Viet
Thanh Nguyen has women portrayed a certain way throughout The Sympathizer. I think that the women can be portrayed in two
different ways throughout the novel. The first way that I think that the
different women could come across is being the stereotypical woman according to
America once they have become refugees. In the beginning once they have arrived
in the United States, the General’s wife, being used to having the maid do
mostly everything around the house, now has to cook, clean, and take care of
the children, while taking care of herself in the meantime. I feel as if the
way that he has these women being portrayed throughout the novel is in
different ways that most people see women. Either they are staying at home
taking care of the chores or the children, or they are selling themselves as
are the prostitutes not only before they leave Vietnam, but afterwards too.
Another way we are seeing them is also being teachers such as Sofia Mori. This
is also where the line starts to blur and you can see the second way that
Nguyen has been displaying the role of women.
Nguyen is also portraying women as simply a love interest
of the different characters, specifically the narrator. Not so much a love
interest yet, but the narrator’s mother is a woman figure that we hear about a
lot throughout the novel and we can always tell how she is doting on her son,
and how much love she has for him. The first love interest that we really get
introduced to is Sofia Mori. She was an assistant to the chair of the
department that they were all a part of. She did not want marriage; she
believed in free love. The narrator went along with it, but when she started having
relations with Sonny, he became upset. Nguyen displayed Sofia Mori similar to
Lana in the sense that they are both has the role of believing and having free
love. The narrator begins to have relations with Lana after he notices her
singing at a reception that he had attended. He believes her to be free and
self-inspired whereas the people he is sitting with believe her to have given
up her Vietnamese values and becoming a singer entitles her to giving in to the
communism (119).
I agree with your post. I think that novel provides important insight into how women are view by some societies, and can be applied even today. Many of the women in the book are portrayed as being lesser than men. They are portrayed as having little aspirations or only using their bodies to get what they want. I think that is important to recognize this and allow it to be a point of learning and a way to understand the way women were and are viewed in society.
ReplyDeleteI think on the flip side, character such as Sofia Mori provide a more positive view of women in terms of them being seen as equals, with aspirations and free choice. This provides a contrast to the women who are prostitutes and typically looked down on in society.
Overall, I think that though women are not always looked at fairly in the novel, they are important to understanding the elements of refugee society and the struggles they face. I think that it can be hard for readers to understand the characters’ situations and this is no different. I agree with what you mentioned about how the individual reader can take what Nguyen says either way, because it very much left open for interpretation.
I agree that Nguyen portrays the women as very one dimensional. They are all seen as lovers, wives, or prostitutes – all of whom are seen as less important than the men. The narrator describes re-meeting many of his southern comrades, “As for the wives, most had been forced to find jobs, and in doing so had been transformed…the crapulent major said, A man doesn’t need balls in the country… the women all have their own” (pg. 91). The women had to ensure that their families could survive and to do so became human. Although this quote makes it sound as if women’s status is improving, the narrator never treats the women as equals to men. One of the most obvious cases is that of Sofia. He knew from the beginning of their relationship that it wasn’t anything serious, but can’t accept that it was her choice to choose Sonny over him. Although the narrator’s mission forces him to kill Sonny, the reason he shots is Sofia. Sonny tells him “you’re jealous because I have Sofia, even though you don’t love her” (pg.275). The narrator cannot accept the fact that Sofia didn’t choose him, though it would have been fine if he left her. Nguyen similarly uses Lana, the General’s daughter, purely as a love interest. I believe it is ironic that he uses the female agent to be the narrator’s demise. It give a women a more important role to play in the novel.
ReplyDeleteWhile Nguyen’s portrayal of women could be less derogatory or one dimensional, it is also accurate to the times and occasionally offers a much needed shift in perspective. For example, the narrator has a rather lengthy paragraph dedicated to Lana’s cleavage, claiming that “he [wishes] he were a true Christian so [he] could be nailed to that cross” (Ngyuen 241) upon Lana’s neck. As unsettling and misogynistic the paragraph is, people often initiate romantic relationships through mere appearances. Furthermore, by the end of their conversation, the narrator states that he most admires how Lana is “not hesitant to say what she thought” (Nguyen 242). This indicates that the narrator does see past the superficial qualities in Lana, at least a little. As for how masculinity is apparently praised, we see a touching moment from Bon in the novel. Bon, who tragically lost his wife and only son, can see past an inflated, emasculated man and discover what actually qualifies a man as respectable. Bon tells the narrator that most men ”come home from work, yell at their wives and kids, beat them once in a while just to show that they’re men” (Ngyuen 223). However, “they’re not,” as Bon explains, rather “a man protects his wife and children” (Nguyen 223). This brief digression from Bon emphasizes that some men start to see a wife and children for their value and importance, rather than an extension of their manlihood.
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