[Barberous]

Is Chris a nice guy, or a selfish betrayer? He seems genuinely torn up about how things turn out. But if he was so concerned about Kim, why didn't he go back looking for her? Is he caring, callous, naive, or what?

[Set_Buildin_Dad]

If you know anything about the history of Vietnam you will know that for several years after the fall of Saigon it was impossible to travel there, especially for an American. Chris and Kim are like the characters in a Shakesperian tragedy, where small the characteristics of their personallities combine with circumstances to bring about a tragic ending.

[Barberous]

By a certain point in the play, John could track down and reunite children with their American families etc. Chris could have looked into finding Kim *some*time before the info was handed to him. Well - I can't remember if he went to John specifically for that in the first place. I thought not.

[Set_Buildin_Dad]

I agree that Chris could have been more persistent. Chris was not a strong willed person - never as strong willed as either John of Kim. If I understand the premise of the story correctly, Chris was distraught over his loss of Kim after the fall of Saigon. He finally found relief of a sort when he met Ellen although thoughts of Kim still haunted his dreams.

For all Chris knew, Kim was still in Viet Nam after all these years, not in Thailand where she and the Engineer had made their escape. John was working through his Thailand connections when he discovered Kim (thanks again to the Engineer's efforts - which were actually a self serving scheme to immigrate to the US). From what I recall of the story neither John nor Chris was ever back in Vietnam.

[Colle]

I think Chris does have some serious flaws, like giving into his emotions(passions and lust) too easily, though I believe he does want to do the right thing by Kim. I get the impression, my feeling on this, that Chris wasn't drafted into the miltarity, he joined up because he felt it was the patroitic/heroic thing to do. I imagine by the time we meet him in the story, he has become disludsioned by the war and the anti-war talk. Meeting Kim rewakened his desire to be a hero, she made him feel like one. Unfortately, things do not work out as Chris would have planned.

It is true Chris probably could have more presistent in finding Kim, though I think it was possible he did ask John to see if he could find out anything, and did make some efforts. Ellen does say to Kim "He said he tried to reach you, but what could he do." Also, I think Chris probably should have waited at least a little longer, and found out for sure what happend to Kim before he looked for love again. Just my thoughts on this.

[Vanessa20]

Of course, the original character of Pinkerton in "Madame Butterfly" is a selfish jerk. Some opera buffs (though not me) absolutely disdain "Miss Saigon" just because Chris is nicer.

[mastachen]