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Chapter Four
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Rent Collector, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Literature
Appearances, Judgment, and Hidden Character
Heroism and Self-Sacrifice
Hope and Action
Humor and Resilience
Summary
Analysis
Sang Ly rubs Nisay with menthol oil, preparing Nisay for a traditional Cambodian remedy in which she scrapes his skin with the edge of a coin to release the “toxic air” from his body. The practice also ruptures blood vessels, leaving red lines on the skin for several days. An American doctor working for a charity once derided Sang Ly for the practice, calling it superstitious and foolish, but the Western antibiotics he provided did not help any more than the scraping. As Nisay cries, knowing that the painful scraping is about to begin. Sang Ly tries to soothe him, telling him that though the scraping is painful, it is meant to make him stronger.
This scene establishes a running contrast between modern Western medicine and Cambodian traditional remedies. Although it seems as if the narrative is setting up to make an argument of one over the other, neither modern medicine nor traditional remedies are ever lifted up higher than the other. Both, at times, are certainly shown to fail, suggesting that there are limitations to both.
Themes
Since they do not have running water, Sang Ly must carry it by 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 not it in a state to teach on Friday, but tells her that they can begin today, immediately. Sopeap will make arrangements for someone to take care of Nisay for the day. The sudden generosity stuns Sang Ly. When she mentions Ki’s doubt that Sopeap can even read, the thought amuses Sopeap, and she tells Sang Ly that of all the names she has ever been called, her most treasured is “teacher,” which her students referred to her as while she was a literature professor for nine years at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Sopeap’s amusement at the fact that Ki doubted she could even read herself suggests that she possesses enough good humor to laugh at herself occasionally. Her revelation about being a former literature professor at a prestigious university clashes with her initial characterization as a drunk old woman who lives in the dump. This again suggests that one’s first impressions of another person based on appearance or demeanor are often false, and do not account for that person’s life history or underlying qualities.
Themes
