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Lan (“Lana”)
A Republican man in his forties who represents a district in Orange County. The narrator first meets him at the wedding between a marine colonel’s daughter and the son of the vice president of the Saigon branch of Bank of America. He served as a Green Beret from 1962 to 1964. He is nicknamed “Napalm Ned,” “Knock-‘em-Dead Ned,” and “Nuke-‘em-All Ned.” He is a man of large stature who lived for two years in the Highlands in Vietnam, fighting with the South Vietnamese Army. He also seems to speak perfect Vietnamese. He is fervently anti-Communist and this is one of the reasons why he is so welcoming to the South Vietnamese refugees. The Congressman exhibits the aggressiveness of a lawyer and the smoothness of a politician. He lives in Huntington Beach with his wife, Rita, and has a district office in a strip mall in Huntington Beach. Contrary to the bombast he exhibits onstage, he is soft-spoken in private. One of his legislative priorities is regulation of movies and music. The Auteur first consults with him about The Hamlet until the Congressman recommends the narrator as a script consultant.
The Congressman Quotes in The Sympathizer
The The Sympathizer quotes below are all either spoken by The Congressman or refer to The Congressman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
As a nonwhite person, the General, like myself, knew he must be patient with white people, who were easily scared by the nonwhite. Even with liberal white people, one could go only so far, and with average white people one could barely go anywhere. The General was deeply familiar with the nature, nuances, and internal differences of white people, as was every nonwhite person who had lived here a good number of years. We ate their food, we watched their movies, we observed their lives and psyche via television and in everyday contact, we learned their language, we absorbed their subtle cues, we laughed at their jokes, even when made at our expense, we humbly accepted their condescension, we eavesdropped on their conversations in supermarkets and the dentist's office, and we protected them by not speaking our own language in their presence, which unnerved them.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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The Congressman Quotes in The Sympathizer
The The Sympathizer quotes below are all either spoken by The Congressman or refer to The Congressman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15
Quotes
As a nonwhite person, the General, like myself, knew he must be patient with white people, who were easily scared by the nonwhite. Even with liberal white people, one could go only so far, and with average white people one could barely go anywhere. The General was deeply familiar with the nature, nuances, and internal differences of white people, as was every nonwhite person who had lived here a good number of years. We ate their food, we watched their movies, we observed their lives and psyche via television and in everyday contact, we learned their language, we absorbed their subtle cues, we laughed at their jokes, even when made at our expense, we humbly accepted their condescension, we eavesdropped on their conversations in supermarkets and the dentist's office, and we protected them by not speaking our own language in their presence, which unnerved them.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
