[THE FEMALE REVENANT]

Giới hạn nào cho một người phụ nữ về mặt thể xác? Không một câu trả lời nào là chính xác tuyệt đối cho câu hỏi này, nhưng bà Trần Thị Lý thật sự sẽ kiến bạn “rùng mình” khâm phục khi biết được những gì mà bà đã trải qua. 

“Who is she? A girl or a fairy?”

Twenty-five years old. Three times incarcerated. Forty-two wounds. That's how people characterise her - a girl in her twenties with the scars of war imprinted on her body. Tran Thi Ly (Tran Thi Nham, 1933-1992) was a Hero of the People's Armed Forces who had the honour of meeting Uncle Ho three times. Having taken part in the revolution since she was twelve, the girl has dedicated nearly her whole life to the cause of national liberation. At the age of 18, when "the sun of truth shone through her heart", she joined the Communist Party and worked feverishly to liberate Southern Vietnam. After being jailed three times, with torture, struggle and extraordinary efforts, the heart of that resilient and defiant woman still glowed with a belief in peace, and a passion for human love and life. Perhaps, she along with the heroes, the anonymous women, and the "fairies" whose faces and names no one remembers, had contributed to a country’s golden page of history. 

“Fight until America goes away, fight until Nguy collapses”

Without dark nights, how could we see the faint, dazzling starlight? Without bombs or wars, how could there be the serenity but resilience, the gentleness but arrogance of a flower in the midst of fire? Having said that, how can we see her incredible fortitude and unwavering resolve without mentioning the crimes and brutal torture committed by not only the government of the Republic of Vietnam in particular but also wars that have left an imprint on her? Many times she escaped death on duty, many times her fear of dangers had not yet subsided, and the third time being captured, she was forced to endure excruciating torture in front of the enemy. She was taken prisoner by the Republic of Vietnam government in 1956 and subjected to a cruel torture regimen that included electric shock, stabbing, pouring soapy water, cutting her breasts with a knife, and using fire to burn her genitals to the point that she lost her fertility…, but that faithful woman still did not say a word. Sensitivities and private spaces are treated as if they were a valuable commodity, seemingly only to relieve pleasures, vanity, and ambitions that are dehumanising. It is incomprehensible to imagine why people could play countless corrupt "tricks", especially on a woman just over twenty years old. Could it be that no hearts have any little sympathy or little compassion for her? Or could it be that, just because of the struggles and "egos", those once shared Vietnamese blood, were then cruel to a woman without any pity? Alas, twenty years old! A beautiful age, yet sadly marred by the blood of savagery, sacrifices and bravery for the homeland.  

“Pain? - Never have we surrendered!”

Giữa năm 1958, Bệnh viện Việt – Xô đã tiếp nhận một bệnh nhân đặc biệt. Hồ sơ bệnh án ghi: “Trần Thị Nhâm (tức Lý), tuổi 25, quê Miền Nam, cân nặng: 26kg. Tình trạng bệnh nhân: Suy kiệt, luôn lên cơn co giật, có 42 vết thương trên người liên tục rỉ máu, đầu vú bị cắt còn loét nham nhở, bộ phận sinh dục chảy máu liên tục. Đọc lại những ghi chép của lịch sử, ta không khỏi bàng hoàng trước những dư chấn sau lần tra tấn tàn bạo ấy. Tháng 10 năm 1958, Trần Thị Lý bị tra tấn tới kiệt sức, phía Việt Nam Cộng Hòa cho rằng bà không thể sống được nữa nên đem vứt bà ra ngoài nhà lao, bà may mắn thoát chết một cách hy hữu, được đồng đội bí mật đón về, chuyển sang Campuchia và được đưa ra Bắc chữa trị. Thân thể với bao nhiêu đớn đau chưa đủ, bà còn trải qua một chuyến hành trình dài để về lại nơi tuyến đầu Tổ quốc. Hành trình vạn dặm – vạn gian truân – vạn điều lắng lo trước an nguy của bà Trần Thị Lý. Thế mà người phụ nữ can trường ấy vẫn sống, vẫn trở về với Việt-Xô trong tình yêu thương và xót xa của đồng đội. Chị kể lại: “Lần thứ 3, tháng 3-1956, chúng bắt tôi về nhà lao Hội An và tra tấn vô cùng dã man, tên Phan Văn Lợi, người do Diệm cử từ Sài Gòn ra, cùng nhiều tên khác trực tiếp tra tấn. Chúng đổ nước xà phòng và nước bẩn vào họng tôi rồi mang giày đinh thi nhau đạp lên bụng, lên ngực làm nước trào ra miệng và mũi. Chúng lấy móc sắt xuyên bàn chân tôi rồi treo ngược lên xà nhà, dùng điện tra vào cửa mình và vú; lấy dao xẻo từng miếng thịt trên đùi, cánh tay và ngực. Chúng dùng kìm sắt nung đỏ rồi kẹp vào bắp thịt tôi rứt ra từng mảng, dùng thước sắt thọc vào âm đạo… Chúng bắt tôi phải nhận tội “Thân cộng” và “Chống chính phủ quốc gia” của chúng!”.Điều gì đã khiến người phụ nữ ấy kiên cường đến vậy? Phải chăng là điều kì diệu của tạo hóa, hay chính sức mạnh tiềm tàng trong chị, hay chính tình yêu nước, tình yêu cách mạnh vẫn luôn rực cháy và sục sôi- một thứ tình yêu không cho phép bà gục ngã? Sự nể phục, ngưỡng mộ và cảm phục là không thể nói hết được thành lời với người phụ nữ phi thường ấy. Bởi thế đó cũng là lúc những vần thơ cất tiếng hát..

“Wake up my dear, the nightmare is over
You’re alive again, you’re alive!
Electric shock, stabbing awl, cutting knife, and fire
Cannot kill you, valiant heroine!” 
“Our voices cannot be silenced. We speak up”

After returning to Vietnam-Russia, to the tender hug of her homeland, Tran Thi Ly’s health had been looking up. Having escaped from Death, Tran Thi Ly never resorted to keeping her revolutionary movements low, but rather chose to publicly denounce the vile crimes of those under the American-Diem Government. Before long, at 5 P.M, on October 25th, 1958, the Voice of Vietnam radio station broadcasted from Hanoi the message: “Ms. Ly was heavily tortured by Diem’s henchmen, forced to “repent for her actions” through persecution like using steel pliers to remove meat lumps out of her body or sending electric currents into her nipples and genitals!” Denouncing, divulging and speaking up, she stood still despite extreme barbarities. It was her unshaken valor that staggered public opinion by the time, hereby quelling the Republic of Vietnam’s atrocities and unveiling its inhuman treatments. What would happen if she had left the crime buried forever in her past? What if she had taken the scars as an inevitable ending for herself? Would that sin still prevail to these days? Would there still be gruesome tortures only to serve military purposes? The weight of Ms. Tran Thi Ly’s exposé acts as the light penetrating through the gloom then, raising hope for an auspicious revolution.

“From the dead, gloriously, you rise
 Like the day you’re gone, to the wave of the scarlet flag
 You return, the triumphant woman
 We hold on you, like our flesh and blood” 
“A women’s history”

Bombs, bullets, blood and tears. That is all people usually write about war. We write about the valiant climate amidst the murky warfares. We write about sweats, blood and tears of the warriors who have sacrificed their own happiness. Seemingly, in all of the recorded depictions, there exist only toughness, frankness and all the glories of a bygone era. They left no space for the softer, harmonizing feel of tenderness . Is that when “The unwomanly face of war” was written, overflowing with feminine, softer perspectives along with unspoken stories from the home front and even post-war pains? As we follow the traces of their souls, emotions, recollections and memories, a concurrent war gradually resurfaced itself from a feminine point of view. A war in which unwavering women engaged themselves in the furious storm of the era, getting eaten alive, crushed, killed or returning with wounds over their body and soul. They kept their memories hidden in the forgetfulness of time. With 19 chapters, the book is structured like a woman's life cycle: From girls aged 12, 13 hearing about the war, to adolescents aged 15, 16, who then made their way into wars. From little girls to damsels, wives and mothers they became. Their entire youths were tied to bloody and disastrous battles. Wars brutally deprived them of everything, and even if they were fortunate enough to return, they were no longer themselves. So beautiful, naive, full of faith were they before wars struck. After wars, they became void, wretched, haunted, unsightly and became forgotten, ostracised and abandoned. How terrible it is to witness our own homeland, our beloved country falling apart. How terrible it is to see our beloved perished under the enemies’ guns. How terrible it is to see our own fellow human beings, having blood of red alike, slaughtering and killing each other. However imperturbable, one could not help but alter their outlook on life. How could there still be much aspiration, hope, much faith left in them after all the horrors they've experienced? All in all, while Ms. Tran Thi Ly allows us a sight into the revulsion and unbearable pain of the body, in the "The unwomanly face of war", that pain becomes a knife plunged deep into the woman’s heart which has soon hardened over time. The horror, the pain left an indelible imprint on their hearts. Even if the clock of time may bring to dust all the ruins, wiping out the traces of history, that pain remains. 

Authors: Ngô Mai Phương, Phạm Khánh Linh