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A. The Bibliographic basics of the book?

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A. The Bibliographic basics of the book?

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The author of this book is a American novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen who is currently a professor at University of Southern California. He was born in Vietnam and raised here in the United States. The Sympathizer was published by Grove Press on April 2,2015. Viet Thanh Nguyen has had a very successful career when it comes to his writing. He has won multiple awards such as the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America.  Viet Thanh Nguyen’s website, https://vietnguyen.info/author-viet-thanh-nguyen allows everyone to learn more about who he is as a writer and as a person. From reading his website I have learned more things about him such as where he was born, where he went to school, and that he just released a book this past March called The Committed which is the sequel to The Sympathizer.

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The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is about a French-Vietnamese in the army. As we learn about the narrator, we learn that he is living a "double life" as a communist spy sent by the American special branch. As the story continues the narrator is able to escape the current war going on in Vietnam and begin a new life in Los Angeles. Him along with his best friend Bon are given new missions to complete, such as killing a possible spy. The narrator is also presented with unexpected opportunities such as being a part of the film 'Hamlet' which is being filmed in Vietnam. He considers this the perfect opportunity to represent his people but it quickly takes a negative turn instead. The General continues with a plan that he had previously started to go back to Vietnam through Thailand. During a the mission Sonny almost exposes their plan and the General orders the narrator to kill them, making Sonny the narrators first assassination. The Generals plan is a fail since they were caught and the majority is murdered. The narrator is held in solitary confinement where he is forced to confess. As the book ends the narrator is sleep deprived after being held in the confinement and is still tortured as punishment.

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One of the consistent points throughout the book was the idea of having two minds. The narrator shows the positive and the negative outcomes that come from having two different minds. The negative points that the narrator discusses about two minds in the novel is that it weakens people. The positive outcomes of having two minds is that one can be educated but still open minded towards different perspectives. I would consider this the main point throughout the novel because we get to see how the narrator is conflicted with his both minds and how it affects his performance as a spy.

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“His arrogance marked something new in the world, for this was the first war where the losers would write history instead of the victors, courtesy of the most efficient propaganda machine ever created (with all due respect to Joseph Goebbels and the Nazis, who never achieved global domination)” Ch. 8 pg. 134

I chose this quote because I really like how it shows how important Asian representation is to the narrator. It also shows how Hollywood likes to change things for their own entertainment but they do not consider how it affects the lives of the Asian community.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ajzsh-i54

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I chose Bon as my favorite character because he is loyal to his work and family. After his father was killed Bon realizes what his main focuses in life are. He stays loyal to his father by being and anti- communist. What I mostly loved about Bon was the fact that he stayed committed to his main focuses throughout the book. Despite the death of his wife and child changing who he was, we know that he did certain things for the sole purpose of work, not because he wanted to. Deep down I know that Bon is a good person and he puts people before himself. His main goals in life shows the kind of person he is, which is someone who gets things done, not for himself but for those depending on him.

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“Yet we are not cynical. Despite it all—yes, despite everything, in the face of nothing—we still consider ourselves revolutionary. We remain the most hopeful of creatures, a revolutionary in search of a revolution, although we will not dispute being called a dreamer doped by an illusion” Ch. 23 pg.382

This quote was very interesting to me because it shows a drastic change in the narrator in the beginning and end of the book. Before he was motivated and aware of everything, whereas in the end of the book he settles and is very single- minded. As he closes the book he speaks with tired language, almost as he is drained. Through the narrators language, the readers are able to see how the war, solitary confinement, and other events in his life effected him.

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“Revolutionaries are insomniacs, too afraid of history’s nightmare to sleep, too troubled by the world’s ills to be less than awake, or so the Commandant said…I was divided, tormented body below, placid consciousness floating high above, beyond the illuminated ceiling, buffeted from my agony through an invisible gyroscopic mechanism.” Ch. 22 pg. 355

I thought that this quote was really important because it talks about one of the constant themes of the book. The idea of having two different minds is brought up several times. The narrator uses his two minds in the majority of his situations such as being in the army but also being a communist spy. This quote shows that having two minds is a skill the narrator relies on for his day to day life.

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While reading The Sympathizer by Viet Nguyen many points were made in comparison to the United States. Before reading the book, I thought of the United States as a country that always likes to involve themselves into war just for the fun of it. As I progressed through the book I noticed that the relationship between Asian and the United States was on and off and that the United States is only interested in things that benefit them.