Tree of Smoke: Analysis of Major Characters
"Tree of Smoke" is a novel that intricately weaves together the lives of several characters, primarily set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and its aftermath. Central to the narrative is William "Skip" Sands, a CIA agent with a complex history and personal struggles, including a secret life in Vietnam under the alias William French Benét. His uncle, Colonel Francis Xavier Sands, plays a mysterious role within the CIA's Psychological Operations Group, embodying both valor and ambiguity from his World War II experiences to his rumored death in Vietnam.
The story also explores the contrasting paths of Skip's younger brother, James "Cowboy" Houston, who volunteers for the Army and faces the harsh realities of war, and Bill Houston Jr., who grapples with disillusionment after his naval service. Additional characters such as Captain Nguyen "Lucky" Minh and Trung "Monk" Than further enrich the narrative, revealing themes of betrayal, loyalty, and survival during tumultuous times. Kathy Jones, a widowed missionary, adds a layer of personal connection and emotional conflict to Skip's journey, illustrating the complex web of relationships formed amidst chaos. Each character's arc provides insight into the moral ambiguities of war and the profound impacts on their lives and identities.
Tree of Smoke: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Denis Hale Johnson
First published: 2007
Genre: Novel
Locale: Phoenix, Arizona; Honolulu, Hawaii; Yokosuka, Japan; Grande Island, Philippines; Saigon, Vietnam
Plot: War
Time: 1963–70; 1983
William “Skip” Sands, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent stationed in Southeast Asia. He has a mustache and is growing his hair out of a crew cut. Born in Kansas in the mid-1930s, Skip was recruited while in college in 1960. In 1965, after training in parachuting, explosives, and survival, he is assigned to hunt guerrillas in the Philippines and hopes to be sent to Saigon, Vietnam. He receives further training in Vietnamese and is stationed in the Vietnam village of Cao Quyen, where he poses as a Canadian named William French Benét and continues a sporadic affair with widowed missionary Kathy Jones. While waiting to participate in a complex disinformation campaign aimed at the North Vietnamese, Skip maintains the secret intelligence files, known as the “Tree of Smoke,” of his uncle Colonel Francis Xavier Sands. Following the end of the Vietnam War, he lives in the Philippines with a common-law wife, fathers several children, and deals in illegal arms. After he is caught running guns, Skip is hanged in Malaysia for his crimes.
Colonel Francis Xavier Sands, Skip's middle-aged uncle who has a hazy role with the CIA's Psychological Operations (Psy Ops) Group. Short, silver haired, and powerfully built, the colonel performed secret missions for the US Army Air Corps during World War II. He was a Flying Tigers pilot and a Japanese prisoner of war in Burma. An alumnus of Notre Dame who was deeply affected by the death of John F. Kennedy, the colonel is perceived by his colleagues as part joke, part sinister mystery. He suddenly appears and vanishes in various locations throughout Southeast Asia and is responsible for establishing a helicopter-landing zone at Cao Phuc, where an entire platoon was lost during the Tet Offensive. He is allegedly killed in 1969, but rumors persist afterward that he is still alive and in hiding.
William “Bill” Houston Jr., an eighteen-year-old seaman apprentice from Phoenix, Arizona. Bill enlists for a two-year stint in the US Navy in 1963, soon after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He reenlists, but after he goes absent without leave (AWOL) while in Honolulu, Hawaii, he is demoted and sent to Japan, where he performs menial labor. While there, in 1968, he spends time in the brig for fighting. After his discharge, he returns to Arizona and lives an aimless existence, working at a succession of manual-labor jobs, drinking, womanizing, and being incarcerated for assault.
James “Cowboy” Houston, Bill's younger brother. At age seventeen, he leaves his teenage girlfriend, Stephanie “Stevie” Dale, and alters his birth certificate so he can enlist in the Infantry Branch of the US Army. After basic training, he is sent to Vietnam, where he volunteers for reconnaissance. Following additional training, he is sent to the Echo Recon base in Cao Phuc, Vietnam, in 1967, where he patrols and maps Vietcong tunnels. He reenlists and experiences combat during the Tet Offensive. Afterward, Cowboy goes AWOL in Saigon, but he returns to his unit to volunteer for the hazardous long-range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP, or “Lurps”) and experiences a firefight. He is honorably discharged and returns home, where he descends into drinking and crime. He marries Stevie shortly before being tried for assault and the armed robbery of several casinos.
Captain Nguyen “Lucky” Minh, a twenty-two-year-old South Vietnam Air Force captain and helicopter pilot. Lucky is Nguyen Hao's nephew and Colonel Sands's personal pilot. According to Lucky, the Vietcong killed the colonel, but when the coffin was opened it contained someone else's body. Lucky survives the war and lives near Boston, Massachusetts.
Nguyen Hao, a former dry-goods merchant in Saigon. He is Lucky's uncle, Colonel Sands's friend, an ally of the Americans, and the likely betrayer of his companion Trung. He hopes to leave Vietnam if he survives the war.
Trung “Monk” Than, Hao's childhood friend, referred to by others simply as “the Monk.” He is about forty years old, short, bowlegged, and ugly. Trung is allied with Vietcong guerrillas and has been a fugitive since the mid-1950s. He is persuaded to serve as a double agent in Colonel Sands's complicated disinformation scheme. He is held captive in an American prison camp; after the war, he is considered a hero of the Communist cause in Vietnam.
Sergeant Billem “Jimmy” Stafford Storm, a member of Psy Ops and a close associate of the colonel's. Born around 1940, Storm is a bright-eyed, sharp-faced, tattooed would-be poet. He usually dresses in civilian clothes and, like the colonel, makes unexpected appearances in key locations. He serves as Trung's guardian in Saigon and kills the assassin Dirk Fest. Storm does not believe the colonel is dead, and in 1983 he follows a trail of clues leading to Thailand and his supposedly late mentor. After failing in his quest, Storm feels he has nothing left to live for, so he takes the place of a native boy who is about to be sacrificed to allay a village curse.
Major Eddie Aguinaldo, a boyish member of the Philippine Army and a loyal friend to Colonel Sands.
Anders Pitchfork, an English entomologist in the Philippines. A wartime colleague of the colonel's, the gray-haired Pitchfork speaks several languages and serves in a shadowy capacity, ostensibly with the Del Monte Corporation.
Dietrich “Dirk” Fest, a West German assassin. Large, bearded, and in his mid-thirties, Fest travels as Claude Gunter Reinhardt and has carried out a dozen assignments around the world, including killing a gunrunning priest with a poisoned blowgun dart. Fest is killed while stalking double agent Trung in Saigon.
Kathy Jones, the Canadian widow of a missionary in the Philippines. She has kind brown eyes and a round face. Kathy meets Skip while continuing her late husband's work, and the two have a casual, sporadic affair over the course of several years. In 1983, she is remarried and living in Minneapolis when she receives a packet of letters from Skip, written while he was waiting to be hanged.