The daughter of the General and Madame. She was a tomboy growing up and an excellent student. Her talent in scholastics led to her getting a scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley. Her parents initially refused to let her attend, due to their belief that the school was “a communist colony.” For each time that they refused, she attempted suicide—first by swallowing a fistful of pills and then by jumping into the Saigon River. When her parents concede, she flies to California in the fall of 1972 to begin her studies in Art History. She graduates from Berkeley, cum laude. Her parents are scandalized when she returns to Vietnam, dressed in bell bottoms and tight-fitting tops. She expresses a desire to become a singer. The narrator sees her again, for the first time since she was a school girl, when she performs as a back-up singer at a wedding. She moves to Brentwood, a wealthy enclave of Los Angeles, and works in an art gallery while continuing to pursue her singing ambitions. She is politically progressive and has had numerous boyfriends. While the narrator thinks that she has talent as a performer, her parents detest her sexually suggestive behavior on- and off-stage. The narrator is very attracted to her and they have one sexual encounter on the night that he kills Sonny.
Lan (“Lana”) Quotes in The Sympathizer
The The Sympathizer quotes below are all either spoken by Lan (“Lana”) or refer to Lan (“Lana”). 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 14
Quotes
Bang bang was the sound of memory's pistol firing into our heads, for we could not forget love, we could not forget war, we could not forget lovers, we could not forget enemies, we could not forget home, and we could not forget Saigon […] men who had died or disappeared; the streets and homes blown away by bombshells; the streams where we swam naked and laughing; the secret grove where we spied on the nymphs who bathed and splashed with the innocence of the birds […] the barking of a hungry dog in an abandoned village; the appetizing reek of the fresh durian one wept to eat; the sight and sound of orphans howling by the dead bodies of their mothers and fathers; the stickiness of one's shirt by afternoon the stickiness of one’s lover by the end of lovemaking, the stickiness of our situations […] the hills afire with sunset […] the most important thing we could never forget was that we could never forget.
Related Characters:
The Narrator (speaker), Lan (“Lana”)
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Sympathizer LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lan (“Lana”) Character Timeline in The Sympathizer
The timeline below shows where the character Lan (“Lana”) appears in The Sympathizer. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...people to Sofia. He then takes her to the dance floor. From there, he sees Lana, who is one of the two female singers taking turns at the microphone with the...
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...with her husband. They both look as though they’ve been sucking on sour fruit. Meanwhile, Lana rotates her hips, riveting the attention of the men in the crowd. The narrator and...
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...During the hour-long drive, they talk mostly about the Congressman. When the narrator asks about Lana, Madame’s face darkens “with barely repressed fury.” She declares her daughter “insane” and says that...
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At lunch, the conversation turns back to Lana. Rita, the Congressman’s wife, sympathizes. She has strict rules for her own children. The Congressman...
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Chapter 9
...and he began to think that he loves her. However, he also has feelings for Lana. During dinner, Ms. Mori reminds him of their commitment to free love. After they have...
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Chapter 14
The narrator sees an ad in Sonny’s newspaper announcing that Lana will be part of a revue called Fantasia. Bon goes with him to the show,...
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The Poet is the show’s emcee. He introduces Lana to the stage by referring to her as “our very own Vietnamese fantasy.” She steps...
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When Lana finishes the song, the audience claps, whistles, and stomps. The narrator sits silently, stunned by...
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Lana says that her parents fear that singing will ruin her for marriage. They want her...
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Chapter 15
The narrator pursues Lana by writing her letters in the perfect cursive taught to him by overbearing nuns, composing...
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Chapter 16
The narrator goes to Lana for solace. He arrives at her apartment with a bottle of wine. He looks out...
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The narrator spends an hour driving from Lana’s apartment to Sonny’s. He breathes deeply to control his nervousness. He parks his car around...
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Chapter 17
...the best cure. The narrator thought that he would feel better after a night with Lana. He went back to her after leaving Sonny’s apartment, but even “an unforgettable evening with...
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...narrator as an adopted son, but there were rumors that the narrator tried to seduce Lana, and the General was disgusted. The narrator lived in their house and treated Lana as...
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Chapter 18
...The narrator wishes that he told the General that he had already had sex with Lana, just to prove that nothing was forbidden to him, not even what belonged to or...
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