Part 3, p. 72 - 106 Summary

This section begins with Kien's return to Hanoi after the war and his encounter with fellow soldier Hien, whom he sleeps with on the train ride home and who tells him to not hope to see her again. When he finally reunites with Phuong, he finds out that she has been with another man. However, she breaks up with him in order to be with Kien. Their once idealized love, however, is soon poisoned by their mutual recollection of Phuong's lover and by their unspoken awareness of their history. They soon break up. After some months of misery, Kien stares into the rain when he has flashbacks to his time as a soldier and then experiences a surge of creative energy. He spends an entire night writing down his memories of combat.

Later that day, Kien walks through a...