Trauma In The Narrative Of The Sympathizer

Vietnamese-American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen,recognized as one of the most promising writers,is a new talent in the contemporary American letters.His debut novel,The Sympathizer,is a first-person retrospective narrative of a North Vietnamese spy who infiltrates the South Vietnamese army.Set in the Vietnam War,the novel tells the unnamed spy’s trauma through his confession.His traumatic experiences of being a mixed French-Vietnamese and an exile in the United States constantly overwhelm the protagonist,and these delayed,uncontrolled and recurring memories have a lasting and negative impact on his psychological growth,making it impossible for him to escape from the prison of trauma.Narrative technique is a necessary means for the author to portray characters,construct plots,and reveal themes,which includes narrator,narrative time,space,characterization,and focalization.Based on the theory of trauma and narratology,this thesis analyzes how the novel characterizes trauma through narrative in the following three dimensions: narrator,narrative time,and focalization.In The Sympathizer,the narrator helps construct trauma.Through his voice,the narrator reveals his trauma stems from his status as a bastard and diaspora,creates wartraumatized characters Man and Bon,and projects his trauma into his description of the physical environment,which provides an effective way for readers to understand his trauma.Narrative time helps relive trauma.The use of dislocation of time reveals trauma haunts the narrator in the form of memory disorder and the repetitive strategy demonstrates the reliving of traumatic events reinforces his trauma.Focalization helps represent trauma.Zero focalization presents the narrator’s trauma in a more objective way and internal focalization discloses his traumatic ideas,promoting readers to enter his inner world and appreciate his trauma.By interpreting and exploring trauma in this work,this thesis unveils the truth of the Vietnam War,shows the physical and mental trauma of the war on people,and provides readers with a new perspective to understand the Vietnam War,thus triggering their reflections on the war.