Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Paradise of the Blind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Traditional Values and Sacrifice
Communism, Hypocrisy, and Corruption
Love and Wealth
Beauty, Disillusionment, and Coming of Age
Summary
Analysis
That same evening, Hang visits the cemetery once more. In the cemetery, she looks out over the fields of rice paddy, remembering how she had longed for this landscape when she lived in Russia. But she thinks that the beauty she imagined was something she misremembered.
Hang’s final reflection on the landscape and beauty of her childhood demonstrates how much she has grown. Whereas in Russia, she found herself missing Vietnam, coming back allows her to recognize the fact that she had been idealizing her memories. Returning to this reality allows her to look past superficial beauty to recognize the hardships that she and others endured.
Themes
When Hang returns, the motorcycle driver is waiting for her at the house. He asks her if she would sell some of Aunt Tam’s gold, and Hang agrees to do so. As she watches the man leave from her veranda, she observes the pond in the distance once more. Hang observes her village as a place where people’s dreams and happiness have been drowned. She has a vision of a woman in the middle of a burning home, hanging from the end of a rope.
Hang’s visions return to the idea of disillusionment. Before, she saw the flowers, but now, she recognizes the more important aspects of her society. While it can be a beautiful place, people here also experience immense stagnation, pain and suffering. Being haunted by the vision of Madame Hai, who was left with nothing but her sadness, prompts Hang to find an alternate path for her life.
Themes
In her mind, Hang asks Aunt Tam’s forgiveness, thinking that she is going to sell the house. She thinks that can’t waste her life following in her family’s footsteps, trying to preserve a legacy of the past. She sits, dreaming of a university auditorium and of a faraway airport where a plane can come and go.
Hang’s final decision to turn away from her family and her homeland has two sources. First, as she described just prior, she has experienced disillusionment about her childhood home; now, she wants to find a place that doesn’t cause its inhabitants pain and sorrow. Second, her decision comes with a feeling of freedom in turning away from her family. After observing how much of their own happiness Que and Aunt Tam sacrificed for their families, Hang finds liberation in pursuing a different path—one that can provide her with education and the hope for a happier future.
Themes
