Sympathizer - Consent is not necessary
My analysis of The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, one of my favorite books, in AP Lit.
A human’s lust and a country’s greed are depicted by the Captain’s childhood memory of him and the squid in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, The Sympathizer. The repugnant image of sexual intercourse between the Captain and the squid represents not only his loss of innocence but also showcases the cruelty that the U.S unloads onto Vietnam as they constantly provide the necessary equipment, and troops for the South. The juxtaposition between a teenager and a mindless squid suggests the view of the U.S as superior to Vietnam, a third world country. After the transitory pleasure, the Captain experiences a sense of guilt, focusing on the moral dilemma that he faces in relation to the guilt that the U.S government experience after the fall of Saigon. Following the guilt, he has a taste of his mess as he cannot help but save his mother from eating the unlucky squid, which creates the perfect loops of the immoral actions and the ironically sickening consequence. Viet Thanh Nguyen utilizes a taboo moment during the Captain’s teenage years to highlight the United States’s attempt to destroy communism. The obscene image works as a metaphor for the suffering of not a mindless squid but a nation and its citizens, specifically those who are the refugees.
The lack of consideration from the Captain in the lecherous act is a metaphor for the minimum sensitivity that the U.S government beholds. Vietnam, in the eyes of the U.S government, is as innocent as the squid; it is a new land that promises hopes and evokes a sense of pride if the goal, which is the destruction of communism, is achieved. Nguyen uses the image of a hapless squid to elevate the politically emotional atmosphere in the South Vietnam around 1975 as the Captain exclaims with melancholy, “Oh, you poor, innocent, mute squid!” (Nguyen 78). As the Captain expresses his sympathetic feelings, we cannot help but feel violated as the so-called feelings come from a human who can also deliver such bestiality. The Captain, who is just as innocent as the squid, suddenly transforming from a teenager not into an adult, but into a rapist is a foreshadow for the upcoming tragic scenes of Asia Soo and the communist agent. The Captain’s exclamation at the opening brings out a condescending tone toward the squid. In addition, the adjectives used are passive ones, they help to depict the image of a helpless creature. The same can be said about the citizens residing during the Vietnam war, who are “poor, innocent, [and] mute” (78) and eventually deprived of their identities as well as dignities. The transitory pleasure soon turns into regret when the Captain realizes what he has been doing.
Similar to the popular motivational acronym, YOLO, it is not until after the pleasure that the Captain realizes how heedless he had been as he had not anticipated the ominous outcome: “While I felt no shame at all for my shuddering ejaculation, an enormous burden of guilt fell on me as soon as my sense returned, not because of any moral violation, but because I could hardly bear depriving mother of even a morsel of squid” (79). The force that drives the Captain to feel guilty is not the righteous morality that the audience has in mind, it is rather the guilt of stripping his mother of the sacred food. This relationship symbolizes the guilt that the U.S government experiences as they fall deeper into the Vietnam war. It can be interpreted that the U.S government at the time does not feel guilty because they are taking millions of innocent lives or at least because of any moral reasons regarding the Vietnamese. Instead of censoring the scene using euphemistic terms, the narrator draws a raw picture, almost to the point of disgust, by describing his ejaculation literally. As the guilt quickly creeps onto the protagonist, the most disturbing scene and lesson come last as the Captain tastes his own mess.
The story finishes the cycle of causes and effect as the Captain enjoys the spoiled squid. Even though he is aware of the abused squid, he cannot help but save his mother from eating it and obey her request, “…this obedient son slowly chewed and savored the rest of his defiled squid, its salty flavor mixed with his mother’s sweet love” (80). Even though the dilemma is inevitably sickening, the Captain does not use such adjectives to describe the taste, which expresses his unbounded love and respect for his mother. However, if it’s only about the taste, the scene would not do the squid justice. The squid is unfortunate enough to get sucked into non-consensual intercourse with a teenager. The squid represents the many lives that have been sucked into the war between North and South, Communism and Capitalism, Brothers and Sisters, Comrades and Friends. The squid represents the pitiful nation in Indochina that had been colonized by the Chinese for a thousand years then the French for six decades before suffering the separation until the fall of Saigon in 1975. After the liberation of the country, America tastes the failure, “its salty flavor” (80) as the refugees flee to America. The failure is definitely “slowly chewed and savored” as the Vietnam War is constantly taught in the classroom as one of wars that U.S fails to achieve its goal against communism.
Raw language, an accusatory tone, and a bifurcated perspective: Viet Thanh Nguyen combines all these and more to carefully knit a thrilling story, The Sympathizer, in order to illuminate his perspective of the Vietnam War. A constant image that Nguyen derives is non-consensual intercourse, or blatant rape, a topic that as a community we usually mumble about or shy away from as soon as it emerges. The first mention of this is when he commits his natural act with a mindless creature, the squid. At this point, the reader cannot help but question the story’s justice; however, as the novel progresses, the squid actually reminds us of the violation of a nation and its citizens. Repetition of these immoral scenes symbolizes the suffering brought onto the lives of the helpless citizens in Vietnam. However, it would be inconsiderate to point the finger at the Western country because the Captain is half Vietnamese after all. The distress originates not only from an external force but also from an innate impact. It is facile to ignore the true complexities of the situation; it requires painstaking experience and contemplation to take responsibility for our foul actions. There are always two sides of the squid.
Citation: Nguyen, Viet Thanh. The Sympathizer. Grove Press, 2015.