Comparing Culture in the Poems, What Were They Like, and Night of the Scorpion

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The poem “What were they like” can be compared to the poem “Night of the scorpion.” They are both related to culture. In “What were they like”, the poet describes events about the Vietnamese people before the war and in “Night of the scorpion”, the poet is describing an event that happened to his mother. Both poems are related to culture and they use poetry as a form of story telling.

In the poem “What were they like”, it is showing the relations of the Vietnamese people amongst each other. It is showing how the people got together for “ceremonies to reverence the opening of buds.” This shows that they must have been a close community and it also shows that this must have been the tradition of their ancestors. Similarly, in “Night of the scorpion”, even though it is not a cause for celebration, the people are shown to be a close community by the way they all have come to the mothers aid. It also shows the relation between the poet, his mother, father and neighbours. They are trying “every curse and blessing, powder, mixture” to cure the mother. This also shows us that they must have...

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