Miss Saigon Character Analysis

There were two contrasting types of relationships between the Vietnamese women and the American soldiers. The opening scene in “Miss Saigon” begins with the American soldiers in a brothel full of Vietnamese women. Many of the girls that worked in the brothel would entice and sell their bodies to the people that came in, so that they could make money off them. Many of the American soldiers would get drawn in and would hook up with prostitutes, as the cost was relatively cheap (Westheider 91). Many of the soldiers were only looking for a quick hookup; never wanting to start a serious relationship, often the soldiers would get lonesome and desire a companion, so the bar girls would sit and flirt with them (Westheider 91). Some of the relationships

In “Miss Saigon”, there was a young lady named Kim, who had just started working at the brothel. She caught the attention of Chris who was an American soldier; the two ended up alone together. While their relationship was started off of pleasure, it evolved into a loving and intimate connection. Chris promised her that she would be with him always and that they would be married once they return to America. Although it appears that many of the relationships were paid flings, some of them truly cared and loved one another, “But according to the Amerasian mothers, many children were born from passionate couplings. The father of Cao Thi My Kieu was so smitten with her mother, a bar girl, that he put her into a rented apartment and promised she’d never have to sell her body again” (Winn). A situation very similar to the musical was with an American soldier that fell in love with a Vietnamese woman who got pregnant while they were together. The soldier did not want to get married, but he ended up marrying an American woman when he returned to the States. After his wife left him, he realized that he still loved the Vietnamese woman. He was later informed that his son and the boy’s mother were in America. He then contacted them and after meeting with them he fell in love all over again (Bass 195-197). Often one does not realize what they leave behind until it is too late, but people can

Many U.S. soldiers, already having a family and life of their own, did not want their lives to be disrupted by these children, who later become known as the “dust of life”. A Vietnamese woman fell pregnant by a soldier the same month that he left Vietnam. She kept the child and notified the father, but he refused to believe that the child was his. He continued to live his life in America with his American wife and three kids (Bass 103). When the veterans were contacted about their children that they did not know about: they would yell saying that they do not have children, they would disown them, and even call their children horrific names (Roberts). The Amerasian children were born into a life of poverty and misfortune. The children would live on the streets and people would accuse them of awful things; they lived as lower class, and many looked down on these kids because of where they derived from. The children who longed to have the American dream, got a life of hopelessness because their fathers had no desire to be in contact with them and help the children they brought into a place of war and