52 pages • 1 hour read
Monique TruongThe Book of Salt
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: French-Occupied Vietnam
France occupied Vietnam, known then as French Indochina, from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. This period marked significant social, economic, and political change in Vietnam. The French initially took control of Vietnam through a series of military campaigns, culminating in the establishment of the colony in 1887, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Under French rule, Vietnam underwent substantial infrastructure development to facilitate the extraction and export of resources such as rubber, coal, and rice. French colonial policies also introduced Western education, legal systems, and administrative practices. However, these developments primarily served French economic interests and often disregarded local needs and traditions.
The Vietnamese population experienced significant hardships during this period. Traditional social structures were disrupted, and many Vietnamese farmers lost their land to French settlers and colonial enterprises, leading to widespread poverty and social unrest. French cultural influence permeated Vietnamese society, particularly in urban areas, leading to a blend of Vietnamese and French customs and architecture.
Resistance to French rule grew over time, fueled by nationalist sentiments and the desire for independence. This resistance eventually culminated in the First Indochina War (1946-1954), which ended with the Geneva Accords and the withdrawal of French forces from Vietnam, setting the stage for the subsequent Vietnam War. The legacy of French occupation remains evident in various aspects of Vietnamese culture, such as in the development of French-Vietnamese cuisine, which features in the novel.
Cultural Context: Racialization and Status in French Indochina
The novel explores the experience of those colonized both when they live in their home country of French Indochina and the country of their colonizers. Binh, his family, and the man on the bridge portray what it’s like to be Vietnamese under French colonial rule of Vietnam.
The colonizing regime others Vietnamese people, referring to them as “Orientals” or “Asiatiques.” As the man on the bridge explains to Binh,
‘The French are all right in France.’ What he meant, […] was that when the French are in their colonies they lose their natural inclination toward fraternity, equality, and liberty. They leave those ideals behind in Mother France, leaving them free to treat us like bastards in the land of our birth (137).
When Binh and his brother Anh Minh work in the Governor-General’s residence, their employers cannot see them as anything other than servile second-class citizens. Despite his culinary skills and talent, Anh Minh can never become the Governor-General’s head chef because he is Vietnamese, not white. When Binh and Chef Bleriot have an affair, Binh gets the blame and the dismissal—not because the pair is gay but because the Madame cannot tolerate the cross-class and interracial aspects of their relationship: “Madame was a snob but not a prude. She did not care about the relations of two men, just as long as they were of the same social standing and, of course, race” (132).
In Paris, Binh’s relationship with the white French people who colonized his home country changes. He categorizes his potential employers either as out-and-out racists who reject him immediately based on his race or as collectors of sad stories who see him as an object of curiosity and pity. Americans like Stein and Toklas have a differently condescending attitude—they offer a benign racism that offers Binh and Lattimore kindness and tolerance but never fully includes them or treats them as equals.
