Required Reading
· Nguyen, The Sympathizer, pp. 1-89
· Nguyen, The Sympathizer, pp. 90-193
· Nguyen, The Sympathizer, pp. 193-294
Video
• “Viet Thanh Nguyen & Ariel Dorfman on the Vietnam War, How Hollywood Reframes
U.S. Imperialism”
Watch minutes 1:00 – 7:00; 15:00 – 19:00
• Apocalypse Now clip (Dir. Francis Ford Coppla, 1979; cf. Auteur’s film on Vietnam in
The Sympathizer)
• Author Viet Thanh Nguyen talks about The Sympathizer (and Apocalypse Now)
Discussion 3
Nguyen, The Sympathizer (10 points)
Answer the following questions in approximately 2-4 sentences for each question.
1. Explain the duality of the narrator’s identity, in terms of his heritage and his role in the Vietnam War. (5 points)
2. How does the narrator’s description of the Department Chair (called an Orientalist) and his exchanges with the narrator and Ms. Maori satirize U.S. academic Asian studies in this era (Chap. 4)? Include (and correctly integrate/punctuate) one key quote and cite the page number (MLA form for internal citations). (5 points)
