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Mouk
The temple sweeper is an elderly man who works in the Buddhist temple where Raami’s family takes refuge for a short time. He recognizes Papa as the Tiger Prince and tells Papa how much he admires his poetry. He tells Papa and Raami how the Revolutionary soldiers murdered the monks and orphans who lived in the temple, shedding light on the lengths to which the Khmer Rouge will go to maintain control.
The Temple Sweeper Quotes in In the Shadow of the Banyan
The In the Shadow of the Banyan quotes below are all either spoken by The Temple Sweeper or refer to The Temple Sweeper. 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:
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Chapter 7 Quotes
Inside, I studied the murals, thinking of the many tales carved into the balcony and walls of the house we’d left behind, how I thought they were fixed to that place. But, looking at the murals, I had the feeling the tales had followed us here, moving along with us on our journey, manifesting themselves in all sorts of ways.
Knowing comes from learning, finding from seeking.
It was clear what the message meant. If I looked hard enough, if I sought, I would find what I was looking for. Here, on the banyan-shaded ground, the temple harbored minute reflections of the paradise we’d left behind.
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Chapter 11 Quotes
It was clear the old sweeper was a version of Sambath, and just as I saw a manifestation of my father in everything that was noble and good, he saw a manifestation of his friend everywhere, in every poverty-stricken person he met, and tried to do for each what he hadn’t been able to do for his friend.
“We are all echoes of one another, Raami.”
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The Temple Sweeper Character Timeline in In the Shadow of the Banyan
The timeline below shows where the character The Temple Sweeper appears in In the Shadow of the Banyan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
An old temple sweeper appears, bent over with age. Papa offers to help him down the stairs, and the...
(full context)
The sweeper leads Papa and Raami to the monks’ sleeping quarters before continuing his tale. The abbot...
(full context)
Chapter 8
...how to swim, she stays near the shore and watches Papa tell Big Uncle the sweeper’s story about the monks. Big Uncle becomes more and more agitated, despite Papa’s attempts to...
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Chapter 10
...move forward and settle among the villagers. He suggests they claim relation to the temple sweeper. Papa refuses to let anyone risk their life for him—in the soldier’s notebook, he wrote...
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Chapter 11
...it seems impossible that he can hide his identity. Papa and Raami walk to the sweeper’s hut, marveling at the abundant life surrounding them. Papa always tells Raami she is never...
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...something so bad. Eventually, he recites the new poem for her, which is about the sweeper, living in a land both broken and heavenly. Papa says it is also about Sambath...
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Chapter 12
...Papa everywhere, fearful that he will be taken from her. They learn that the temple sweeper and several others were relocated because they were “too rooted” and had to be “yanked...
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