Kissing in Vietnamese

“Kissing in Vietnamese” provides a glimpse into the lives of people who have lived through war and how the effects echo through their lives even after the war is over. The speaker’s grandmother kisses him on the cheek, which is a seemingly ordinary activity, however, the way that she kisses him gives the speaker insight into the grandmother’s internal world. She continues to fear for his life, and secretly believes that the war is still happening, that death is everywhere, and that each kiss could be her last opportunity

The opening lines “My grandmother kisses / as if bombs are bursting in the backyard” (Lines 1-2) make it clear that in reality, the war is over. The “bombs” (Line 2) only go off in the grandmother’s mind, yet by drawing out this detail, the speaker demonstrates how vivid the world of war-torn Vietnam remains for the grandmother in her psyche. She can still smell “mint and jasmine […] / through the kitchen window” (Lines 3-4). She still feels the weight of knowing that anybody could get killed just by walking through a doorway. Vuong juxtaposes the vivid smells of “mint and jasmine” (Line 3) with the violent images of a child’s thigh being penetrated by “flames” (Line 6), a possible