Family life is very important to the Vietnamese people. Families had a lot of respect for their ancestors, their current parents and those to come. In the Vietnamese family, sons respected their father. Everyone respected the dead and believed in the importance of proper burial of the dead. The survival and honor of the family rested on these beliefs. During the war, Kien lost these values: his father was not properly respected, the dead were not buried properly and were even forgotten. After the war, the Kien spends his time struggling to return to these values ​​and purge his soul of these sins. At the beginning of the novel, we learn that Kien never understood his father. Kien also states that he understands "why his mother left his father and came to live with this wise and caring man." (Ninh, 59). It seems that Kien does not respect his father as his culture dictates. However, it tells a story of life with his father before the war in which the reader learns that although he does not understand his father, Kien respects and cares for him. “Every time he entered his father's attic studio, Kien's heart ached and he choked with compassion…. Twice a day, Kien brought frugal meals to his father…” (Ninh, 124). Kien may not have a close father-son relationship with his father, but he still takes care of his father, like a son should. It is only when he struggles to organize his chaotic life after the war that Kien understands his father. “Only now, in his middle age, could Kien truly understand those years.” (Ninh, 124). Proper burial of ...... middle of paper ...... appeased soldier, Tung, whom Kien forgot. “Maybe it was Tung. What do you think, Kien? “Tung who?” » » asked Kien. 'Cou Tung. The guard, you don't remember?' » (Ninh, 97 years old). Yet after the war, Kien cannot stop remembering all those who died. “He first mistook her for a jungle girl named Hoa… Then, horribly, for a naked girl at the Saigon airport on April 30, 1975.” (Ninh, 113). Kien returned to his pre-war culture of remembering the dead. The thirty years that the Vietnamese spent fighting the war destroyed the value system of Vietnamese culture. The war devastated the country, villages and families. After the war, the Vietnamese began to rebuild their way of life. The character of Kien, in The Sorrow of War, shows the plight of the Vietnamese people before, during and after the Vietnam War..