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The Sympathizer
- 205 statements
- 39 feature instances
- 6 referencing feature instances
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The Sympathizer | |
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The Sympathizer is a 2015 novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen.The story opens with the unnamed narrator, an aide-de-camp to a similarly unnamed General in the army of South Vietnam. In 1975, as South Vietnam is collapsing, the narrator manages to get the General on a flight out of the country. Also getting out of the country is Bon, the narrator's best friend and an anti-communist zealot. The three of them eventually make it to America and attempt to start new lives in exile.What neither Bon nor the General know is that the narrator is a deep-cover Communist spy for the North Vietnamese. His other best friend, his handler Man, prevails on him to continue his mission in the United States, spying on the South Vietnamese exile community on behalf of the government of now-united Vietnam. It turns out to be a wise precaution, as the General, unable to adjust to his diminished status in America—he owns a liquor store—elects to assemble an army of volunteers and invade Vietnam.The novel was later adapted into a mini-series co-developed and directed by Park Chan-wook for A24, which was released by HBO on April 14, 2024. | |
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Dropped link to VerbalIrony: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN | |
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The Sympathizer / int_1282bf4f | type |
No Celebrities Were Harmed | |
The Sympathizer / int_1282bf4f | comment |
No Celebrities Were Harmed: The narrator meets a film director known only as "The Auteur" who is a very thinly veiled version of Francis Ford Coppola working on an unnamed project that is suspiciously like Apocalypse Now. (Word of God in the acknowledgments makes this explicit, mentioning several references regarding the production of Apocalypse Now.) | |
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The Sympathizer / int_1869b4b1 | type |
Unreliable Narrator | |
The Sympathizer / int_1869b4b1 | comment |
Unreliable Narrator: Guess who. Several key scenes set at the camp center around filling in the gaps in his account of the Communist agent whose capture he witnessed, and his relationship with his father. After his mental break under interrogation (or perhaps, merely a breakthrough), practically everything he says and observes is open to question. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_1e1afc1b | type |
Framing Device | |
The Sympathizer / int_1e1afc1b | comment |
Framing Device: Approximately 4/5 of the novel is the narrator in a prison cell, delivering his confession to a person he addresses as "Commandant". Chapter 19 finally catches the story up with the "present" and finds the narrator talking to the commandant, his confession being finished. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_1e7487cd | type |
Breaking the Fourth Wall | |
The Sympathizer / int_1e7487cd | comment |
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Given that the story relies on a Framing Device and frequent narration, the Captain will occasionally address the audience while narrating, such as when he brings up an incident involving the General in the second episode, realizes he hasn't shown it to the audience, and helpfully rewinds the scene to show us a flashback of what happened. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_2eb94abd | type |
Deadly Euphemism | |
The Sympathizer / int_2eb94abd | comment |
Deadly Euphemism: How the General communicates that each supposed Communist agent needs to be killed. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_38d02d44 | type |
Batman Gambit | |
The Sympathizer / int_38d02d44 | comment |
Batman Gambit: When picking the officers to go on the plane to America, the Captain knows that he can't send the competent ones, as helping them escape would undermine his mission to the North, but can't send the incompetent ones, since that would raise the General's suspicions. Thus, he deliberately chooses the incompetent officers who only seem competent. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_420dd6e6 | type |
Sleep Deprivation Punishment | |
The Sympathizer / int_420dd6e6 | comment |
Sleep Deprivation Punishment: The protagonist is held in a torture chamber where one of the punishments is having incredibly bright lights shone on him at all times, alternated with random moments of absolute darkness. This disrupts his sleep and causes him to slowly lose his grip on sanity, all in an attempt to get him to confess. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_4d45aa06 | type |
Banana Republic | |
The Sympathizer / int_4d45aa06 | comment |
Banana Republic: The narrator, a Communist spy who thinks very little of the South Vietnamese government, refers to South Vietnam as a "jackfruit republic." | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_4ef62a4d | type |
Full-Circle Revolution | |
The Sympathizer / int_4ef62a4d | comment |
Full-Circle Revolution: | |
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The Sympathizer / int_50b1855d | type |
Spy Fiction | |
The Sympathizer / int_50b1855d | comment |
Spy Fiction: Stale Beer indeed, with the narrator living the distinctly unglamorous life of a refugee while sending reports back to Hanoi. | |
The Sympathizer / int_50b1855d | featureApplicability |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_6159beb1 | type |
It Tastes Like Feet | |
The Sympathizer / int_6159beb1 | comment |
It Tastes Like Feet: The narrator complains that the cheap American beer he drinks both looks and tastes like baby's pee. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_61996785 | type |
Sacrificial Lamb | |
The Sympathizer / int_61996785 | comment |
Sacrificial Lamb: The Captain's best friend Bon has a wife and baby. While waiting for the plane to arrive, Bon mentions to the Captain that his family brings him hope despite the war-torn state of Vietnam. Any Genre Savvy viewer can immediately surmise that his wife and son won't live for very long. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_63d861f8 | type |
Even Evil Has Loved Ones | |
The Sympathizer / int_63d861f8 | comment |
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Claude is definitely not a good person, given that he enthusiastically participates in the interrogation and torture of a communist-affiliated woman in the first episode. However, he does seem to have some genuine care for the Captain, giving him records he thinks the Captain might appreciate and playfully teasing him around after the meeting with the General. He's also clearly happy to see the Captain when they reunite in America. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_64713b04 | type |
Pedophile Priest | |
The Sympathizer / int_64713b04 | comment |
Pedophile Priest: The narrator's father, who impregnated his mother when she was thirteen. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_64713b04 | |
The Sympathizer / int_6f214508 | type |
Foreign Culture Fetish | |
The Sympathizer / int_6f214508 | comment |
Foreign Culture Fetish: Professor Hammer, the Captain's Eastern Studies professor from his college days, has a fascination for Asian culture that borders on fetishization, including taking a shine to the Captain for his mixed-race background and trying to get Sofia to embrace her Japanese heritage even though she clearly doesn't want to. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_77063cd7 | type |
Hooker with a Heart of Gold | |
The Sympathizer / int_77063cd7 | comment |
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The narrator rejects this trope utterly. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_7a265daa | type |
Eagleland | |
The Sympathizer / int_7a265daa | comment |
Eagleland: Flavor 2, as while the narrator may have mixed feelings about his countrymen on either side of the war, he definitely hates the hell out of America, Americans, and white people. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_7a265daa | |
The Sympathizer / int_7b3ebb57 | type |
Buxom Beauty Standard | |
The Sympathizer / int_7b3ebb57 | comment |
Buxom Beauty Standard: The narrator goes on at length about the general's buxom daughter Lana, describing her body shaped like a figure-8 and her deep cleavage. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_7b3ebb57 | |
The Sympathizer / int_7eebe99c | type |
The Alcoholic | |
The Sympathizer / int_7eebe99c | comment |
The Alcoholic: It becomes clear that the narrator is this when he is wracked with the DTs while his sad little group is sneaking through Laos. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_7eebe99c | |
The Sympathizer / int_83cef301 | type |
Right for the Wrong Reasons | |
The Sympathizer / int_83cef301 | comment |
Right for the Wrong Reasons: After making it to America, the General becomes paranoid that there is a spy in the community of refugees he came with and tasks the Captain with finding out who it is. He is right that there is a mole who's out for him, but is completely wrong about who the mole is or the circumstances behind it (for example, he misconstrues a toilet seat cover nearly falling on him as an assassination attempt). | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_8ed5c6e4 | type |
Asshole Victim | |
The Sympathizer / int_8ed5c6e4 | comment |
Asshole Victim: The "crapulent major," whom the narrator throws under the bus once the General starts to suspect Communist agents have come to America among the refugees. As it turns out, the major was involved with the capture, torture, and gang-rape of a real agent back in Vietnam; the narrator's own complicity in this case forms an important part of the book's climax, suggesting that he sacrificed the major to assuage his own guilt. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
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The Sympathizer / int_a42f56b0 | type |
Royal "We" | |
The Sympathizer / int_a42f56b0 | comment |
Royal "We": A variant. After the year of Cold-Blooded Torture leaves the narrator a broken man, he starts thinking of himself as "a man of two minds." Afterwards he refers to himself with the first person plural, as "we". | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_a42f56b0 | |
The Sympathizer / int_b5049d76 | type |
Added Alliterative Appeal | |
The Sympathizer / int_b5049d76 | comment |
Added Alliterative Appeal: The narrator resorts to this when ruminating on his love/hate relationship with the United States. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_b5049d76 | |
The Sympathizer / int_b7e0c5ff | type |
Love Triangle | |
The Sympathizer / int_b7e0c5ff | comment |
Love Triangle: Between the narrator, Sonny, and Ms. Mori. It adds further complications to the General's ordering of Sonny's death. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_bdc453a0 | type |
Incest Subtext | |
The Sympathizer / int_bdc453a0 | comment |
Incest Subtext: The narrator's recollections of his mother are closely intertwined with his growing awareness of sexuality (although his outward relationship with her is innocent), while he openly hates his father and accidentally-on-purpose has Man kill him. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_bdc453a0 | |
The Sympathizer / int_c59d9a4b | type |
Half-Breed Discrimination | |
The Sympathizer / int_c59d9a4b | comment |
Half-Breed Discrimination: The narrator is the illegitimate offspring of a French priest and a Vietnamese mother. As a consequence no one likes him or trusts him. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_ca87e3ec | type |
No Name Given | |
The Sympathizer / int_ca87e3ec | comment |
No Name Given: Neither the narrator nor the General that he worked for in Saigon. Also true of several other lesser characters in the story, including the "crapulent Major" that the narrator throws suspicion on, the General's wife, called only "Madame", the Commandant addressed in the framing device, the right-wing gung-ho Congressman that aligns himself with the South Vietnamese community, and the film director (see No Celebrities Were Harmed above). | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_ca87e3ec | |
The Sympathizer / int_d0c13631 | type |
Mrs. Robinson | |
The Sympathizer / int_d0c13631 | comment |
Mrs. Robinson: Mrs. Mori, the 46-year-old Japanese-American woman who seduces the narrator not long after he comes to the USA. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_d2b18a18 | type |
Holiday in Cambodia | |
The Sympathizer / int_d2b18a18 | comment |
Holiday in Cambodia: In this case, Vietnam, at the tail-end of the war. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_d2b18a18 | |
The Sympathizer / int_db2727e0 | type |
The Book Cipher | |
The Sympathizer / int_db2727e0 | comment |
The Book Cipher: How the narrator communicates with Man after arriving in America, via messages written in invisible ink. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_de89c0a1 | type |
Dating What Daddy Hates | |
The Sympathizer / int_de89c0a1 | comment |
Dating What Daddy Hates: Lana takes a shine to the narrator when they reunite in America. Before he sets out for Thailand, the General pulls him aside and spells out that he knows they've been involved, and he has to send the narrator off to die because his daughter cannot be allowed to be with a half-French bastard. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_de89c0a1 | |
The Sympathizer / int_e5dfe115 | type |
Sworn Brothers | |
The Sympathizer / int_e5dfe115 | comment |
Sworn Brothers: Man, Bon, and the narrator were this since childhood, when they did the whole palm-slicing ritual. | |
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The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Sympathizer / int_e5dfe115 | |
The Sympathizer / int_e67ff203 | type |
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder | |
The Sympathizer / int_e67ff203 | comment |
Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Sofia Mori takes up with Sonny while the narrator is in the Philippines, working on The Movie. The narrator admits that he didn't write to her. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_e67ff203 | |
The Sympathizer / int_e70127 | type |
The Mole | |
The Sympathizer / int_e70127 | comment |
The Mole: The narrator is an officer in South Vietnamese military intelligence, and a longtime spy for the North. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_ea2e9f2d | type |
No Ending | |
The Sympathizer / int_ea2e9f2d | comment |
No Ending: Ends pretty much in medias res, with the narrator and Bon getting ready to board a boat which will smuggle them out of Saigon and back to the West, with maybe a 50% chance of survival. It turns out he does survive, as 2021 sequel novel The Committed has him in Paris, engaging in drugs and crime. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_ea2e9f2d | |
The Sympathizer / int_ea35fda5 | type |
Bastard Bastard | |
The Sympathizer / int_ea35fda5 | comment |
Bastard Bastard: The narrator, although sympathetic, is not a good person. He has his moments, though. | |
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The Sympathizer / int_ea35fda5 | |
The Sympathizer / int_ea7e3be8 | type |
Dramatic Gun Cock | |
The Sympathizer / int_ea7e3be8 | comment |
Dramatic Gun Cock: "I heard the click-clack all around me of weapons being primed for firing, and I did the same." | |
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The Sympathizer / int_ea7e3be8 | |
The Sympathizer / int_f9c17447 | type |
The Remnant | |
The Sympathizer / int_f9c17447 | comment |
The Remnant: The General and all the other anti-Communist refugees who imagine that they'll organize a resistance to the Hanoi government. The narrator eventually meets a more legitimate Remnant in the form of the admiral, who has been hiding out in the jungle since the fall of Saigon. He says that he sailed his ship to Thailand instead of following the Americans, and swore a vow to continue the struggle. | |
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The Sympathizer |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
Asian-American Media / int_88770526 | |
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
Banana Republic / int_88770526 | |
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
Full-Circle Revolution / int_88770526 | |
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
Sleep Deprivation Punishment / int_88770526 | |
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
The Book Cipher / int_88770526 | |
The Sympathizer | hasFeature |
Trapped Undercover / int_88770526 |
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