The Sympathizer

by

Viet Thanh Nguyen

Linh Character Analysis

The wife of Bon and the mother of Duc. She has a round face, “mottled and cratered” with acne scars, reminding one of a harvest moon. She dies, along with Duc, during a missile attack on the airport when she, Man, and Duc try to escape from South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon.
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Linh Character Timeline in The Sympathizer

The timeline below shows where the character Linh appears in The Sympathizer. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
...hands and knees when Bon seizes his elbow, dragging him with one hand, while holding Linh with the other. Linh carries Duc, who’s screaming. (full context)
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
The General sets foot on the ramp. The narrator pauses to let Linh and Duc pass. When he turns, he sees that they’re no longer behind him. The... (full context)
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
The narrator throws Linh over his shoulder. He then throws her at the General when he reaches the ramp,... (full context)
Chapter 4
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
...lands in Guam, where a green ambulance arrives to take the bodies of Duc and Linh. The refugees are taken to Camp Asan and, thanks to the General, the narrator and... (full context)
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
The next day, they bury Linh and Duc. Bon wears a white scarf of mourning around his head, a rag ripped... (full context)
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
...writing to Man directly. He talks about Bon’s inner torment and his recent losses of Linh and Duc. Bon might have starved to death, he says, if the narrator didn’t drag... (full context)
Chapter 6
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
...his hand. He insists that a man needs purpose. Before he fell in love with Linh, he wanted revenge for his father’s murder at the hands of Communists. Then, Linh became... (full context)
Chapter 14
Loyalty vs. Duplicity Theme Icon
Moral Ambivalence and Purpose Theme Icon
...Bon about his wife and child, tears stream down his cheeks. He tells her that Linh and Duc are dead. Lana embraces him while the narrator focuses on her with his... (full context)