Mrs. Khanh Character Analysis

The main character of “I’d Love You to Want Me.” Mrs. Khanh’s story centers around her husband, Professor Khanh. The professor, who likely has Alzheimer’s disease, realizes that he is slowly losing his mind. But perhaps most startlingly to Mrs. Khanh, he calls her by the wrong name—Yen—increasingly frequently over the course of the story. This causes Mrs. Khanh to worry that he might be in love with someone else, or that he had a relationship with someone else in the past. Initially, Mrs. Khanh holds on to some of her independence, refusing to give up her job as a librarian despite her son’s Vinh’s pleas that she stay home and take care of her husband. She also corrects her husband when he calls her Yen, but eventually, Mrs. Khanh realizes that the only way in which she can help her husband retain his sanity is through a great deal of personal sacrifice. She essentially turns herself into a ghost, quitting her job at the library, going out less and less, and calling herself Yen when the professor doesn’t recognize who she is.