help ethnic people gradually escape from backward customs, habits, and lifestyles, have a fresh perspective on science, and believe in modern medicine
Nurse Nhin in the short storyA Day Off is also a doctor who is devoted to her patients. She sacrificed her only day of reunion with her husband who had been away for years to take care of her patients. Nhin had been married for almost a year, but apart from seven days off for the wedding, he had not been home for eleven months. This time he was allowed to take a day off, Nhin had been looking forward to that day so much, but before she could have a full meal with her husband, with the heart of a dedicated doctor, she hurriedly went to deliver a baby. She hoped that the baby would give birth easily and that she would be able to go home before nine o'clock. However, the baby had a hemorrhage, and with her responsibility as a doctor, Nhin decided to stay and take care of the baby even though she knew her husband was anxiously waiting at home. When the patient was stable, Nhin left at three o'clock in the morning. The next morning, the patient's family called again, and she prepared medicine to treat a baby with pneumonia. Although she knew that at 3:00 p.m. her husband had to get back to work, a person's life was in her hands, if she went back, the child would have a hard time surviving, so she decided to stay. By curing the child's illness, she also hoped to help the child's mother see the effects of the medicine, because in the past, people only worshiped mo and then when their children were sick, and only called the doctor when they were in danger. So, having to spend a rare weekend off to fulfill her duty as a doctor, she no longer had time to say goodbye to her husband before he left for work.
Thus, it can be seen that the "white lilies" in the works of writer Vi Thi Kim Binh are all honest, simple, devoted, and capable women who always sacrifice themselves for others and are very passionate about their work... Through her works, the writer wants to affirm and praise the personality and bravery of female doctors who love their profession and are devoted to their patients.
accepting hardships and deprivation to save people, to bring life as well as joy and happiness to patients. Although life is still full of hardships and deprivations, "fire tests gold, hardships test strength", it is these difficulties that have brightened the enduring vitality and strong will of the people in the mountainous areas here. That vitality, that will to live is the driving force, the source of strength that helps people overcome the thorns and challenges in life. In all circumstances, they always know how to overcome the difficulties and challenges in war, reaching the beautiful heights of life, of the new era. Their silent, affectionate, persistent, and great contributions are also one of the profound sources that create strength for the resistance of the whole nation. " The white lilies" rich in sacrifice and compassion have brought to readers "Joy" , "Bright Spots" and an undying belief in the miraculous power of humans. Those are wild flowers - beautiful in a simple way but fragrant, they help heal many wounds of the body and soul of people.
2.2.2. Mountain people facing opportunities and challenges in the country's opening period.
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The country is developing day by day, the life of ethnic minorities in the mountainous border areas has changed a lot following the trend of modernization with new people. Vi Thi Kim Binh's works also have movements to adapt to that change of society. The focus of the realistic picture in Vi Thi Kim Binh's works at this time is the mountainous people facing the opportunities and challenges in the process of building a new life in the period of opening and integration.
Studying the short stories of Vi Thi Kim Binh, we see that the image of the mountain people in the new period is portrayed by the writer quite diversely and richly. With gentle, simple and profound everyday stories, with people who are very close and familiar, Vi Thi Kim Binh's short stories
Thi Kim Binh always contains values of praise, affirming the good qualities of people. It shows the writer's belief and respect for people.
In the open-door period, the mountainous border area of Lang Son has many opportunities to develop. That development depends on many factors (environment, geography, ...) but one of the most important factors is the human factor. Writer Vi Thi Kim Binh has grasped that topical issue to build an artistic image of new people in the process of building a modern life in this border area with one of the largest border gates in the North.
During this period, the characters appearing in the writer's works are people full of enthusiasm, dare to think, dare to do, have strong faith in their own strength and in the future. They will be the people who contribute to changing the lives of people in this difficult and challenging border area.
As an ethnic nurse, Xuyen (The Story of Mrs. Su) understands better than anyone the stagnation and conservatism in the thinking and lifestyle of ethnic people. Changing them is not easy because those are bad customs that have been deeply ingrained in the thinking of the people here. If we only propagate, it will be very difficult to change them. That is why, in addition to advising and reminding Mrs. Su many times, Xuyen also had to "cure her so that she could understand herself and hope that everyone would understand like her" [5, p.41] . With her enthusiasm and practical effectiveness of medical progress, Xuyen not only cured Mrs. Su but also saved her grandchild's life. Her actions made a "stubborn" patient like Mrs. Su believe in advanced science, believe in modern medicine and realize that: "after nearly a lifetime of hard work in darkness, today she finds her life truly happy and joyful" [5, p.41]. 44] .
The young Tay ethnic doctor in the short story Dom Sang is the same. With the desire to cure eye diseases for her ethnic people, Duyen has constantly researched documents and learned from the experiences of those who went before. With enthusiasm, determination, sense of responsibility and skillful hands, Duyen has successfully performed many surgeries, bringing light to many patients. Patients who are cured and healthy after being discharged from the hospital will be the most practical answer for ethnic people to believe in modern science.
The character Quang in the short story The Green Scarf is also a typical representative of the new people who dare to think and dare to do. Quang is a forestry engineer who is attached to and loves the beauty of his homeland Lang. Quang chose the forestry profession because with that profession he will be able to go to the forest a lot, and by going to the forest a lot, he will discover many beautiful scenes of his homeland. Ever since he was a high school student, Quang had a bold initiative in planting trees and reforesting, which was to plant trees in meaningful lines of words. Quang's initiative quickly spread to all classes of people, making "no hill left empty" in Lang Son . The jubilant atmosphere of "planting trees and reforesting" in Lang Son lasted from year to year. Then, the border war broke out, causing the hills that Quang and everyone planted to be severely destroyed. Despite the pain and sorrow, Quang and everyone will be determined to replant trees on the commemorative lines. He and many others will continue to plant trees and precious woods for the green and wealth of their homeland and country.
In the short story Fairy Dream, the author borrowed the story of little Hoan's dream of assembling a spaceship to express his desire to approach modern science and technology to build his homeland more and more prosperous. The ship that Hoan dreamed of assembling was very unique. It "looked like a bamboo shoot. There were two seats in the cabin. There was a door and a
folding stairs. There is enough food and water in the cabin. I researched a special type of fabric made from tree bark. The clothes can withstand high temperatures and even low temperatures. The ship runs on a special type of oil, pressed from a fruit found in the forest" [7, p. 617] . All the materials I used to build my ship were taken from nature, from the forest. So right from the idea, I had the awareness to protect the environment. Through Hoan's story, the author also wants to affirm that the people of the mountains are people who dare to think, dare to do, have strong faith in their own strength and in the future.
With a strong belief in the good qualities of human beings, in Vi Thi Kim Binh's works, good people, people from the mountainous regions with beautiful souls and personalities are always in the majority. They are people from the region who are altruistic, always maintaining their personality and dignity in all circumstances. They are mirrors for other characters and readers to "look at themselves" . We can recognize those people in works such as: Ripe Grape Trellis, In the Window Frame , Late First Love , Torchlight by the Stream, Magical Dream...
When he was young, Mr. Thuan, in the short story "Ripe Grapes" , was a teacher who devoted himself to his students and always tried his best to nurture them so that they would later become talented and virtuous people. Many times, even though he was still lying under a blanket because he had just recovered from a fever, when he saw his students coming to ask for answers, he still tried to sit up, pick up a pen and a piece of scrap paper to show them the difficult and tricky things in math problems that they had not yet found a way to solve. In addition to imparting knowledge to his students, he always reminded his students of small things in daily life. His life was closely tied to the podium, the blackboard, the white chalk and the playful sounds of his students. When he retired, he was still just a poor teacher, but he always felt proud of having fulfilled his duty. And it was only when he retired that he had time to become an economist.
The teacher turned an abandoned plot of land into a garden with many rare fruit trees. He also raised a herd of piglets in the hope that these pigs would "collect bricks, tiles, beams, and rafters for him to build a small, sturdy house in case of storms" [7, p. 358] . Although his working life was difficult, he still felt happy because he lived by his own sweat and effort. And for him, the most precious reward was seeing his students grow up and become useful people to society.
Being kind and forgiving is one of the most admirable qualities of the people in the highlands. Even though they are harmed, deceived and taken advantage of by others, they do not become angry or seek revenge. On the contrary, when they have the opportunity, they still open their hearts to help those who have harmed them in the past. Their motto in life is to take humanity as the root. The oriental medicine doctor in the short story In the Window is such a person. Although he was previously cut off from his salary and rice by the district secretary and even signed a letter to the province to fire him, when he was sick and needed medicine to stop bleeding, this oriental medicine doctor still enthusiastically prescribed medicine and repeatedly reminded him how to prepare and take the medicine. Then when he was lucky enough to win the lottery, in addition to treating the villagers, giving money to families of war invalids and martyrs and the poorest households in the commune, he also spent some money to visit the district secretary. That action made his altruistic and noble heart shine. For those in the same situation, he wholeheartedly loved and helped, and for those who had caused him difficulties, he was also ready to forgive. The tolerance of the "honest, pure, strong-willed, and unjustly wronged" oriental medicine doctor [7] was always a haunting, tormenting, and regretful feeling for the district secretary until his death.
If in the previous period, writer Vi Thi Kim Binh's works mainly focused on praising women in the medical profession, then in some of her short stories in the later period, the writer deeply reflected and praised women in the medical profession.
Ethnic women with gentle, rustic, and honest nature. Although each person has a different situation and fate, they always know how to overcome their circumstances, live with tolerance and forgiveness, and sometimes accept personal sacrifices to save the best for life.
Huong in the short story "Torchlight by the Stream" is a kind-hearted girl, full of love. The war took away her fiancé. From then on, she became quiet, refused to marry anyone, and besides work, she only focused on taking care of her orphaned niece. But then she met Thang, a soldier on duty to protect the Fatherland at the border. Love blossomed from the meeting between two people, two souls who had suffered much loss and pain because of the war, like a torch that seemed to have died out and been extinguished, but now "lit up, burned brightly, and strongly" [7, p. 186] .
As a woman past her prime, teacher Nhan in Late First Love has experienced many bitterness and misfortunes in life. For many years of being single, Nhan has "created for herself a warm, happy life. The happiness of a person who lives a disciplined and strong-willed life" [7, p. 422] . On a train, she met Hung again, the person who first made Nhan's heart flutter. That chance encounter connected two hearts that seemed to have skipped a beat to beat together. However, Nhan still felt afraid that she would not bring happiness to Thang because of the calcifications on her lungs, she was afraid that she would not have children. But for Hung, those things were not as great as the love he had for her. For him, "the calcifications scattered on the lungs of teachers were noble medals" [7, p. 430] and he was very proud of that. Their wedding was the happy ending of a late but happy first love.
The character Huong in the short story Magical Dream is also a loyal and compassionate woman. She did not hesitate to face difficulties and hardships to find the remains of martyr Hung. Before, Hung and Huong loved each other,
But due to family circumstances and the war, they could not be together. During the war, Hung sacrificed himself and no one was there to take his remains back to his homeland. That haunted Huong, making her increasingly emaciated. And then Huong confided that to Thanh, her current husband. Thanh not only was not jealous of his wife's past, agreed to let her go find Hung's remains, but he also went with her to "take" Hung back. That was a very meaningful act, demonstrating the morality of "remembering the source of water when drinking" of people who never forget their comrades and teammates who once fought and sacrificed.
Thus, it can be seen that the image of the mountain people in Vi Thi Kim Binh's works leaves a deeper impression on the readers' hearts. That impression is created by the transformation in the construction of character images from the traditional writing style to the writing style that applies many modern elements, from surface generalization to deep psychological analysis, more diverse and multifaceted. The mountain people and their lives are portrayed by the author in his works as closely as people in real life. When approaching them, we feel like we are living together, suffering together, pitying each other and accepting love and sympathy. Through the image of those loyal and kind mountain people, the writer wants to express absolute faith in human personality.
In the process of building a new life in the mountains, besides the opportunities opened up for ethnic minorities, there are also challenges. One of those challenges is the moral degradation and human degeneration. Reading the short story collection Half of a Woman by the Muong ethnic female writer Ha Thi Cam Anh, we always see the image of people being degraded by the new complex environment in most of this writer's stories. They live together very ungrateful, hypocritical, greedy for money and status ( Stolen Life ) ; very cruel (Dowry); or corrupted and depraved (Half of a Woman).