Sopeap taught San Ly that stories are both important and powerful, able to inspire, inform, and teach. Accordingly, Sang Ly treats the housekeeper’s story as something of great value that should be told properly, honored, and revered. Sang Ly’s retelling of the housekeeper’s noble and heroic story to her own family (which is implied, but not depicted) begins her storytelling “career” and foreshadows the the retelling she will give of the Rent Collector’s life in the book’s final chapter.