before all that would happen. In the midst of the storm of heaven and earth, he saw me in the shape of a ball of fire. My mother at that time was like a blade of grass yellowed by the dampness, raising her hands in prayer. The bamboo bed hiccupped because of the revenge of fate, because of the endless pain that could not be released. The prophet felt a very painful birth and that began to shape my fate ” [1, p.193]. The introduction of “I” is like a premonition showing the loss of love, the loneliness that has been attached to the character since birth. Born in the midst of the sad, gloomy, wet, rainy season scene. “I” was not welcomed by my father, moreover, I was a terrible obsession for my father. Therefore, “ Whenever he saw me, my father often gritted his teeth”. And my childhood was not as peaceful as other children, I was not loved by my father, even hated by him . "He gave me a wet memory. Later, when I became a person, I always painfully searched for an explanation for the not-so-smooth relationship with my closest relatives." [ 1, pp.193-194]. All of these details are intended to emphasize the loneliness that the character has to endure.
I came into this world without being welcomed like that, I existed in a family lacking love like that, I existed silently by myself, quietly observed, searching for the answer to why I was hated and resented by my father. And “ Finally, “I” also explained the reason why my father hated me. When he picked me up from my mother’s dream, he knew in advance that the powerful and lonely blood flowing to him would end. He was the closing howl of a tragedy without a transition.” [1, p.199].
The loneliness of the character is also expressed through dreams, fantasies or illusions. The character enters that dream alone to find liberation from the present, escape into a world of illusions to find the meaning of life. Pursuing an unreal image in those dreams to find happiness. This proves that the character is too lonely.
Not only me, in Samsara, the characters in my family are all the embodiment of essential loneliness, loneliness as a predestined fate, haunting every human life from birth to death.
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from birth to death. Through the story and “discovery” of “me”, there, each member of the family is like a separate, cold oasis, without conversation, without sharing, without empathy: “ For three whole months, my grandmother, my father, my mother and I became boring roles in a terrible pantomime.” [1, p.194]. And “My father buried himself alive in a living space like a grave.” [1, p.194] with a very strange habit: “ He always sat in his place, in a monotonous and uncomfortable posture.” [1, p.194]. “My grandmother did not open her mouth during the rainy season… All she did was swing her right leg when her left leg was bent and vice versa” [1, p.195] . “My mother tried to kill the fleas that were jumping everywhere ” [1, p.195]. Each person had a boring, repetitive habit. Each character is a separate individual, seemingly living in their own world, under the same roof but no one has any connection with the people around them, even those who are closest and most intimate. Life is boring, each person withdraws into their own oasis, no one invades, does not want to be invaded. "All our conversations over many days added up to only include:
My grandmother: swings her right leg while her left leg is bent. My father, twists from the shoulders down.
My mother: playing with fleas and looking at the rain and sighing. Me: Dreaming of a young girl,…” [ 1, pp.195-196]
Communication between family members is limited to the maximum. They do not want to communicate or have no need to communicate. For each person, it seems that they live their whole life with that loneliness. And as mentioned above, that sentence of loneliness is like a genetic gene that the previous generation has passed on to the next generation, so each person will naturally accept the inheritance as an inevitable thing. The title itself - Reincarnation seems to be closely associated with the lonely fates from the previous life and still continue endlessly in the next life. Going through life, the character is still not old enough to live with loneliness.
Every resident in Luan Hoi carries within themselves the loneliness of human life. That is the widowed Teacher who “goes to build her husband’s grave every evening ”, and the old woman who raises her fishing net at the village entrance. Among them, old Mi is the character who suffers the most terrible loneliness. His entire life as a human is a giant mass of loneliness, half of his life he is alone, without communication with his fellow human beings , he “eats raw fish ”, “lives in a hut near the cemetery. No one dares to come near him because his body smells very bad ” [1, p.197]. Because he is used to living primitively, lost from the herd, he no longer realizes that he is still a human being, that he has a whole community around him. So one day, when someone approaches and says hello, he cannot help but be startled, as if by instinct, he lets out a terrifying howl, “he turns in all directions and howls like an old wolf from the beginning of the world, before saying goodbye to his fellow human beings. The howl of the ninth heaven, both majestic and tragic. I felt as if I was hearing the echo of a distant time of past lives, of twisted destinies born in the dark abyss of time.” [1, p.198]. His howl was like an echo of prehistoric times and seemed to be in the moment of the howl. After “having released all his life force into the howl,” “he never woke up again .” He had returned to being human, to living a human life.
Hai Duy (Old Kho) was born in the middle of a terrible rainstorm. His father, Old Kho, was busy all day with studying, discussing, etc. Every time he came back, he only had time to stop by to see his son and then left immediately. He lacked the warmth of his father since birth; he was cold and distant from his father since he was a “skinny, unlucky and shy ” child. Since childhood, he was used to “ wandering around and playing alone in the most hidden corner.” [3, p.103]. “In his innocent soul, complex emotions were budding that were rarely seen in children of the same age” [3, p.113]. While other children also memorized the lessons of hatred from their parents and family, Hai Duy did not want to remember and think about it. It was that difference that created the character’s own loneliness. There was always an invisible distance between father and son that could not be bridged. The boy did not want to be with his father, and even wished, “ If only there was no father, how wonderful it would be!” ”. Lao Kho is an obsession, a
terribly distant that he didn't want to get close to, didn't want to be intimate with. He was afraid his father would destroy his dream.
The loneliness of the character is also shown through the haunting questions throughout his childhood: " Why does it exist and what happens to people when they die ?". He does not know, is not aware of why he is present in this world. A person who often thinks absent-mindedly, likes to hide in the dark, immersed in dreams. In that world, there is only a mysterious sky, " he weaves a fairy tale carpet with beautiful silk threads drawn from his imagination". The loneliness of the character is increasingly shown in the difference in thinking, in imagination that pushes him further away from his family and his fellow human beings. He wants to leave the present to go to another society, to escape that suffocating, confined and hateful atmosphere. That proves that he is too lonely.
That is the loneliness of “I” in Ben Vo Thuong (Nguyen Danh Lam) , born not healthy like other children: “ I was born without what people call legs[…], “I am a deformed monster” [32, p.20]. Therefore, the whole life of “I” exists in a closed space, locked tightly in “a square box nearly four meters wide, nearly four meters long, nearly four meters high.” [15, p.20] plus a two-square-meter auxiliary room . “In total, my world is nearly eighteen square meters. ” [32, p.21]. I have no connection with the outside community. I cannot do the things that other normal people can do in the outside world. The outside world can only be perceived through sound. In that “gray frame,” the character is self-aware of his loneliness: “since birth, I have had no concept of a normal life like other children.” [32, p.23], “I calmly accepted it as a matter of course.” [32, p.280 ]. Those confessions further demonstrate the character's loneliness.
That loneliness became even more intense when Mom - the only remaining relative in the family - did not talk to me, and seemed to leave me alone. As if by programming, every time it was time, she would bring food up, sometimes bring up a book... Left me alone in that room of life. The character's life was framed
and programming in a monotonous, boring way. “ The books in the room were read over and over again until each one was memorized” and then, “ After discovering the intense mystery – the moonlight. “I” began to long to rise and finally I escaped from the box that had imprisoned me for more than ten years.” [32, p.280] . Because of the longing to escape the overwhelming loneliness every day, every hour, loneliness became an illusionary disease. And I left as if to end my weary, lonely, and confined human life.
Also carrying an incomplete form, just a “pretty-faced mannequin” in life, Cún in the short story of the same name by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp is also a character carrying within himself the loneliness of his own nature. “His entire short life had only the desire to become a human being but could not…” Cún came into the world after being rejected by his parents. Then one day “ people found Cún in a sewer beside a canal on the outskirts of the city. The river was black with sewage, full of trash, scraps of paper and dusty clumps of water hyacinth[…]. Cún lay in a pile of smelly, torn diapers, his head and feet purple from the wind” [59]. A prediction for the miserable, ups and downs, and overwhelming life of suffering that Cún had to face. Cún had no parents, no relatives, no name that was truly human. It was enough to see how disadvantaged, lost and far removed Cún was from the community. Puppy was adopted by Lao Ha, but Lao Ha turned Puppy into a money-making tool for him. There were times when Puppy realized his own weariness and exhaustion in this life and “Pup was no stranger to human life[...] Life was full of uncertainty and meaninglessness. They lived like Puppy, like Lao Ha, like worms, crickets, bees, ants” [59]. Conscious of his own smallness and powerlessness in life, and most of all, not being accepted by the community as a real human being. Puppy was just a “pretty-faced mannequin” who could entertain them, Puppy was like a lonely, out-of-place entity in the human community where Puppy existed because “his eyes made everyone around him afraid to come near .”
Cún was also extremely happy and excited when he heard the news that he was going to be a father. Even though he couldn't see his child, day and night, Cún still longed, yearned, and yearned for him.
longingly waiting from the outside in. And finally, Puppy died after hearing his baby's cry.
Puppy was lonely since he came into this world: No name, no origin, no family. Growing up, he became an unknown person, a tool for making money, a toy for others to use. Puppy also longed to be human, longed to escape that miserable and cowardly human life, but in the end, he also died alone. Puppy's life and fate were similar to Nam Cao's Chi Pheo. Chi was also brought home by someone from an old brick kiln. Then Chi's life was just that of a "lonely" man, a tool for others to command. After his fateful meeting with Thi No, Chi also dreamed of becoming an honest person, of returning to normal life, to be accepted by the community. However, when his conscience was awakened, he also chose to leave forever.
When learning about the lonely character from the essence, readers will encounter many more in contemporary prose works. That is the loneliness of a disabled person - Ton in No King (Nguyen Huy Thiep) was rejected by his siblings in the family. There is also the loneliness of a lost "angel" like baby Hon in Thien Su by Pham Thi Hoai . From birth, the character has had many differences from his peers: "When he was born, he did not cry but only smiled to make friends." "He ate little, slept little, only smiled", until "When he learned to speak, baby Hon only knew one sentence: "Kiss me!". And " He did not have any features of a family member." [52] Those strange things showed that Baby Hon is a lost, loneliest being. Baby Hon always opens her tiny, pink lips, whispering "Kiss me". But people have more things to do than kisses. Mother snapped: "Go somewhere else, what's with the scent, I don't have time to open my eyes." [52] ; Father got angry: "Enough, enough, enough, you're making my face all wet." [52] ; The eldest brother shouted: "Get lost!"
Everyone was still busy with making a living, no longer having time to care about their own feelings, especially Baby Hon's feelings. Baby Hon had no choice but to walk away alone, then she slept forever. She had gone forever, because here, in the middle of the family, no one wanted to receive her angelic kiss.
Through studying the loneliness that exists within the character, we see that loneliness is a psychological state that exists in every person. And in each case, circumstance and personality of the person, that loneliness manifests in different forms. The character is not only lonely in nature. But the character is also lonely in many aspects of social life.
2.2. The character is lonely because he cannot integrate with real life.
This is a common type of lonely character in contemporary prose. The character lives among family, friends, colleagues, relatives; lives among villages, communities, and society but always feels abandoned, as if excluded from the community due to differences, so he cannot integrate. The individual is self-conscious and separates himself, standing out from the common standard. He is a victim of loneliness, being alone.
2.2.1. The character is lonely because of being out of time
The type of lonely character in the community appeared in human literature early with masterpieces such as: The Stranger, The Myth of Sisyphus by A. Camus; The Metamorphosis , The Trial by F. Kapka; Nausea by JP Sartre... Those are people of the "lost generation" , thrown into the furnace of two world wars and came out as taciturn people, living without hope, without faith and becoming strangers to everything. Some contemporary prose writers have also exploited and expressed this type of character such as: Bao Ninh, Le Luu, Nguyen Minh Chau, Ma Van Khang, Ho Anh Thai, Chu Lai, Nguyen Huy Thiep,... Through this type of character, writers want to reflect a truth: When the market economy, industrial civilization opens up, the pragmatic lifestyle like a whirlwind floods into every corner of life, people become lonely, lost because they cannot adapt to it. Especially for soldiers returning from war, the reality of current life makes them feel insecure, lost, lonely as if walking in the middle of a vast desert, feeling that life is not for them. Being alienated from life and people, they move more slowly, even on the sidelines of life, realizing themselves as "redundant", "out of date".
Soldiers who came out of the war had to carry both physical and mental wounds that could not be healed. Returning to peacetime life, they encountered loneliness and isolation among their families, relatives, colleagues and the movements of society. Peacetime life had always been a dream and a desire during their years on the battlefield. A whole youth was spent on the battlefield with noble ideals, and a lot of blood and bones of themselves and their comrades had been shed. They thought that in peacetime life they would be compensated, happy and would have a place for themselves. However, that happiness and joy were a distant concept. They struggled, faltered, and felt disappointed by the chaotic changes of reality. Life had changed, and it seemed that life had gone a long way beyond them, leaving them behind. The more they tried to catch up, the more they felt out of breath and exhausted, as if life was no longer for them. Being slow in the struggle to make a living, they cannot avoid confusion, disappointment and sadness. But their loneliness and isolation are also expressed in their relationships with their fellow human beings and relatives. In the current life they are facing every day, they are like passersby, sometimes they even feel like an extra person. The victorious soldiers returning from the common war of the whole nation, now "alone in maintaining a peaceful life for themselves, for their families and for society" (Ton Phuong Lan). Those things make them have to face the torment in their thoughts and emotions, they feel difficult and almost deadlocked in integrating into the current life, so they fall into a feeling of sadness, loneliness, feeling "lost", "bewildered", "bewildered" among people.
General Thuan in Nguyen Huy Thiep's The Retired General is such a lonely character. His whole life was attached to guns and bullets, he joined the army at the age of twenty, and retired at the age of seventy " with the rank of Major General ", an exemplary commander, a shining example in the eyes of everyone: "In the family, my father was always an image of honor and pride. In the family, in the village, my father's name was also known by everyone.