The Rent Collector

by

Camron Wright

Sopeap Sin / Soriyan Character Analysis

Sopeap Sin is the Rent Collector of Stung Meanchey and Sang Ly’s teacher. When Sopeap Sin is introduced, she is a bitter alcoholic with no kindness or empathy for anyone. However, as she spends time teaching Sang Ly how to read and then how to understand literature—taking up her former profession as a literature professor—Sopeap slowly reveals that her meanness and drunkenness are the result of years of pain and guilt that she is trying to forget. Sopeap also reveals that she is dying of cancer. As her fondness for Sang Ly grows and her passion for literature is restored, Sopeap becomes kinder and more generous throughout the story, even going so far as to secretly refuse life-saving treatment for her cancer so that she can finish teaching Sang Ly, an action that makes her a notably self-sacrificing hero. Towards the end of the novel, Sopeap reveals through an essay she gives to Sang Ly that her true name is not Sopeap Sin, but rather Soriyan. During the Khmer Rouge genocide in 1975, her housekeeper, the real Sopeap Sin, sacrificed her own life to allow Soriyan to live, though the housekeeper, Soriyan’s husband Samnang, and their infant son were all murdered by Khmer Rouge soldiers. Soriyan thus adopted and kept her housekeeper’s name in order to flee from her past life, living the rest of her life as Sopeap Sin. Although the people of Stung Meanchey only know Sopeap as the drunken Rent Collector, the novel further reveals that Sopeap owns all of Stung Meanchey and has also anonymously been sending large monthly payments to her heroic housekeeper’s surviving family, proving that one’s outward appearance can hide a wealth of virtue and character. Although Sopeap intends to die alone, Sang Ly tracks her down and brings along the family of the real Sopeap Sin, the housekeeper. Sopeap dies surrounded by people who honor and love her, thus recognizing her true value and redeeming her memory.

Sopeap Sin / Soriyan Quotes in The Rent Collector

The The Rent Collector quotes below are all either spoken by Sopeap Sin / Soriyan or refer to Sopeap Sin / Soriyan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Power of Literature Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

I have been quiet today because fear in my heart has been fighting with frustration in my brain, leaving little energy for my mouth. Halfway through the day, my brain declared itself the winner and started to work out a plan. Grandfather loved luck, but I am tired and can no longer wait around for its arrival.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Three Quotes

“I’ll keep taking him to doctors. I’ll keep searching for a answers. O just don’t think anything will change until he has the desire to get better. I can’t rely on Grandfather’s luck any longer. So yes, as naïve as it may sound, I believe reading will help Nisay. I want to think reading will offer him hope.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Four Quotes

I told Ki I wanted to hang the clock on our wall because I liked its flowered face—but that’s not exactly true. There is more. It helps me to remember that even though something is broken, it can still serve a purpose. […] Sometimes broken things deserve to be repaired.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Ki Lim
Related Symbols: The Clock
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eight Quotes

“But literature is unique. To understand literature, you read it with your head but you interpret it with your heart. The two are forced to work together—and quite frankly, the often don’t get along.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

“People only go to the places they have visited first in their minds […] Perhaps that is how learning can help you.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Fourteen Quotes

“Words are like ropes […] We use them to pull ourselves up, but if we are not careful, they can also bind us down—at times by our own doing.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly, The Housekeeper / Sopeap Sin
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixteen Quotes

“Most teachers will agree that the true mark of a hero, what sets him apart from everyone else, is sacrifice. A hero gives something up, sometimes even his own life, for the good of others.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly, Ki Lim, Lucky Fat, Maly
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventeen Quotes

“The only real dreams I have anymore are usually not pleasant.”

“Nightmares?”

[Sopeap] nods. “Perhaps a symptom of old age.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “How do you keep them away?”

“Rice wine.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Bunna Heng / The Healer
Related Symbols: Snow and Rain
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighteen Quotes

It was just days ago I wanted to kill the criminals myself. But my desire was for revenge on crooks, thugs—dark images of evil that gathered in my head when I pictured the men who beat my husband and Lucky Fat—not boys, especially this boy.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Ki Lim, Lucky Fat, Maly
Related Symbols: The Knife
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty Quotes

“We’ll read it together later,” I tell [Sopeap], “just as soon as I return.”

[…] “Of course,” she finally answers, but the words ring with hollow conviction. And then she adds, “No matter how much we cling to hope, our stories seldom end as we expect.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Bunna Heng / The Healer
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:

“I distance myself from heaven and then complain that heaven is distant.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-One Quotes

Sopeap said that literature has the power to change lives, minds, and hearts. Until this moment, reading to others on this rickety old bus about tigers in India, I had not fully understood what she meant.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay, The businessman
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

I don’t mean to be a skeptic to lack hope, or to harbor fear. However, experience has been my diligent teacher. Still, I hate it. I don’t want to raise a child of doubt I want my son to believe to hope, to dream that the future holds brighter days. […] And it must be true; some hope must remain in my heart, for I am standing in the hut of the Healer. If all hope had died at Stung Meanchey, I would not be here.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay, Bunna Heng / The Healer
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Five Quotes

The soldier behind Samnang furrowed his brow in confusion and then cast a glance at another, perhaps his superior. Sopeap didn’t offer either man time for mental debate. The girl I’d berated moments before carried herself like a woman of culture, a wife, a mother, a queen.

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), The Housekeeper / Sopeap Sin, Samnang
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Six Quotes

The openings are shuttered tight. What I most envy, however, is [Sopeap’s] front door that locks. Still, in a world where everything means something, I’m also reminded that, like her home, Sopeap allows very few people inside.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty Quotes

“To this day, if we look carefully around Stung Meanchey, if we search for stories that teach truth and goodness, stories with lessons that can soften and change our hearts—we will discover hope.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan
Page Number: 263-264
Explanation and Analysis:
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Sopeap Sin / Soriyan Quotes in The Rent Collector

The The Rent Collector quotes below are all either spoken by Sopeap Sin / Soriyan or refer to Sopeap Sin / Soriyan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Power of Literature Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

I have been quiet today because fear in my heart has been fighting with frustration in my brain, leaving little energy for my mouth. Halfway through the day, my brain declared itself the winner and started to work out a plan. Grandfather loved luck, but I am tired and can no longer wait around for its arrival.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Three Quotes

“I’ll keep taking him to doctors. I’ll keep searching for a answers. O just don’t think anything will change until he has the desire to get better. I can’t rely on Grandfather’s luck any longer. So yes, as naïve as it may sound, I believe reading will help Nisay. I want to think reading will offer him hope.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Four Quotes

I told Ki I wanted to hang the clock on our wall because I liked its flowered face—but that’s not exactly true. There is more. It helps me to remember that even though something is broken, it can still serve a purpose. […] Sometimes broken things deserve to be repaired.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Ki Lim
Related Symbols: The Clock
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eight Quotes

“But literature is unique. To understand literature, you read it with your head but you interpret it with your heart. The two are forced to work together—and quite frankly, the often don’t get along.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 57
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

“People only go to the places they have visited first in their minds […] Perhaps that is how learning can help you.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Fourteen Quotes

“Words are like ropes […] We use them to pull ourselves up, but if we are not careful, they can also bind us down—at times by our own doing.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly, The Housekeeper / Sopeap Sin
Page Number: 107
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Sixteen Quotes

“Most teachers will agree that the true mark of a hero, what sets him apart from everyone else, is sacrifice. A hero gives something up, sometimes even his own life, for the good of others.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly, Ki Lim, Lucky Fat, Maly
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seventeen Quotes

“The only real dreams I have anymore are usually not pleasant.”

“Nightmares?”

[Sopeap] nods. “Perhaps a symptom of old age.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “How do you keep them away?”

“Rice wine.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Bunna Heng / The Healer
Related Symbols: Snow and Rain
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Eighteen Quotes

It was just days ago I wanted to kill the criminals myself. But my desire was for revenge on crooks, thugs—dark images of evil that gathered in my head when I pictured the men who beat my husband and Lucky Fat—not boys, especially this boy.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Ki Lim, Lucky Fat, Maly
Related Symbols: The Knife
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty Quotes

“We’ll read it together later,” I tell [Sopeap], “just as soon as I return.”

[…] “Of course,” she finally answers, but the words ring with hollow conviction. And then she adds, “No matter how much we cling to hope, our stories seldom end as we expect.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Bunna Heng / The Healer
Page Number: 172
Explanation and Analysis:

“I distance myself from heaven and then complain that heaven is distant.”

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), Sang Ly
Page Number: 174
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-One Quotes

Sopeap said that literature has the power to change lives, minds, and hearts. Until this moment, reading to others on this rickety old bus about tigers in India, I had not fully understood what she meant.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay, The businessman
Page Number: 183
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Three Quotes

I don’t mean to be a skeptic to lack hope, or to harbor fear. However, experience has been my diligent teacher. Still, I hate it. I don’t want to raise a child of doubt I want my son to believe to hope, to dream that the future holds brighter days. […] And it must be true; some hope must remain in my heart, for I am standing in the hut of the Healer. If all hope had died at Stung Meanchey, I would not be here.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan, Nisay, Bunna Heng / The Healer
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Five Quotes

The soldier behind Samnang furrowed his brow in confusion and then cast a glance at another, perhaps his superior. Sopeap didn’t offer either man time for mental debate. The girl I’d berated moments before carried herself like a woman of culture, a wife, a mother, a queen.

Related Characters: Sopeap Sin / Soriyan (speaker), The Housekeeper / Sopeap Sin, Samnang
Page Number: 217
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Twenty-Six Quotes

The openings are shuttered tight. What I most envy, however, is [Sopeap’s] front door that locks. Still, in a world where everything means something, I’m also reminded that, like her home, Sopeap allows very few people inside.

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan
Page Number: 226
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Thirty Quotes

“To this day, if we look carefully around Stung Meanchey, if we search for stories that teach truth and goodness, stories with lessons that can soften and change our hearts—we will discover hope.”

Related Characters: Sang Ly (speaker), Sopeap Sin / Soriyan
Page Number: 263-264
Explanation and Analysis: