A Study On Ethical Choices In The Sympathizer

Viet Thanh Nguyen(1971-),Vietnamese American novelist,winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,and winner of the 2017 Mac Arthur Prize for Genius.He teaches at the University of Southern California and is a professor of English,American studies and ethnic and comparative literature.In 2016,he won 10 awards with his debut novel The Sympathizer(2015),including the 100 th Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,the Best Foreign Fiction Award in France,and the Best American Fiction Award by Allan Poe;They were shortlisted for six awards,including the International Dublin Literature Award and the Faulkner Fiction Award.This paper contains three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion,and main body is divided into four chapters.The introduction introduces the reason of the topic,the research status at home and abroad,the significance of the topic and the research methods.Existing studies seldom pay attention to the ethical issues in The Sympathizer,and there are no articles to interpret The Sympathizer with the method of ethical literary criticism.Therefore,this paper mainly uses the method of ethical literary criticism and combines identity theory,trauma theory,postcolonial criticism and social-historical criticism to study the identity confusion and ethical choices of "I" in The Sympathizer,the ethical dilemma and ethical choices of South Vietnamese refugees and the war trauma and ethical choices of Vietnamese people,and analyzes the causes of the ethical writing of The Sympathizer.It provides a new research perspective for the works,deepens the study of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novels,excavates the ethical value and historical significance of the works,has certain enlightening and warning significance for the problems of national conflict,frequent wars and refugees in today’s society,and contributes to the construction of ethical literary criticism theory and critical practice.The first chapter discusses the identity confusion and ethical choices of the narrator "I"."I" had multiple ethical identities: the illegitimate son of a French priest and a Vietnamese maid,a French-Vietnamese,a US-trained soldier in the South Vietnamese army,a northern communists spy,an aide to a South Vietnamese general,a sworn brother of fellow students Bon and Man,a Vietnamese-American refugee,a spy sent back to Vietnam by an exiled South Vietnamese general and a prisoner in a Vietnam reeducation camp."I" faces a variety of ethical problems in the family and society because of the identity of illegitimate child,mixed race and spy,which leads to identity dilemma.The ethical choices "I" makes in different situations are the result of the pursuit of my own ethical identity.The second chapter discusses the ethical predicament and ethical choices of South Vietnamese refugees.Under the background of the imminent demise of the South Vietnamese regime,the South Vietnamese fugitives made different ethical choices when facing the ethical predicament of survival or death.In three camps in Guam,Pendleton and the Philippines,refugees are facing a difficult situation.In the space of refugee camp,people’s ethical identity has changed,and the ethical relationship in South Vietnam no longer exists.The chaos of ethical order makes refugees fall into ethical conflicts,and they have to make ethical choices to cope with the conflict-riddled living environment.After arriving in the United States,the South Vietnamese refugees became the marginal people in the American society.The space displacement made them face serious identity crisis,and they had to carry out ethical identity transformation,debugging or reconstruction to face the new environment.Chapter three discusses the war trauma and ethical choices of the Vietnamese nation.The Vietnamese nation has a history of division,turmoil and trauma.The Vietnam War launched by the United States caused great collective trauma and national disaster to the Vietnamese nation.Always bearing in mind the atrocities of the American war in Vietnam is the author’s ethical inquiry of the American war in Vietnam and the ethical indictment of the American hegemonic practices.Only by remembering the war can Vietnamese Americans establish their individual identity,their national identity and the historical truth,so that the diaspora memories of the Vietnam War and its aftermath will not be completely forgotten with the death of those who witnessed it.In the novel,"I" describes his own war memory,exposes the war violence of all parties involved in the war,and breaks the binary opposition between the evil the northern communists and the heroic America constructed by Americans,as well as the stereotype between the American rescuers and the South Vietnamese rescued.The construction of multiple memories of "I" overcomes the memory defect and leads to a just memory ethic.The author makes a profound ethical reflection and sharp ethical criticism on the non-ethical behaviors of Vietnamese people such as cannibalism,mutual exploitation and bribery,and points out that only unity and independence can face and solve the crisis and promote national development.The fourth chapter discusses the causes of ethical writing in The Sympathizer.From the perspective of personal reasons,the author outlines the ethical confusion,ethical predicament and ethical choices of Vietnam War refugees and Vietnamese-Americans with his own refugee experience.Viet Thanh Nguyen challenges the dominant American narrative of the Vietnam War,reflecting on the war from a human standpoint and expressing sympathy for the victims of both sides.From the perspective of social reasons,the humanitarian crisis of the Vietnam War and the refugee crisis caused by the Vietnam War is the root cause of the author’s ethical writing.In today’s world with frequent wars,racism,violence and hatred against the Asian American community in the United States have never stopped.The history of the difficult ethical choices in the ethical predicament of Asians can help people truly understand the injustice and discrimination experienced by the Asian community.Because of the Vietnam War,Vietnamese Americans were forced to become "strangers" wandering in the United States.They constantly explored the identity proposition of "who am I" in literary works.The conclusion summarizes the full text,and reveals the ethical value of the novel,as well as the author’s reflection and criticism of history,and points out the enlightening and warning significance of the novel.