The narrator's scar
The narrator's scar, inflicted to match those of his two best friends to symbolize their blood bond, is a symbol of the simultaneous strength and pain of friendship. This scar, itself, was inflicted in a moment of pain and love. The narrator loyalties are in flux throughout the novel, but he remains loyal to his two best friends despite their political differences. His main motivation is to support and protect his friend Bon, but he ends up leading Bon into a situation that kills his wife and son and then into an unhappy live in the United States. Although he spies for years for his friend Man, Man is the one who is later forced to torture the narrator and imprison Bon before finally being able to free them.
All-white room
The all-white room, where torture is inflicted by both sides in the war, symbolizes power as a corrupting force. Each side, when endowed with power, finds itself taking advantage of that power to cause unnecessary harm and torture to their opponents. The all-white room also symbolizes the negative influence of American imperialism. The CIA exports its torture techniques, including the all-white room, to the Vietnamese army. Although the United States says they are helping the Vietnamese people, they are really exporting their ways of exercising power and violence.
The Vietnam-shaped clock
Both the Madame and Sonny own a Vietnam-shaped clock showing the time in Vietnam. This clock emphasizes how displaced people straddle two continents and two different time zones. They live in their present in their new home, but are also stuck in the past in their home country. Both the Madame and Sonny, despite their political differences, are united in the immigrant experience they share.
Food motif
Food is constantly used as a motif to demonstrate cultural memory and differences. The Vietnamese immigrant community does not feel at home in the United States because they cannot find fish sauce, and the General opens a restaurant so the community can feel more at home. The narrator is transported back to his life with his mother when he eats pho.
Alcohol
The narrator, Bon, and the other soldiers drown their sorrows in alcohol to hide from their pain and trauma. The alcohol symbolizes their maladaptive responses to their new lives in America and to the trauma they experienced in the war.
