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Ki Lim
Nisay is Sang Ly’s infant son. Nisay is constantly ill, stricken with diarrhea that leaves him malnourished and less responsive than a child his age should be. Although numerous Western and traditional remedies fail to heal his illness, Nisay is finally cured by the Healer in Prey Veng. Though he appears frequently throughout the story, Nisay is primarily a passive character, an object of Sang Ly’s affections, hopes, and fears.
Nisay Quotes in The Rent Collector
The The Rent Collector quotes below are all either spoken by Nisay or refer to Nisay. 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 Two Quotes
I have been quiet today because fear in my heart has been fighting with frustration in my brain, leaving little energy for my mouth. Halfway through the day, my brain declared itself the winner and started to work out a plan. Grandfather loved luck, but I am tired and can no longer wait around for its arrival.
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Chapter Three Quotes
“I’ll keep taking him to doctors. I’ll keep searching for a answers. O just don’t think anything will change until he has the desire to get better. I can’t rely on Grandfather’s luck any longer. So yes, as naïve as it may sound, I believe reading will help Nisay. I want to think reading will offer him hope.”
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Chapter Seven Quotes
“I hope it changes many things,” I answered softly. “I hope it will somehow get out of the dump—and if not us, that it provides a path out for Nisay. Don’t you want those things too?”
It is a long time before [Ki] replies. “I know that we don’t have a lot here,” he says cautiously. “But at least we know where we stand.”
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Chapter Twenty-One Quotes
Sopeap said that literature has the power to change lives, minds, and hearts. Until this moment, reading to others on this rickety old bus about tigers in India, I had not fully understood what she meant.
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Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes
I don’t mean to be a skeptic to lack hope, or to harbor fear. However, experience has been my diligent teacher. Still, I hate it. I don’t want to raise a child of doubt I want my son to believe to hope, to dream that the future holds brighter days. […] And it must be true; some hope must remain in my heart, for I am standing in the hut of the Healer. If all hope had died at Stung Meanchey, I would not be here.
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Chapter Twenty-Four Quotes
“I should go to work,” [Ki] says, “but I have no boots, no picker, nothing.” Of course, he is right, we have nothing. And yet, if Nisay is truly better, we have everything.
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Nisay Character Timeline in The Rent Collector
The timeline below shows where the character Nisay appears in The Rent Collector. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter One
...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...
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Chapter Two
...she will triumphantly and pridefully pay off Sopeap this evening. In their hut, she holds Nisay on her lap and flips through the illustrated book that Ki found, making up a...
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Chapter Three
...want to learn, but Sang Ly tells the woman she wants a better future for Nisay. Stung Meanchey is keeping him ill. She wants him to at least have hope.
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Chapter Five
Sang Ly rubs Nisay with menthol oil, preparing Nisay for a traditional Cambodian remedy in which she scrapes his...
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...hand from a vendor’s stall. While she is doing so, a neighbor, Teva Mao, watches Nisay for her. On this errand, Sang Ly runs into Sopeap, who apologizes that she was...
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Chapter Eight
Sang Ly and Ki bring Nisay to a local “cupping” practitioner, another traditional remedy that involves creating suction to attempt to...
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Chapter Ten
...must come with him right away. Lucky Fat is insistent that she come alone. Taking Nisay with her, Sang Ly follows Lucky Fat back to his hut and finds a young...
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Chapter Eleven
Sang Ly enjoys learning, but also frets about leaving Nisay with Teva Mao so often; she feels as if she is not being enough of...
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Chapter Sixteen
...supposed to be good for easing digestion and reducing fever, and hopes they may help Nisay. Sang Ly is willing to try anything, so she boils them into a bitter tea...
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Chapter Seventeen
That evening, Sang Ly is bathing Nisay when Ki arrives and tells her that the gangs beat up Lucky Fat, apparently because...
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Chapter Nineteen
...the conversation turns to flirting until they have bargained Ki’s help with laundry and bathing Nisay that afternoon in exchange for the couple having sex that evening. Sang Ly reflects to...
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...that it is “not a typical children’s book” and she will only allow it if Nisay sits in Sang Ly’s lap while she reads it. Sang Ly states that if that...
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...Ly tries to return the book, but Sopeap tells her it is a gift to Nisay, and shares that a friend of hers wrote it during the years that Sopeap taught...
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Chapter Twenty
Lena suddenly arrives, screaming, with Nisay in her arms, and says that while she was watching Nisay, he suddenly slumped over...
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The nurse brings Sang Ly inside and takes Nisay from her. When an orderly takes her information and realizes she is from Stung Meanchey,...
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...doctor eventually meets Sang Ly and Ki in the waiting room and tells them that Nisay was “severely dehydrated,” but is okay now and they are being discharged. He also gives...
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...afford more than just rice this evening—she has not eaten since early the day before. Nisay sleeps peacefully, as he always does while on medication.
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...go see this Healer as soon as possible, because he might be able to cure Nisay.
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Chapter Twenty-One
Phnom Penh’s streets are busy and crowded as Sang Ly, Ki, and Nisay make their way to the bus station. They arrive early, and sit on the ground...
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...personal stories, who they are, and what they feel. However, as the bus rolls onward, Nisay fusses loudly and begins to wail and the other passengers are clearly aggravated. As Sang...
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Carrying Nisay, Sang Ly and Ki walk an hour from the road to the river, and then...
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...work helping a local rice farmer plant his crops while Sang Ly takes care of Nisay. He was especially sick the night before, and Uncle Keo’s mother-in-law is clearly displeased with...
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Chapter Twenty-Three
Sang Ly and Auntie take Nisay to the Healer, who has now returned. Sang Ly expects the Healer to be intimidating,...
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Auntie takes Nisay outside to calm down while Sang Ly speaks with the Healer. She tries to pay...
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Chapter Twenty-Four
As Sang Ly, Ki, and Nisay ride the bus back to Stung Meanchey, Sang Ly watches the people walking the streets....
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...sleep in Lena’s house instead. When Sang Ly wakes the next morning, she finds that Nisay is already awake, playing on the floor and grabbing her hair. He is healthy and...
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...the key to her locked door is hidden. While Ki works and Lena looks after Nisay, Sang Ly thumbs through the notebook full of handwritten essays by Sopeap Sin. The final...
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