Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Rent Collector, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Literature
Appearances, Judgment, and Hidden Character
Heroism and Self-Sacrifice
Hope and Action
Humor and Resilience
Summary
Analysis
In the year she comes to know the Rent Collector, Sang Ly discovers that heroes don’t only exist in fairytales, and “the most difficult battles in life are those we fight within.”
The opening line suggests that the story will be a journey of personal growth, as much or more than a struggle against physical obstacles.
Themes
Sang Ly can hear trucks honking outside, even though her mind is still dreaming of being a child, talking to her lost grandfather, who tells her that today will be a lucky day. Sang Ly’s husband, Ki Lim, shakes her awake, and she realizes she overslept and has not prepared his lunch for the day. Sang Ly will bring his lunch in the afternoon since Ki needs to work an extra long day to make enough money to pay “the Cow.” As Ki steps out of their hut to go to work, Sang Ly holds their infant son Nisay, who is skinny, frail, and less responsive than he should be at his age. He is sick with diarrhea, as he has been for months, and no medicines have yet been able to cure him. As Sang Ly steps out into the morning light carrying her son, she tells him that Grandfather promised them a lucky day.
Sang Ly’s life is layered with disadvantages—her environment, her poverty, her sick child—which establishes the tone of the story as one in which the protagonist will face the far-reaching consequences of these obstacles in her daily life. Notably, although Sang Ly speaks to Grandfather, her ancestor, a number of times throughout the story, Grandfather does not truly have any presence, attributes, or ever take any actions. Thus, he operates more as a mythical figure or deity whom Sang Ly prays to than a family member with whom she had a close relationship.
Themes
Sang Ly and her family live in Stung Meanchey—which ironically means “River of Victory”—the largest waste dump in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where her family, as well as many others, live in temporary shelters on rented land. Although the poverty and squalor is putrid and often dangerous, there is also a quiet beauty to it at times, which Sang Ly cherishes.
“The Cow” arrives, spoiling Sang Ly’s reverie. “The Cow” is the moniker the villagers gave the rent collector, Sopeap Sin. Sopeap is a foul, bitter, drunken woman, who comes around each month to collect rent from the villagers. Sang Ly hands Sopeap all of the money her family has, minus a bit she’s withheld to buy food for the evening. Sopeap knows that some is missing and demands it, and the two women bicker back and forth, as they always do, until Sopeap threatens to throw them out if they do not pay. She will return in the evening for the rest of the money.
Sopeap is introduced as a grotesque, spiteful old woman with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. This is important for establishing both Sang Ly and the reader’s initial impression of her as a character, from which she will develop into a kind and generous figure, thus arguing that first impressions are often not accurate. However, at this moment, she is still foul, likely causing the reader to sympathize with Sang Ly and Ki over Sopeap.
Themes
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