The Sympathizer by Viet Nguyen is a fictional confession of a nameless man who is half French and half Vietnamese during the end and after the Vietnam War. However, it is not just the man's ethnicities that are split in two; it is his professions, his thoughts, and his whole life. This man works as a mole for the northern forces smuggled in the southern forces during his time in Vietnam and his time in America after he escapes the end of the Vietnamese War. He supposedly supports the Communist ideals of the Viet Cong (or VC), but also sympathizes with American culture, Western ideals of capitalism, and those who uphold these ideals, thus called The Sympathizer. Through his experience as a Captain in Vietnam, a former university student and refugee in America, a useless translator for a movie, a murderer, and a mole, he learns to harmonize both sides of his Western and Eastern views in himself and his thoughts.
The book was satirical in a political and non-artistic environment. My only exposure to satire in literature (maybe there were more but I don't remember) are Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat's Cradle. Similarly to Vonnegut, Nguyen sprinkles his satire throughout his whole book. One of the most epitomized character named the General who is obsessed with war and the power it brings. During the Vietnam War, the General uses his power to transport all his family, including his extended family, into America. The satirical punchline comes when the General holds onto his illusion of power and hope as he works to train a team of Vietnamese refugees in America to fight in Vietnam, even though the Vietnam war has already ended.
However, not only is war a vital part of The Sympathizer, but also on the identity of the main character. As the unnamed man is both French and Vietnamese, he is constantly harassed for his inability to fit in any group. There are many incidents in which the narrator is to deal with his strange and unwanted identity. From a young age, the narrator details his bullied past as he looked different from everyone else, and through this incident he makes new and everlasting friends through the harassment. In a nod to humor, when the unnamed man is "taught" by the department chair, referenced as Chair, how the narrator is an Orientalist and an Occidentalist (and more extremely, half American and half Chinese), the narrator is given an assignment to write the "Orientalist" and "Occidentalist" sides of him, in which he writes his "Oriental" viewpoint as "somewhat yellowish white" and the "occidental" part as "somewhat palish yellow."
Similarly, the ideologies which he conflicts with, mainly Americanization and communism, play a central role in the narrator's and others' understanding of the world. As a mole who needs to fit in with the Southern forces, the unnamed man immerses himself into American culture, language, and ideals, not to be seen as someone who supports the northern forces and communism. The American ideals are not to immune to the narrator. He enjoys American music, sees some pride in his perfect English and cultured self. However, the narrator's thoughts of Americanization in itself is the opposite. When the narrator assists as a translator in a movie called The Hamlet regarding the Vietnam War, the narrator mentions that Hollywood was the best form of writing history in the American way compared to any other history book, with its inaccurate and exaggerated portrayals of the American hero and the Viet Cong enemy. Additionally, Dr. Richard Hedd, the writer of the book Asian Communism and the Oriental Mode of Destruction, whom the narrator and the General meet, represents the generalization of the Western viewpoints on Communism. In his meeting, Hedd assumes the higher and more powerful position as he tries to educate the narrator, who grew up in Vietnam, on what the "Orient" is in his understanding. Ironically, the narrator thinks to himself that those not American understand America better than Americans themselves, revealing that this educated Western man as more foolish than smart.
On the other hand, Communism for the narrator is also unclear. Although the narrator is a spy for the northern forces, he is unable to stand for his values when another agent that works for the northern forces is captured and tortured. Additionally, when the narrator is educated on Communism by his friend named Man through torture (considered necessary), the unnamed man is enlightened when he realizes "nothing" is more important than independence and freedom. Yet, the confusing part here is whether (one) these ideals are truly meaningful or worthless and (two) whether independence and freedom are from Communism or the Western point of view. . .
The Sympathizer is, indeed, a story of a sympathizer. Usually sympathizers are those criticized for supporting a controversial and non-standard belief. However, the narrator is not just a sympathizer seen controversial on one side; he is a considered a sympathizer for both sides he lives in. In the capitalistic realm, the unnamed man is a sympathizer with communist beliefs, and in the communist realm, he is seen only as a sympathizer to the capitalistic and American values. The narrator calls this ability his "talent," and although not many possess it, he is seemingly criticized for it throughout the novel. However, in this line of uncertainty he walks in, the narrator does not fully grasp his identity until his "enlightenment" on freedom and independence. When he reaches this stage, he doesn't address himself as "I" as he did for majority of the book, he calls himself "we." This "we" that the readers see after the crux of his confession may be that the components of himself that he constantly struggles to align is readily accepted as two different parts in which he calls self.
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