Paradise Of The Blind Food Analysis

To what extent does food as a motif represent structure and bonds among characters in the novel? Paradise Of The Blind, written by Duong Thu Huong tells the story of a young Vietnamese girl in the 1980s. As Hang travels to Moscow by train she recounts her life experiences and contemplates on her past during the corrupt communist reign. The novel describes events through Hang’s perspective and illustrates her childhood memories using various motifs. Particularly, food is used as the most recurring and notable motif. Huong uses the significance of food in the plot as a tool to emphasize the importance of community and to display the characters’ financial status in the social order. In Paradise of The Blind, vietnamese cuisine is also a strong

Its influence derives from characters who depend on materialistic values to display prosperity, maintain power and stay healthy. Huong uses the characters’ meals to emphasize the conditions in which different echelons of society are forced to live and to portray the contrast in the character 's’ life styles. The authors first use of this representation is directed towards families who are at the bottom of the hierarchy and the characters financial struggles are illustrated through the quality of their food. For instance, when Chinh becomes ill with diabetes, Que makes great sacrifices in order to provide him with food and medicine throughout his illness. Huong’s oddly detailed description about their rapidly declining food supply provides insight into the harsh living conditions. The phrase ‘’Our meals started to shrink by the day’’ starts a paragraph where Hang describes how their adequate supply of a “ few slices of roast pork or fried fish disappeared and were replaced by bean cured marinated in tomatoes or pan-fried silkworms.’’Hang continues to state how “In the end, even these were replaced by small fried dishes marinated with