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An Evaluation on the Theme of Coming of Age in Paradise of the Blind
Coming of age is essential to the theme of many major novels in the literary world. A characters journey through any route to self-discovery outlines a part of the readers own emotional perception of their own self-awareness. This represents a bridge between the book itself and the reader for the stimulating connection amongst the two. It is seen throughout Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong, Hang’s coming of age represents her development as a woman, her changing process of thinking, and her ability to connect to the reader on a personal level.
As Hang embarks on a thought filled journey of her past her recognition of particular situations are seen to be evaluated by herself. Her perspectives of the world around her are constantly being changed and developed throughout the novel. This revelation into maturity for Hang defines her indefinite naivety, to her wise realist nature as a young woman. Hang experiences the pain and loss of childhood innocence to rise to the ultimate development as a woman. For example, Hang states, “I was torn, but the idea of going back to our empty house made me anxious.” (43 Huong) When Hang was about eight years old, already her
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It is different in the way that Hang grows and reflects from her past memories, as opposed to watching her develop from a child to an adult. This reflection, which includes her relatable intuition and self-discovery because of the people in her life, allows the reader to see how Hang’s mind has matured and refined based on experiences she may not have understood in the past. Ultimately bringing together the theme of coming of age in the novel, in which she truly develops from being a child to an adult because of her ability to look back and conclude life’s
Coming-of-age stories commonly record the transitions—sometimes abrupt, or even violent—from youth to maturity, from innocence to experience of its protagonist, whether male or female. Greasy Lake by T.Coraghessan Boyle and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates are great examples of traditional coming-of-age stories. The roots of the coming-of-age narrative theme are tracked in the male protagonist’s perspective for Boyle’s short story, while the Oates’ story captures the coming-of-age theme from Connie; a female protagonist’s perspective. In both short stories, the authors fulfill the expectations of a coming-of-age genre when they take us through the journey of rebellion and self realization, as the
In the novel Paradise of the Blind, Doung Thu Huong explores the effect the Communist regime has had upon Vietnamese cultural gender roles. During the rule of the Communist Viet Minh, a paradigm shift occurred within which many of the old Vietnamese traditions were dismantled or altered. Dounh Thu Huong uses the three prominent female characters – Hang, Que and Aunt Tam – to represent the changing responsibilities of women in Vietnamese culture. Que, Hang’s mother, represents a conservative, orthodox Vietnamese woman, who has a proverb-driven commitment to sustaining her manipulative brother, Chinh. Aunt Tam embodies a capitalistic
How would you feel if you and your family had to be placed in a internal camp from your home? Well, in this memoir, The Invisible Thread, Yoshiko Uschida explains her struggle of going through that situation. Yoshiko Uschida creates a sense of bewilderment throughout the memoir to explain her displacement from the United States to an internal camp.
In the book “Hangman’s Curse” there was a lot of interesting parts in this book. There are parts that will bring you to the edge of your seat and then there are parts of the book that will tear at your heartstrings. For example there are a unexpected events (like death) then there are parts of the book that you would not think would happen.
She has many things going on through her mind. When she becomes a little bit more successful she decides that what she has been chasing hasn’t met her needs. She feels like she’s missing things. She wants to have a boyfriend, but yet she keeps changing her mind due to the fact that she thinks none of the guys are good enough for her. “25- year old accountant seeks a Guangdong man with a professional skill, an apartment, a loving heart, and a sense of responsibility” (p.213). She decides to open her own business with a partner, but at the end of the day. She isn’t so happy with all the process she has made; she just wants to see a better meaningful life then just work and money. “We haven’t made big money yet,” Chunming said. “But even if I make a lot of money, it wont satisfy me. Just to make money is not enough meaning in life” (p. 359). Chunming realizes how far she came, she is confused and finally decides that the entire struggle she made isn’t what she wanted, that she wants to go back to learning English. So that she lives a peaceful life. “I want to learn English so I can live a happier life” (p.
In Paradise of the Blind we can see how Que's relationship with her husband, brother and in turn Hang's relationship with her mother suffers as a result of the values and restrictions placed upon her. Hang, who disobeyed the tradition in Vietnam that required women to observe a three year mourning period after the death of her parents was subject to the "contempt and mockery of the entire village" (Huong, p20) when she married Ton. This recurring theme of individual vs. society demonstrates how Que's relationship with her village changes as a result of society's values and traditions that conflicted with her love for Ton. Que's brother Chinh embodies society’s values and is an icon that represents a new society influenced by patriarchal values. Chinh had joined Liberation Army and following the surrender of the French colonial government, Anti-French resistance came into power as rebels became the new authorial figures. Following the example of the Communist governments in China and the Soviet Union, the Viet Minh forced the redistribution of privately owned land to peasant families, creating a new social class as “landlords” were arrested and forced to labour camps. Que’s marriage to Ton and relationship with her brother, representing the values of the society disintegrates when her brother "forbid you [Ton] to see my sister" (Huong, p29) because of his landlord status.
“Cathedral” was written by Raymond Carver. Carver struggled with alcoholism throughout the early stages of his life, but eventually he quit drinking and became a full-time faculty member of the creative writing program at Syracuse University. “Cathedral”, which is an example of dirty fiction and zero endings, is told by an unnamed narrator. The narrator of the story is not a kind or sympathetic man. He reveals his uncomfortable feeling towards his wife’s blind house guest when he says to his wife “I don’t have any blind friends” (1497). The narrator does not directly reveal why Robert, the blind man, makes him uncomfortable, but a likely cause is jealousy of the wife’s relationship with Robert. The narrator is not physically blind; however, he is figuratively blind in the beginning because he cannot truly see who Robert is as a person. The narrator undergoes major changes throughout the story when he must place himself in Robert’s shoes, which allows him to truly “see” for the first time.
One of the main reasons people will love this novel is the intense conflict between Charlotte and her family members. This summer the trip is different. Charlotte recently turned thirteen years old. Charlotte wishes to be seventeen and is destined to prove her maturity level, even to her grandmother. Charlotte brings a very revealing two piece suit to the country club’s swimming
In the novel Paradise of the Blind, written by Duong Thu Huong, the importance of a motherly figure in society is illustrated through Huong’s depiction of both the mother Que and the Aunt Tam. By analyzing the actions of Que, her maternal instincts are shown at times to be very strong while being the opposite at other times. Whereas in Aunt Tam’s case her maternal instincts are shown to be very impactful due to the way she treats and protects the daughter Hang.
The family's personal encounters with the destructive nature of the traditional family have forced them to think in modern ways so they will not follow the same destructive path that they've seen so many before they get lost. In this new age struggle for happiness within the Kao family, a cultural barrier is constructed between the modern youth and the traditional adults, with Chueh-hsin teeter tottering on the edge, lost between them both. While the traditional family seems to be cracking and falling apart much like an iceberg in warm ocean waters, the bond between Chueh-min, Chueh-hui, Chin and their friends becomes as strong as the ocean itself. While traditional Confucianism plays a large role in the problems faced by the Kao family, it is the combination of both Confucianism and modernization that brings the family to its knees. Chueh-hsin is a huge factor in the novel for many reasons.
Without blindness could we really see? Everyone has blindness and everyone is blinded by different things. Blindness in literature allows us to see the perspective of others peoples blindness and realize the blindness of our own. We are blinded by things we are unaware of and of blindness as to how we see it or what we hear. Reading about something you are blinded to can change your perspective and the way you view it... essentially taking away our blindness. In my novel “The Help” you read about the life of a black maid in the 60s how and discriminated and poorly treated they were. When Aibileen writes a book about her experiences the white people see the things they were previously blinded to and taught to believe. They realize the way they
Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, encompasses the farm life and hardships of a wealthy retiring Iowa farmer, Larry Cook and his family. For his daughters Ginny and Rose, the farm and life on the farm was all they ever knew. The youngest daughter, Caroline, broke away from life on the farm and became a Des Moines lawyer. Throughout the novel Smiley persuades you to believe that life other than the farm ceases to exist. Smiley, however, utilizes one particular scene in order to open up the characters and to paint a picture of life other than the farm. It is another life that Ginny and Rose would not get to experience otherwise. Without this setting, one would interpret that their lives revolve solely around the farm and that they have no other
The ideas held within the pages of this novel are effortlessly identified and relatable to, and each has been a part of most people's life. Tragedy, racism, depression, and feeling alone are all expressed throughout the novel. In a short summary, the book goes as such: a local girl dies in a lake of a small town, and while trying to find out what happened,her secret life is revealed to her distraught mother, and scandalous father, whom is having an affair that deeply troubled Lydia. The idea of her being her own killer becomes more and more prominent, and as this is realized, the reader realizes a few other details. Lydia is a liar, and cannot seem to be straightforward with her overbearing parents about anything. One can learn about anxiety, depression, and relationships, as those are reoccurring themes
In Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf takes advantage of the liminal quality of the short story in order to highlight the suspended world that she creates in the garden. For Woolf, the lyrical short story’s subversion of traditional narrative structure allows her to focus on creating a world rather than a plot. Further, the short story creates a liminal space by the very nature of its form. Caught in a space where it is not considered a poem or a novel, the short story exists as undefined. The liminality of the short story, however, is both liberating and restricting. Woolf explores this feature in order to suggest the unsustainable nature of Kew Gardens. While Woolf utilizes the form of the short story to create a liminal, impressionistic space that eradicates the boundaries between human and nature, she also uses the transitory quality of the short story to suggest that such a space can only exist for a short duration due to the restrictions of the imposing outside world.
...hen she goes to live with her uncle she meets people and makes friends. She becomes a prettier more elegant girl and cares about other people and things. She does more instead of sitting in a room. “Now she was on the other side of the orchard and standing in the path outside a wall-“ ****