Exploring the My Lai Massacre Through the lens of Thanh Thao and Kate Wilhelm

Tam Thanh Nguyen; Nhat Huu Ho

doi:10.31893/multiscience.2026479

Keywords:

Abstract

The My Lai Massacre, a tragic incident during the Vietnam War, resulted in the killing of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by a small group of American soldiers on March 16, 1968. Although the atrocity exposed a moment of profound moral collapse at the individual level, it did not represent the principles or broader conduct of either the United States or the Republic of Vietnam. Its shockwaves nevertheless reverberated internationally, shaping global memory and inspiring diverse artistic responses. Thanh Thao’s epic poem Children of Son My and Kate Wilhelm’s short novel The Village offer divergent yet complementary interpretations of the event, illuminating both Vietnamese and Western engagements with its legacy. The later creation of the My Lai Peace Park as a living monument to reconciliation further underscores the enduring global effort to confront the massacre’s moral implications. Within this wider historical landscape, the Republic of Vietnam (1955–1975) stood as one of the most peaceful, culturally vibrant, and forward-looking societies in Southeast Asia—an often-overlooked civic order whose stability and humanistic aspirations sharply contrast with the aberrational nature of the tragedy. This study investigates how Thanh Thao and Kate Wilhelm depict the My Lai Massacre in their respective works, emphasizing literature’s role in memorializing past crimes, fostering empathy, and critiquing systemic violence. The research employs a comparative literary approach, integrating historical inquiry, literary theory, and close textual analysis to examine the interplay between historical reality and artistic imagination. Thanh Thao’s poem foregrounds communal endurance and cultural regeneration, framing the massacre as inseparable from Vietnam’s national consciousness. Wilhelm’s narrative, in contrast, emphasizes the moral tension faced by individuals confronting the consequences of violence, subtly reaffirming the humane civic values that characterized the Republic of Vietnam during the same period. Through distinct aesthetic strategies, Thanh Thao and Kate Wilhelm transform the My Lai Massacre from a historical event into a universal meditation on suffering, resilience, and moral responsibility.
References
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2. Andersen, T. S., & Borčak, F. W. (2022). Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience. Memory Studies, 15(6), 1517-1531. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980221134679
3. Bates, M. J. (2023). The wars we took to Vietnam: Cultural conflict and storytelling. Univ of California Press.
4. Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape. Simon & Schuster.
5. Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. Johns Hopkins University Press.
6. Catsam, D. C. (2024). Struggle for a Free South Africa: Campus Anti-Apartheid Movements in Africa and the United States, 1960–1994. Taylor & Francis.
7. Clair, J. S. (2023). The Last Child of My Lai: Pressure Drops. CounterPunch.
8. Cookman, C. (2007). An American atrocity: The My Lai massacre concretized in a victim's face. The Journal of American History, 94(1), 154-162. https://doi.org/10.2307/25094784
9. Enloe, C. (2000). Maneuvers: The international politics of militarizing women’s lives. University of California Press.
10. Gassner, P. (2009). Icons of war photography: how war photographs are reinforced in collective memory: a study of three historical reference images of war and conflict Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch].
11. Gray, T., & Martin, B. (2008). My Lai: the struggle over outrage. Peace & Change, 33(1), 90-113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0130.2007.00477.xx
12. Hamblet, W. C. (2003). The sacred monstrous: A reflection on violence in human communities. Lexington Books.
13. Hamm, S. D. (2023). Taming America’s Warriors: Assessing United States Military Discipline and Responses to Law of War Violations, 1943-2004 University of Leeds].
14. Hom, S. K., & Yamamoto, E. K. (1999). Collective memory, history, and social justice. UCLA L. Rev., 47, 1747.
15. Isaacs, A. R. (2000). Vietnam shadows: The war, its ghosts, and its legacy. JHU Press.
16. Kwon, H. (2006). After the massacre: Commemoration and consolation in Ha My and My Lai (Vol. 14). Univ of California Press.
17. Lerner, A. B. (2022). From the ashes of history: collective trauma and the making of international politics. Oxford University Press.
18. Levesque, C. J. (2018). The Truth Behind My Lai. New York Times (Online).
19. Lippman, M. (1993). War crimes: the My Lai massacre and the Vietnam War. San Diego Just. J., 1, 295.
20. Musiał, A. K. (2018). " An American Tragedy": Strategies of Representing Victimhood in American Narratives of the War in Vietnam Faculty of Humanities].
21. O’brien, T. (1990). The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried.
22. Oliver, K. (2006). The My Lai massacre in American history and memory. Manchester University Press.
23. Osiel, M. J. (1995). Ever again: Legal remembrance of administrative massacre. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 144(2), 463-704. https://doi.org/10.2307/3312631
24. Schlegel, A. (1995). My lai:‘We lie, they die’ Or, a small history of an ‘atrocious’ photograph. Third Text, 9(31), 47-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528829508576544
25. Thao, T. (1997). Children of Son My [Trẻ con ở Sơn Mỹ]. Literature Publishing House.
26. Tzanetou, A. (2022). The Soldier's Dilemma (Foreword: Angeliki Tzanetou). Illinois classical studies, 47(1), 177-224. https://doi.org/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/869625.
27. Wilhelm, K. (1973). The Village. In Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings. Harper & Row.
28. Wilson, J. (2022). Bugging Out: Protest Music, the Vietnam War and the American Counterculture Queen's University (Canada).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite

Nguyen, T. T., & Ho, N. H. (2025). Exploring the My Lai Massacre Through the lens of Thanh Thao and Kate Wilhelm. Multidisciplinary Science Journal, 8(6), 2026479. https://doi.org/10.31893/multiscience.2026479

[1] An, M. B. (2008). Characteristics of the epic poem Thu Bon, Nguyen Khoa Diem and Thanh Thao [Đặc điểm trường ca Thu Bồn, Nguyễn Khoa Điềm và Thanh Thảo]

[2] Andersen, T. S., & Borčak, F. W. (2022). Memory conflicts and memory grey zones: War memory in Bosnia–Herzegovina between public memory disputes, literary narratives and personal experience. Memory Studies, 15(6), 1517-1531. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980221134679

[3] Bates, M. J. (2023). The wars we took to Vietnam: Cultural conflict and storytelling. Univ of California Press.

[4] Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape. Simon & Schuster.

[5] Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed experience: Trauma, narrative, and history. Johns Hopkins University Press.

[6] Catsam, D. C. (2024). Struggle for a Free South Africa: Campus Anti-Apartheid Movements in Africa and the United States, 1960–1994. Taylor & Francis.

[7] Clair, J. S. (2023). The Last Child of My Lai: Pressure Drops. CounterPunch.

[8] Cookman, C. (2007). An American atrocity: The My Lai massacre concretized in a victim's face. The Journal of American History, 94(1), 154-162. https://doi.org/10.2307/25094784

[9] Enloe, C. (2000). Maneuvers: The international politics of militarizing women’s lives. University of California Press.

[10] Gassner, P. (2009). Icons of war photography: how war photographs are reinforced in collective memory: a study of three historical reference images of war and conflict Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch].

[11] Gray, T., & Martin, B. (2008). My Lai: the struggle over outrage. Peace & Change, 33(1), 90-113. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0130.2007.00477.xx

[12] Hamblet, W. C. (2003). The sacred monstrous: A reflection on violence in human communities. Lexington Books.

[13] Hamm, S. D. (2023). Taming America’s Warriors: Assessing United States Military Discipline and Responses to Law of War Violations, 1943-2004 University of Leeds].

[14] Hom, S. K., & Yamamoto, E. K. (1999). Collective memory, history, and social justice. UCLA L. Rev., 47, 1747.

[15] Isaacs, A. R. (2000). Vietnam shadows: The war, its ghosts, and its legacy. JHU Press.

[16] Kwon, H. (2006). After the massacre: Commemoration and consolation in Ha My and My Lai (Vol. 14). Univ of California Press.

[17] Lerner, A. B. (2022). From the ashes of history: collective trauma and the making of international politics. Oxford University Press.

[18] Levesque, C. J. (2018). The Truth Behind My Lai. New York Times (Online).

[19] Lippman, M. (1993). War crimes: the My Lai massacre and the Vietnam War. San Diego Just. J., 1, 295.

[20] Musiał, A. K. (2018). " An American Tragedy": Strategies of Representing Victimhood in American Narratives of the War in Vietnam Faculty of Humanities].

[21] O’brien, T. (1990). The Things They Carried. The Things They Carried.

[22] Oliver, K. (2006). The My Lai massacre in American history and memory. Manchester University Press.

[23] Osiel, M. J. (1995). Ever again: Legal remembrance of administrative massacre. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 144(2), 463-704. https://doi.org/10.2307/3312631

[24] Schlegel, A. (1995). My lai:‘We lie, they die’ Or, a small history of an ‘atrocious’ photograph. Third Text, 9(31), 47-66. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528829508576544

[25] Thao, T. (1997). Children of Son My [Trẻ con ở Sơn Mỹ]. Literature Publishing House.

[26] Tzanetou, A. (2022). The Soldier's Dilemma (Foreword: Angeliki Tzanetou). Illinois classical studies, 47(1), 177-224. https://doi.org/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/869625.

[27] Wilhelm, K. (1973). The Village. In Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings. Harper & Row.

[28] Wilson, J. (2022). Bugging Out: Protest Music, the Vietnam War and the American Counterculture Queen's University (Canada).

Abstract

References

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