Chapter 1

In the first chapter of The Sympathizer, which is written in the form of a first-person confession to a superior referred to as "Commandant," the reader is introduced to the unnamed narrator at a critical moment in history: it's April 1975, and the city of Saigon has fallen to the Northern Vietnamese army after roughly two decades at war. The narrator is a high-ranking captain on the Southern side, acting as the aide-de-camp to a man he refers to only as "the General" as they work in alliance with American forces.

In the chapter's first lines, the narrator reveals that there's much more to his role than appearances suggest: though the General believes him to be his most trusted confidant, he's actually a "mole" for the Northerners—a spy within the ranks, transmitting information to the opposition through Man, his handler and close childhood friend.

As they begin to recognize their defeat, the men ask Claude, their American military liaison, to make arrangements for their evacuation. They're given a plane, but the seating is very limited. As the General's most trusted confidant, the narrator is tasked with assigning seats. It's a difficult job—in selecting who is taken to safety, he's effectively choosing who lives and who dies.

While making the list, the narrator remembers one of the most regretful moments in his tenure as a mole: three years prior, a woman working for the North was captured for interrogation. He'd tried to send a secret warning, but it didn't arrive in time to save her. Unable to intervene further for fear of revealing his own secret allegiance, he could only stand by to witness her arrest.

In preparation for their departure, the narrator and Bon—another childhood friend who works for the South and knows nothing of his friends' communist ties—meet Man in a bar for a farewell drink. They'll reunite stateside before too long, Man lies. When the three friends encounter some belligerent marines, one calls the narrator a "bastard." An altercation ensues, interrupted only by the loud reverberations of bombs dropping nearby.

Chapter 2

The narrator reflects on his unusual heritage: his parents were, unusually for the time, unmarried and mixed-race—his mother was a poor Vietnamese woman, and his father was the French priest who employed her. His mother raised him alone, keeping his father's identity a secret, and his mixed heritage has alienated him since childhood. This, he explains, is why the marine's insult upset him so much.

Knowing—contrary to what he told Bon—that Man intends to stay in Vietnam and continue working for the North, the two make a plan for confidential communication. The narrator will write letters to Man's aunt, a woman who won't be suspected, and she'll pass his letters on to her nephew.

Sufficient bribes having been paid for their smooth departure, the evacuees assemble at the airstrip. The narrator takes a seat on the ground with Bon; Bon's wife, Linh; and their young son, Duc. Discussing their circumstances, Bon and the narrator compare palms. They share matching scars, as does Man—as teens, the three cut their palms and pressed them together to become "blood brothers." Despite the immense secret that the narrator and Man are keeping—their Northern allegiance—the three remain just as closely linked in adulthood.

Chapter 3

After a seemingly infinite wait for the plane, the time finally comes. The evacuees board the plane, packed incredibly tightly—it must be one of the last out of Saigon, the narrator guesses. They begin to taxi, bound for the United States, and the narrator surveys the wreckage along the ground as they gain...