The Mountains Sing

As the matriarch of the family, Diệu Lan feels a strong connection to motherhood as a mother and grandma. When retelling her stories, Diệu Lan associates having children with happiness; the early years of her marriage and motherhood are the “happiest years” of Diệu Lan’s life, where “happiness burrowed deep” under her skin and “no one could take it away” from her (32). After the Great Hunger, her family business “started to blossom,” as well as her love for her husband, which results in the births of Thuận and Hanh, with Diệu Lan wanting “many more” children (93). Diệu Lan sees having children as a blessing and relates her personal stability, love, and happiness with having children. Thus, Diệu Lan is devastated and burdened by the guilt of having to separate her children on her way to Hà Nội; she believes that by doing so, she had “become the worst mother” (197).