully rendered and therefore “[ staying ]” ( line 11 ) could be impactful enough to permeate and even alter the fundamental structures of Vuong ’ s being . This anguish in failing to resolve the difficulties of fictional reconstruction is only resolved in Someday I ’ ll Love Ocean Vuong , where he writes , “ Your father is only your father / until one of you forgets ...” ( Vuong 78 ). By acknowledging the eventual “[ forgetting ]” of this biological concrete tie , Vuong relieves himself of a perceived responsibility for his father ’ s legacy . By simply accepting the eternally distant position of the father figure in his life , Vuong can move on and escape the pressures of filial responsibility that follows the idea of biological inheritance .
Despite these accounts , Ondaatje reveals how he is still unable to extract an authentic record of his own father . Like how Vuong defines his father as an elemental silhouette vaguely defined by rain , Ondaatje too establishes how his present impression of Mervyn merely consists of “[ guessing ] around him ” ( Ondaatje 200 ) to construct an informed outline of who he was . Ondaatje is also presented with the bitter truth that Mervyn ’ s “ pages ” will forever “ remain uncut ” ( Ondaatje 200 ), with chapters of his life sealed off to others . Yet , he concludes that “ Love is often enough , in your stadium of small things ” ( Ondaatje 201 ). The process of reconciliation with the image of the father figure is then demonstrated to be best achieved by acknowledging Mervyn ’ s lived and real legacy , “[ loving ]” him for them instead of attempting to understand him through a fictional lens . Ondaatje is thus compelled to understand him with the eyes of the present — that is , to honour and harness the powerful ability of collective memory , while confronting the flaws of fictionalization in doing so .”