Symbolism Of The Narrator In The Sympathizer

The events in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, The Sympathizer, occur in the 1970’s after the Vietnam War and portray the lives of many affected by the war. Although men receive most of the attention from the Author women still play an important role in depicting the lives of Vietnamese after the war. Women show a different side of the post-Vietnam war plots enhancing it greatly. The plot of the novel is told through the eyes of the narrator who is a communist spy. The story is a flashback and is a confession by the narrator due to imprisonment. He is the son of a young Vietnamese mother and French father, who was a priest. The narrator faces many self-identity issues throughout his life due to his mixed heritage. Due to his bloodline He feels …show more content…
She was very poor and could not read, but still tried to provide he narrator the best life possible. His mother was his biggest supporter believing that he would have successful life. She represents the hard working and caring moms of children born after the Vietnam War This is unlike his Father who viewed the narrator as worthless. The narrator has a high level of animosity towards his father’s hypocrisy that raising him catholic, but also believing the church was dishonorable. “My Mother called me her love child, but I do not like to dwell on that. In the end, my father had it right. He called me nothing at all” (Nguyen 21). The narrator’s racial background and identity crisis is similar to thousands of people that resulted from white Americans impregnating Vietnamese women. According to the Article Vietnam Legacy: Finding G.I. Fathers, and Children Left Behind,“After the war, those children — known as Amerasians — endured harsh discrimination and abject poverty in Vietnam, viewed as ugly reminders of an invading army (James Dao para …show more content…
The filming of the movie went well except the problem of trying to find someone to play the part of the Viet Cong. People are apprehensive about it due to the raping scene involved. After one scène there is an explosion that causes the narrator to go the hospital and it was likely caused by the Auteur. He is offered money by violet to keep his mouth shut about what happened and returns to America. He then gives money to the Widow of the Crapulent Major. She represents the Post-Vietnam War widow in America and Vietnam that where left with nothing. In the Narrator’s return to America he see’s that the general has opened up a restaurant to fund his army and finds out that Sonny is romantically involved with Ms. Mori. We later find out about the plan for the narrator to return to his homeland and the plan to kill