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Chapter Twenty-Five
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
Sopeap is still not in her home. Sang Ly spends the rest of the evening reading Sopeap’s essays, mostly poems and stories about her own life. Some are tragic, some are humorous, but all teach lessons, thus making them “perfect literature.” None of them, however, provide any hint as to where Sopeap may have gone. When Narin visits, Sang Ly remembers her contact who works at the hospital, and with Ki’s blessing, she rushes there with Narin. However, Narin’s contact has not seen Sopeap for weeks, revealing that Sopeap stopped treatment because she felt it clouded her mind and “interrupted things she needed to do.” When Sang Ly asks if the treatment would’ve stopped the cancer, the woman says that it only would’ve if Sopeap had left the country, but she refused to because she needed to finish her work.
Sang Ly’s recognition of Sopeap’s essays about her life as “perfect literature” again argues that anything at all can be literature. Sopeap’s willingness to remain in Cambodia and die so that she could finish Sang Ly’s education constitutes a great self-sacrifice, making Sopeap a definitive hero, even if she and others do not recognize it. Just as the housekeeper gave Sopeap another chance to live her life, Sopeap’s sacrifice also gives life—through literature and education—to Sang Ly, thus redeeming her character in the reader’s eyes.
Themes
The next morning, Ki and Sang Ly go to Sopeap’s house just outside Stung Meanchey, which unlike the renters’ huts has four solid walls and a door that locks. Sang Ly reflects that, “like her home, Sopeap allowed very few people inside.” After banging on the door and confirming that the teacher is not home, Sang Ly finds the key where Sopeap said it would be and opens the door. She is shocked to discover that the house is filled with hundreds of books, along with a modern cooking stove, dishes, and a desk and chair. There are books from every country imaginable, even ones that Sang Ly does not recognize. Ki remarks that if all these books were left to Sang Ly, they are going to need a bigger house.
The locked door to Sopeap’s house is a brief but explicit symbol of her own heart, since she allowed no one to truly see what was in there until she wrote “The Epilogue” for Sang Ly. Now that she has revealed her heart to Sang Ly, Sang Ly is also given the key to the locked door of her house. Sopeap’s remarkable wealth of books suggests that, not only did she maintain her fondness for literature over the years, but she was also far wealthier—and therefore more modest—than anyone in Stung Meanchey would have guessed.
Themes
On the desk, Sang Ly finds an open notebook with a list of Stung Meanchey’s renters, several of whom live near Sopeap’s home. Working from the list, Sang Ly and Ki ask the nearest ones if they know where the woman is, but none have seen her for several days. However, Ki realizes that the only people who might know of her whereabouts would be the landowners themselves, since they employ her. If they track down the landowners, they may find Sopeap.
Ki’s contribution to Sang Ly’s search for Sopeap suggests that the old teacher has begun to mean something to him as well, at the very least because she is so important to his wife. This marks a strong growth in Ki’s character as well, since he was initially distrustful and dismissive of Sopeap.
Themes
