Paradise Of The Blind By Duong Thu Huong: Character Analysis

The novel Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong is set in late 20th century Vietnam and tells the story of a young woman, Hang, coming into adulthood in the post-war era. Culture, tradition, and the conventional family structure are essential to the development of Hang’s character, and these aspects go on to convey the author’s purpose. Huong describes Hang's life story as her vastly different family members have a profound impact on her. Throughout her journey, Hang faces many obstacles with the tensions of the family into which she was born. Her father’s death caused negative relationships between her Aunt Tam, her father’s sister, and her own mother Que. Hang has a journey of personal growth and reexamination of her life and future as

She also did not participate in the growing force of communism, which her brother and Hang’s uncle Chinh continuously persuaded her to do. She committed to her lifestyle as a merchant even though it didn’t provide for Hang well economically. As Huong wrote, she, "Lived according to the proverbs and duties" (). Hang was most negatively impacted, however, by the fact that Que prioritized providing for her male relatives, her brother and nephews, instead of her own daughter. Hang said, “I realized she had a mission now, a new source of happiness: to serve the needs of my little cousins. How intoxicating it can be, self-sacrifice” (). Because Que clung onto traditional values and wouldn’t adapt to change, she enabled people to take advantage of her and gave up all she had for others. This made her a very kind person, but the extremity of this giving was often too much. This belief was seen when Que states, “Unhappiness forges a woman, makes her selfless, compassionate” () Hang ended up starving and reached a conflict with her obligated daughterly love for Que and the stronger feelings of betrayal that these actions put on her. The familial separation that resulted from Que’s traditional values shaped what Hang valued as she learned from her mother's mistakes. Eventually, the bond of mother-daughter love

She creates this by showing the contrast between their values; Que is the traditional Vietnamese who has acquiesced to the circumstances of the war by giving herself over to the will of the Communists, while Aunt Tam represents capitalism and democracy. However, Tam also cannot succeed; she can only give in to the corruption of the political and economic system in various ways as the plot unfolds. Que and Tam’s character development and impacts on Hang throughout the novel make this allegory extremely powerful in its historical context. In addition, Huong uses these cultural expectations to comment on the idea that familial ties are influential to an individual's life regardless of the closeness of the relationship. “We all turn to family. After all, blood runs thick,” As much as Hang understands the importance of family that her culture has ingrained in her, she has to decide whether or not to break away from these rules after her aunt dies. Hang decides to defy societal norms and Aunt’s Tam’s wishes and leave Vietnam, as she believed, “I can’t squander my life tending these faded flowers, these shadows, the legacy of past crimes” (258). At the end of the novel, Hang comes to a realization that she needs to move on and create a better life for herself; she must escape her