On The Narrator's Dual Identity In The Novel The Sympathizer

As the longest and most influential war after World War II,the Vietnam War has brought tremendous disasters to the United States and Vietnam as well as the profound impact on contemporary American literature.The American Vietnam War literature,originating in the 1960 s and extending to the 21 st century,is an important genre of contemporary American literature.However,most American writers of the Vietnam War only pay attention to the experiences of American soldiers but ignore the existence of the Vietnamese people,and in this regard,therefore,The Sympathizer,written by Vietnamese-American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen,fills in the blank of American Vietnam War literature.Viet Thanh Nguyen is an excellent writer in America.Since his first novel The Sympathizer was published in America in 2015,it has been aroused wide attention of the American major media and won the 100 th Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016.Unlike other Vietnam War novels,The Sympathizer,through an unnamed character in the form of the first person,narrates his two-sided life experiences before and after the Vietnam War,which provides a new perspective to look at the United States and Vietnam as well as the Vietnamese revolution.In China,there are very few critical papers on this novel.This thesis attempts to analyze the narrator's dual identity through the close textual study,and reveals the main characteristics of the dual identity and their reasons.This thesis is composed of five chapters.The first chapter makes a brief introduction of the writer Viet Thanh Nguyen and his work The Sympathizer,literature review as well as the significance and the layout of this thesis.Chapter Two is divided into two parts.The first part explores the narrator's dual identity of “son” and “bastard” in the family;the second part studies the narrator's dual identity of “Frenchman” and “Vietnamese” in the community.Chapter Three is made up of two parts.The first part dissects the narrator's dual identity of “patriot” and “traitor” in North Vietnam;the second part discusses the narrator's dual identity of “friend” and “enemy” in South Vietnam.Chapter Four consists of two parts.The first part tries to illuminate the narrator's “killer” identity in America and “prisoner” identity in Vietnam.The second part interprets the narrator's “American” identity in America and “Vietnamese” identity in Vietnam.Chapter Five makes the conclusion of the thesis and points out that the narrator's dual identity is closely related to the French colonial rule over Vietnam as well as the intervention of America in the Vietnam War,so as to expose the fact that the Vietnam War causes the narrator great sufferings.Furthermore,the thesis puts forwards the further study on The Sympathizer.