Peter Zinoman's The Colonial Bastille: A History of Imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862-1940 recalls the period of mass imprisonment of Vietnamese citizens and political revolutionaries in French Indochina by the Colonial Regime. He uses an abundance of sources that range from inmate and French memoirs of individuals present throughout this period that were published during the 60's, 70's, and 80's as well as accounts from numerous scholars on the topic. Zinoman expresses through his research the turmoil that Vietnamese inmates faced through the Colonial period and how it united them in a common goal to oppose the French Regimes through these political factions.
A primary focus that Zinoman tries to portray throughout this text is the sense of prison life and how it effected the inmates to create a common goal of opposing the French. Prisons during this period were ill-disciplined and poorly structured. Throughout the text are examples of how prison life made inmates withstand physical hardships but also emotional strains as well. Prisoners were mentally scorned by the conditions of prison life and length of time they would have to spend away from their families, as well as those who lost their families by going away to prison due their lower class status. This left inmates with the decision to end their suffering quickly or create bonds with their new family within the prison walls.
An account from the memoir of a political inmate claimed that upon his release his comrades shared tears of anguish and embraced their brother upon his departure. It was through these impenetrable ties and a common enemy that restructured the Communist party within the Colonial prison. The Thai Nguyen Rebellion was a common acknowledgment of this idea because Phan Boi Chau's Restoration Society lead to an abundance of political prisoners within the Thai Nguyen prison. Accounts from published memoirs claimed that inmates from over 30 different provinces banded together in this valiant revolt against the French Regime.
The Colonial Bastille offers an in depth analysis of how the Colonial prisons brought forth a restructured and even stronger revolutionary revolt than ever seen before in previous years. It exclaims how prison created the perfect environment for establishing an underground faction of political independence regimes. It served as an ideal atmosphere to practice the principles of Leninism by centralizing themselves with secrecy and discipline. Prison also gave these political inmates the means of French opposed prisoners to strengthen their numbers by guiding them into the Communist light.
Peter Zinoman's The Colonial Bastille is an extremely well written and informative realization of how Communism had reawakened during the Colonial era and possibly led to Vietnamese independence from the French. The published memoir's from actual political inmates provided within this book expressed the actualization of how prisons transformed into schools for Communist and Anti-Colonial revolutionaries.
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2 comments:
Perhaps some specific examples from the text would help reinforce the main points of the text. Very interesting accounts of how all these different Communist united to fight the French. Maybe say a little bit about the basic beliefs of Communism when referencing Lenin. The fact that these are all memoirs makes this novel very interesting. This also gives more credibility to the arguments in that it provides primary sources. Overall the evaluation of the text is good. The writer provides a good framework for how the Vietnamese were treated during the French rule. With this good framework perhaps a couple of examples from the text to back up the main points would benefit the interpretation of the text. The synopsis of this text is very well organized and brings up a lot of interesting points in how the French were so oppressive to the Vietnamese people.
The first paragraph of the text portion is solid. It clearly lays out how Zinoman came up with the text. It also clearly lays out his thesis statement which allows the reader to understand the following paragraphs. In the second paragraph I think affect should be used in the first sentence because it is used as a verb.
In regards to the rest of the text I think you should go into a little more depth talking about the Thai Nguyen rebellion to give the reader a little more context on that theme. Overall the information about what the author is trying to convey seems right on. The importance of prison on the growth of the communist movement is undeniable. It can be labeled as one of the top reasons for the communist party coming to power in Vietnam. In prison they were able to band together and make a communist school out of their time in prison.
You may want to include a few more examples to further show Zinoman's point. A few more examples will add more depth to the overall thesis of Zinoman's work.
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