Cao Duy Son's novel "Heavenly Orchestra" from a cultural perspective

wanted to use the phrase "broken" cultural model to generalize this group of characters as well as reflect the changes in the lives of the northern mountainous people in the novelDan Troi .

The “broken” cultural model here is also the children of the mountains and forests, born in the cultural cradle of the Viet Bac ethnic groups. They possess all the qualities of the traditional model, but with one difference, this model is young intellectuals, exposed to urban civilization and Western culture. As we know, any cultural conflict will give birth to a new type of human. Although not specifically defined, they are the people of the new era, the “children” in the marriage between the old and the new, between traditional culture and Western culture. But when not specifically defined, the new human has not been formed, they are just fragments assembled from two old and new cultures in the orbit of history. Surveying this model of human plays a very important role in understanding the writer’s works and artistic conceptions of human beings as well as contributing to providing a correct orientation for cultural development.

In the novel Dan Troi , this type of person is the center of all problems, always associating urban space with fragile traditional cultural features, gradually crumbling before the brutal destruction of Western civilization. Their first characteristic is loneliness and isolation. Every mountain person is often lonely because they live with mountains and forests all year round, but the loneliness of this type of broken culture has a different nature, a different perception. These people are lonely deep in their souls because they are lost between the old and the new. They are young intellectuals, full of ambition and desire, and at the same time sensitive and vulnerable like the simple mountain people. That vulnerable soul comes into contact with the chaotic, mixed newness like clear glass colliding with iron and steel, gradually cracking. This is also the pain, torment, and struggle between the transition

of the times. The character Vuong, a young intellectual, a journalist, a writer

Talented, passionate, and eager to find the truth of his life. His pain is partly due to an unfinished love affair, but mostly due to the collision in his soul, reflecting cultural conflicts. In other words, this type of person is still wondering between a peaceful past and a chaotic reality, running away or facing it? Perhaps this is also the reason why these characters, on the one hand, look towards the future, want to devote themselves, on the other hand, are nostalgic, want to escape life. The character Vuong here is the same. He is talented, but facing the chaotic, cruel reality, he feels helpless. He cannot even keep a job to support his wife and children. Gossip, fighting, and power struggles sometimes make him desperate, frustrated, and have to embrace his loneliness, his memories, and his writings to live. Everyone has a time of youth, enthusiasm, in the deep and sensitive heart are the days full of enthusiasm for life: "A love like the new sunshine of the pure morning, from that light I seem to be washed away all the mistakes of the days of a loose life, in your arms at this moment, pure love is incomparable. Starting from today is the breath, the blood in the body, I cannot let it go" [28, 16]. The warm, passionate days for Vuong seem as short as a fleeting dream. The beautiful love, the years of youth are only memories, he is now indifferent, apathetic to life. It was an existential feeling, a painful feeling before the broken reality and each of those broken pieces stuck in his sensitive heart: “The noise combined with all the hurried sounds like a fight with time, hoping to make a quick buck or snatch money, a bowl of rice with sweat, effort, and tricks, calculating to speed up the improvement of poor life, or to add to the huge fortune that already exists with the limitless greed of humans... “What else?”. Vuong thought ramblingly. He searched for suitable words to draw a bustling life with thousands of faces, movements converging in a sketch according to his own way of feeling. But he found the meaning

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My thoughts were clouded by a sudden wave of confusion. A moment of relief

The past has become chaotic. The world around him suddenly becomes vague, like smoke but not smoke, like clouds but not clouds. The feeling of helplessness is so bitter! Or maybe I cannot grasp, cannot integrate into the vibrant rhythm of current life" [28, 20]. The coldness and loneliness in the soul are truly terrifying. Vuong is afraid of the truth, afraid of reality, so he runs away from his own heart, embracing the love of the past: "As for me, after nearly two-thirds of my life, I am still just a man in name but not in reality. I have had a couple of books in my life, but they are only weak things, regretting a past time, and I have not yet touched the pen to the wandering life I face every day" [28, 62]. Losing his job, having to sell gasoline, a wandering fate in the face of harm and plots makes Vuong sink deeper into the tragedy of "broken" beliefs and the meaning of life. Vuong's fate is not an isolated one but a common denominator of people who regret the past, or regret the values of an old culture with the nostalgic flute of love to soothe their pain, not having enough courage to overcome obstacles and overcome themselves.

The “broken” cultured person is lonely because he is too sensitive and mentally weak. Sensitive because he hates bad things and evil. He cannot adapt or integrate with it, and feels hopeless when he resists it. Desperate, he wants to run away from it. Although the character Vuong has had a rough life and was forced to leave his homeland, his heart is still a good heart, always opposing evil things. Vuong may be weak in heart, but he does not surrender to fate even though he is lost in his own homeland.

Thuc is also a young intellectual like Vuong, but the pain in his heart is much greater because of his difficult and unfortunate fate. Thuc was orphaned, and from his early days he wandered with San Pi from the North to the South. Although he did not have the blood of the ethnic people of the Northern mountains, he grew up in their arms. He possessed all the qualities of a true mountain person: strong, sturdy, and brave: "A boy living

in the middle of the great forest with a sad past and childhood memories associated with each mountain, each stream. Even the summer showers pouring down like waterfalls from the sky, the winter snowflakes white on the tops of ancient trees in the middle of the cold and wet great forest. All of those things are like a temperament that creates the figure of a skinny, shy boy who suddenly becomes a tall, calm and upright young man, whose fate is tied to the profession of writing" [28, 130]. Thuc grew up in the middle of the great forest, in the loving arms of the Dao people and a devoted foster father. Thuc is stronger than Vuong even though his life has gone through many storms, many near-death experiences and the loss of loved ones... He fights without compromise against evil, but deep in his heart is also loneliness, disappointment before the dark life, before the hustle and bustle of life: "From here he became silent. Returned to Binh Lang. Day by day, immersed in alcohol, the pain seemed to gradually subside, but his beard and hair kept growing longer, along with the depression that seemed never to end" [28, 149]. Before the changes of urban life, he also wanted to escape: "Depression, vanity, only anxiety, worry were real, it crept into his sleep. Not a single moment of peace of mind, only the constant intention to escape. Tired, so bored! I suddenly trembled as if I had a fever in the jungle" [28, 300]. Thuc was weak but did not sink into despair like Vuong, Thuc quickly woke up, then rushed to face life, so he was more miserable, was pushed into prison, had no way out and had to go to Nguom Kim to find gold. There were times when he was so desperate that he almost went crazy. But the courage that his adoptive father and the people where he lived had trained him since he was a baby, made him stand up and fight evil. His words clearly show his feelings about the cultural conflict between the old and the new: "Sometimes I feel like you do now, thinking that we, Tay boys and girls, were born in the mountains and forests, seeing each other as different.

The day the good qualities of our nation are slightly degraded, honesty is lost.

"The exploitation gradually distorts and the heart aches" [28, 61]. With the "broken" cultural models, they are very aware of the danger of good values fading away, clearly understand their mission and role but are helpless. The more they struggle, the more lonely and lost they feel under the massive invasion of the new culture, its negative aspects are like a golden ring that tightens them. They are lonely because they are a minority, while many others have soon merged into the flood of money. Here we do not judge the old or new culture as bad or good. Everything has its two sides, but in the process of cultural assimilation, people learn bad things more easily, because with the market mechanism, it is money, it is power. Those cold, cruel things touch the innocence and honesty of the mountain people, which is humanity. That humanity makes Thuc not kill Hoong Gia - the one who caused the miserable tragedy of his life. Killing or sparing Hoong also reflects the torn state of mind in Thuc and also shows the “crack” in the cultural conflict. Killing him is like a compromise with the world of money, the strong will win, strength and power are supreme. Sparing him is like holding on to the qualities of a kind-hearted, forgiving mountain person. Thuc not only spared Hoong but also saved him from death.

Besides Vuong and Thuc, Dieu is also a broken person in pain, confusion, and loss. She is lost between two old and new love affairs as well as between tradition and modernity. In her first clumsy love, she gave herself to Vuong: “Why are women all the same in that they never tell their lover that they have given their virginity to someone? But what right do they have to demand that from them? What is the point of knowing? How many men are generous?” [28, 11]. She is satisfied with her current life but also constantly haunted by old memories: “Happiness that seemed endless is now suddenly as fragile as grass and flowers in the stormy rain. Where should I go now? Go home, haven't I thought about it? But there is something so regretful? Every time I go home, go to

The Dang river wharf makes me feel nostalgic. Dieu can be said to be a modern person. She dares to love and dares to accept. She accepts Tue's complaints without regret. Before Tue's prejudice about herself, Dieu is in pain but does not blame. She is lonely and silent with her memories by the Dang river. Dieu is a manifestation of the change in traditional concepts, between virginity on one side and the human right to happiness on the other: "If I met you again now, I would not be able to control myself and would fall into your arms. Virtue? Please leave it to the past, and I would surely cry, cry for a long time, a lot to relieve the sadness that has been stored in my heart for so many years. I cannot forget you! That is the shameful truth. But how sure is he to forgive me? How sure is he to let me fall into his arms and hold him tight with tears confessing my sins. Why is tonight so sad? My heart is desolate like the autumn wind blowing through the empty old house. On the riverbank, no one goes in the opposite direction” [28, 94]. On one hand, she wants to find the pure past, on the other hand, she wants to preserve family happiness. The traditional Vietnamese woman in general, and of the Northern mountainous region in particular, is a person who endures and devotes herself to her family, while modern women are more instinctive when demanding the right to happiness and true love. Dieu lives like that, torn between the past and the present, between duty and aspiration. She is bewildered in torment, in broken memories, and every time she feels hopeless, she goes to the banks of the Dang River, letting her soul follow the sound of the Sam Ky flute to comfort her fate: “Along the banks of the Dang River, she closed her eyes and breathed lightly as if she wanted to find the way he taught her to recognize the changing seasons. Deep in the night, there is a very light scent of old grass and the sap from the yellow leaves floating on the river. Autumn has come! Tears suddenly welled up in the corners of her eyes, she suddenly cried for the yellow leaves and the withered weeds, oh the old days!” [28, 90].

Although the “broken” model symbolizes lostness, loneliness and deadlock, they are not hopeless. In the conflict between old and new, Thuc, Vuong and Dieu all

There are moments when they look to the future with expectations, but in the end they return to the past, with thoughts deep in their hearts. A general overview of this type of person can be condensed into one proposition: desire, ambition - helplessness - unfinished - lonely, lost. One thing worth appreciating about them is that they wholeheartedly strive for good things, want to improve and change their lives. When they overcome the "crack", overcome loneliness, they will become typical people of the new era. Cultural conflicts are always like that, when they are reconciled, people suitable for that culture will appear. Thuc and Vuong are people who are looking for themselves in the changing times. Before defining a clear cultural type, let's temporarily call them "broken" people, broken pieces that are being put together to wait for a day to take full shape.

3.3. The Degenerate Model

Culture, as mentioned, includes both good and bad, both high-class and low-class. When there is a cultural “invasion”, both its positive and negative aspects will affect people. If one cannot control oneself, one will lose oneself and become a degenerate person. In the cultural history of the Vietnamese people, such types of people have appeared, but in each era and each period, they have their own characteristics. Therefore, in this section, we want to examine the degenerate type of person in the cultural period after the 1986 renovation.

The degenerate model at this stage also reflects the conflict between the old and new culture like the “broken” model. However, the difference here is: if the broken model is young, knowledgeable intellectuals with high self-control, the degenerate models are often ignorant, easily tempted, degenerate, and have unstable traditional elements deep inside. This model reflects the phenomenon of degeneration, the risk of destroying cultural traditions, representing evil and ugliness in the work. The common characteristics of this model are greed for fame, greed for profit, immersed in money and lust. Facing the storm of the market economy, facing temptations, they lose themselves or become worse than before.

with evil at the beginning. In the work, they are powerful characters, with

money, status, power but lacking humanity, losing the good cultural qualities inherent in his people. First of all, we must mention the provincial Chairman Dinh Xuan An. Coming from a smuggler background, he possesses all the "qualities" of an intellectual hooligan. People call this Chairman "Your Majesty", with power over the world, but he uses that power to plunder the state's and people's assets for himself, and then indulges in debauchery: "And yet, with just a few words of greeting, with a gentle smile, sympathizing with the difficulties of the people, or appearing on the local screen with speeches full of revolutionary spirit, he has bought the inherent trust of the people of all time. He is a model citizen, a servant full of pure qualities, a worthy representative of the interests of the people of the world. He is not a bad actor at all in his role" [28, 217]. “Oh, and there is also the scent of men's perfume! Everything on his body is carefully trimmed and cared for. I heard that many girls in their eighteens and twenties still follow him! And he responds to their enthusiasm in the same way, isn't that right, Your Majesty?” [28, 501]. The main occupation of this Emperor is to receive envelopes and have affairs with young girls. Writer Cao Duy Son has given this type of person, this type of character the most sarcastic and cruel tone. This is the courageous attitude of a writer who dares to denounce and expose evil. We can see that before climbing to the position of Provincial Chairman, Dinh Xuan An was a smuggler. This means that the good traditional cultural roots did not exist in him or existed fragilely and were quickly "eliminated". The roots that were already rotten were affected by the storm of the market economy, causing him to fall further and sink deeper into the mud of sin. The degeneration here is not like Nam Cao's Chi Pheo. If Chi Pheo is a passive person, pushed into the process of degeneration unconsciously, then Dinh Xuan An, who can be considered an intellectual, is the one who voluntarily commits himself to that process of degeneration. If Chi Pheo is degenerate at a low level, in human form, humanity, deep in

Cao Duy Son's novel "Heavenly Orchestra" from a cultural perspective - 10

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