Rice Without Rain Sparknotes

The story of Rice without Rain by Minfong Ho is about a village trying to survive and young idealistic college students trying to influence change among the people. From the time the students were introduced to Jinda and the village to the end of the book their intentions were to help the village but the efforts to abolish the crop tax put people in harm's way. Controversy among the villagers over change caused great strife and issues. These events and others changed the future of the village. Through these actions and the characters, it shows that attempts to eliminate oppression result in unforeseen outcomes as shown by Ned’s teaching in the village, Sri trying to incorporate modern medicine, and Duo’s bad decisions.

Ned and Sri arrived

ly with Inthorn and Jinda that they shouldn’t pay the whole tax, he was oblivious as to why they pay and blind to the fact that the village was in no position to make demands or refuse to pay the full tax, but Ned’s reckless ambition persisted and won Inthorn over as well as most of the village, on page 91-93 Inthorn refused to pay Dusit, the rent

Dao was a mother to her son Oi, a wife to her husband Ghan, but the events that had unfolded in her life contributed to her downfall. Her husband left her to go work in the city, then on page 53, Dao’s baby died from malnourishment as a result of Dao’s milk running dry. Oi was her only child, the only blood that came from her, and he was gone, within two days of Sri telling Dao, Oi needed protein. These tragic events seeded loneliness in Dao, and Dao, after Ghan’s leaving, on page 56, she was nostalgic about memories past with Oi and how much she loved feeling him kick, she said, “it felt as if he was trying to touch me,” she continued to say “He was a big baby. With fat hands and little soft ears just like his fathers.” Jinda describes how Dao was speaking, “her words slow and thoughtful, as if each one were precious.” Dao’s relationship with Oi was as a mother and child should be and for Dao’s only child to have been stripped away from her, it left a hole in her heart, one that could not be filled except with closeness and intimacy. When Dao went to see Dusit, under the instruction of Mau Chom, to inform him of what the farmers were planning, she reached out to him looking for love. She was blind to the reality that Dusit was the cause of her village's oppression. On page 88, when Jinda discovers Dao and Dusit, she remarks “Dusit loves you?” “He takes away half of our rice, so that your own baby