Common humanity
“What Were They Like?” repeatedly emphasizes the common humanity of the Vietnamese people and others across the world. The questioner asks for details about the everyday life of the Vietnamese, such as whether they use lanterns, celebrate springtime, or use items like jade for decoration. The questioner is focused on the specific cultural differences of the Vietnamese. In order to humanize them, the responder emphasizes the things they share with everyone. For example, they were simple people who lived in “pleasant ways.” Sometimes, their “fathers told their sons old tales.” However, the war destroyed their regular life, just like it would for anyone. When the bombs began falling on their villages, they no longer planted crops, walked their roads, or told tales. In this way, the poem argues that because we all share a common humanity, nobody should be reduced to this state.
Irreversibility of destruction
The poem is told mostly in the past tense. For example, the title asks “What Were They Like?” not “What Are They Like?” It takes place in a future in which the Vietnamese people have been wiped out by bombs and war. In forcing the reader to imagine a future in which an entire culture has been destroyed, it indirectly asks the reader to do something to stop the war. Once a civilization has been wiped out, it cannot come back. Therefore, humane people must act before it is too late.
The cost of war
The poem argues that war can destroy a civilization. It lists the many costs of war. The first is everyday details like “pleasant ways” lit by stone lanterns. These are destroyed and forgotten. Then there are more serious issues, like the death of children. Laughter is also destroyed by war: people no longer have a reason to feel joy if they are being murdered. Similarly, no one can focus on beauty or ornament in the midst of violence. Literary traditions like the telling of tales also come to an end.
Innocent civilians
The poem emphasizes the fact that the main victims of war are civilians. The people who are killed in the war are not combatants but regular people. Most of them are peasants: “their life/was in rice and bamboo." Their lives are described as both “pleasant” and “peaceful.” However, when war comes everything is destroyed. The “mirror” created by the wet rice paddies is “smashed” by bombs. In this way, the poem shows that it is the innocent, like children, who suffer the most in a conflict like the Vietnam War.
Cultural practices
The questioner who asks the six questions has the curiosity of an anthropologist. He wants to know what Vietnamese culture was like before it was destroyed. He is curious about their tools, ceremonies, everyday habits, ornaments, literature, and ways of speaking. When the responder gives his answers, it is clear that every aspect of the culture has been destroyed by war. No knowledge about the tools they used remains. They stopped using ornaments or holding ceremonies when the war came. Even the sound of their song-like speaking has disappeared. The poem’s final line includes the only statement in the present tense: “It is silent now.” The only thing left after a culture has been destroyed is silence.
