The Blind Themes

Analysis of themes throughout Duong Thu Huong's Paradise of The Blind
Within Duong Thu Huong's novel Paradise of The Blind Huong demonstrates the complexity of the land reform and the challenges it has posed on a Vietnamese woman by the name of Hang. Although being banned in Vietnam, Huong illustrated Hang's story by attacking the harsh policies by the government and the cruel impact on the rural Vietnamese culture. Throughout Hang's life the reader sees her struggles and tribulations as her life was torn to shambles due to the land reform. The main themes Huong uses to symbolize this idea are: saviors, death, and quests as these troubles not only reflect her life, but those of the people in general.
Huong introduces the theme of death within

Throughout the book death has not always been in a negative tone, but her story has been gloomy and negative; which is exactly what Huong is trying to show by opening the book in this manner. Using death in this manner symbolizes the hardship of the land reform and the effects it had on the families of the rural Vietnamese people, as it tore families apart and caused families to fight hard to remain together.
Within Hang's life the themes of death have served more than one purpose, both negatively and positively as oddly as that sounds. While the loss of death is extremely painful the aftereffects of it typically positively affected the life of Hang. Arguably the most influential death throughout the book is the suicide of her father Ton, who she only knew when she was a baby. Ton's death is directly related to the troubles as a land owner he went through during the land reformation, and Huong uses his death to establish a sense of seriousness the reform caused. It tore families apart and caused physiological trauma to the people left behind. However, Ton's death was tragic it also served another purpose; his death introduced Hang's savior Tam who time and time again did her best to secure her nieces future. Which shows how the reform brought the

In Hang's story, aunt Tam played the hero who constantly made sure she was taken care of and well off. Even if it ment putting up with Que, as she indirectly was the reason for Ton's suicide because of Chinh. The bond between family and remaining true to one's family is seen when aunt Tam says ", you're all that's left to me... all I have in the world... I wanted you to be happy... Once, I loved your father... like I love you."(Huong 242" Since Tam laid eyes on Hang she clearly defined their relationship as her savior in any situation. Tam would pay for her schooling, bombard her with gifts, and even left Hang her inheritance, the reason this is so important is, because Tam was not born with money. Even after the land reform she pushed herself every day working daily towards building her business. Tam would not have gone through the physical strain and pain if it were simply for herself. Everything she did was towards her family, which is the core foundation to Vietnamese culture, and Huong's message was clearly shown within these actions. Que is also depicted as a savior, not for her daughter, but for her brother’s children. Being a part of the new communist government they were not paid a lot, and thus Chinh's family often went without. Que's compulsion to help Chinh's children is seen when she says ", and your poor cousins...