The Sympathizer

The General is suspicious of Sonny after he publishes a newspaper article entitled “Move On, War Over” about the General’s non-profit organization, Benevolent Fraternity of Former Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. To the public, the Fraternity is just a non-profit to support Vietnamese immigrants, but Sonny’s article suggests that the group has ulterior motives to return to Vietnam and overthrow the Communist regime (which, indeed, is true). The article includes pictures of the General’s troops practicing formation. The General insists that Sonny is becoming very troublesome, and pressures the narrator to agree “something must be done” about Sonny.

The narrator, knowing his fellow Communists will ambush the recon troop in Thailand, wants to somehow save Bon from this certain-death fate: “With no idea how I would manage to betray Bon and save him at the same time, I searched for inspiration in the bottom of a bottle” (229). The narrator thinks that perhaps if he accompanies Bon to Thailand, despite having absolutely no combat skills, he might be able to save him.

The narrator and Bon attend Fantasia, a performance revue featuring Lana, the General’s daughter. Bon is in good spirits, which reminds the narrator of when they first became friends. In a flashback to the narrator’s childhood, we learn the origin story of Bon, Man, and the narrator’s friendship. The narrator is being bullied for being different when, without prompting, Man stands up to the crowd on his behalf. “He’s one of us,” Man claims. When the bullies do not listen and continue to taunt the narrator, physical fighting ensues. Bon jumps forth from the teeming crowd to help defend Man and the narrator. When the fight fizzles out, the boys are elated because they “had passed some mysterious test, one that separated us from the bullies on the one side and the cowards on the other” (233). That night, the boys sneak out of their dormitories and seal their friendship with a blood oath, leaving each of them with an identical scar across the palm of his hand.

The narrator and Bon are enjoying themselves at Fantasia, a performance geared toward refugees, which makes the narrator nostalgic for Vietnam. After Lana’s performance, the narrator makes his move by buying her a drink and offering her a cigarette. When Lana accepts a second cigarette, the narrator’s confidence is “boosted immeasurably, so he continues in his pursuit of her” (242). Lana and the narrator flirt and chat, and soon Bon joins them. When Lana asks how his wife and child are, Bon begins to weep—a rare occurrence for such a reserved man, the narrator notes. The chapter concludes with Lana embracing Bon in an attempt to comfort him.

The narrator reports to Bon that his courtship of Lana is intensifying; they even spend time alone in her apartment. Bon worries what will happen when the General learns—and he will learn, Bon insists—of their romance.

Later that night, the General and the narrator attend a private dinner at a country club with the Congressman and several other prominent businessmen, elected officials, and lawyers, as well as one notable academic, Richard Hedd, author of Asian Communism and the Oriental Mode of Destruction. The unspoken purpose of this dinner is to get the attention of Dr. Hedd, because a good word from him “can open doors and pocketbooks for your cause” (250). Intentionally, the General and the narrator are seated on either side of Dr. Hedd.

The objective of the dinner party, then, is for the narrator and General to curry favor from Dr. Hedd for the South Vietnamese cause. This proves complicated, as Dr. Hedd seems to believe, now that the Communists have overtaken Vietnam, there are more pressing matters to be worried about. “The General,” however, “was deeply familiar with the nature, nuances, and internal differences of white people, as was every nonwhite person who had lived here a good number of years” (258). Thus, the General is able to reason with him intelligibly. Ultimately, the narrator wins Dr. Hedd over by using his characteristic double-speak to both agree and disagree with Dr. Hedd at the same time. Dr. Hedd raises a glass to toast the narrator, and the group retires to a backroom gentlemen’s club.