Paradise of the Blind

Hang’s train arrives in Moscow, bringing the narrative back to her current trip to visit Chinh. The gentleman who has been sitting beside her along the ride escorts her out of the train station, wishing her well as they depart. Hang makes her way through subway connections to the suburbs, where she learns that Chinh has already left the hospital. She tracks him down at the university, knowing by now that he invented the story of being ill for the sake of bringing her to Moscow to help with his import-export business. She finds Chinh working for a group of graduate students, preparing their meals and serving as their housekeeper as part of his role in their import-export scheme. The graduate students treat Chinh disrespectfully, mocking his Communist ideology. Hang recognizes one of the graduate students involved in the scheme, but she struggles to place where it is that she knows him from, so she resigns to referring to him as her Bohemian.

Hang is exhausted from her travels and falls into a deep sleep after drinking beer with her uncle and his business partners. She awakens to hear the men balancing their accounts and overhears the graduate students gossiping about Chinh’s work: he’s known to be lazy at the university but “full of energy when it comes to stockpiling expensive goods to sell later” (212). Chinh comes into the conversation and admonishes the students for their degenerate taste in music, and the Bohemian student responds with a story of a corrupt government official. He recounts the story of a deputy director raping a mentally ill nine-year-old girl, emphasizing that, like Chinh, the deputy director always followed Communist ideology strictly in public, admonishing the worldly pleasures of others. The Bohemian tells Chinh he sees a troubling resemblance between Chinh’s vices and ideologies and those he had witnessed in the deputy director, insinuating that Chinh is not the untarnished moral advocate he presents himself to be. Chinh is furious at the accusation and defends his ideological education, but the argument ends when a female visitor comes looking for one of the male students.

Hang awakens the next morning to find the room deserted. The Bohemian appears from the shower and confirms that he recognizes Hang as well from her first day at university. He even remembers what Hang was wearing the day he first saw her. Hang informs him that she left university after her mother’s accident and has been working at a textile factory in Russia since then. She understands that her uncle has brought her to Moscow to help with his illegal import-export business in some capacity, and the Bohemian confirms that Chinh needs someone who can speak Russian and has lots of money to get goods through customs. Hang can speak Russian, and she’s been saving what she can of her money, but the Bohemian gives her cash and instructs her to give the money to Chinh and return to her factory job without getting involved further.

Hang follows the Bohemian’s advice but first confronts Chinh, asking to know honestly why he’s brought her to Moscow. He confesses that he needs her help with the local language. Hang is weary and gives Chinh the money from the Bohemian before taking her leave. She thinks back to her mother’s accident and Chinh’s inability to help when she shared the news with him. Aunt Chinh refused to sacrifice to help Que, telling Chinh that he can sell his own television if he wants to support his sister. Rather than break her mother’s heart by sharing her family’s real reactions to the accident, Hang told her mother that Chinh was away on a government mission.

The Bohemian escorts Hang back to the station for her return to the factory. She reflects on her first winter in Russia on the way back, then picks up a gift for Madame Vera before walking through the park to the factory dormitory. She observes a group of Japanese tourists in the park, reflecting on the different demeanors and mannerisms of Japanese and Vietnamese people. Upon arriving at the dormitory, Hang learns that Aunt Tam is dying. She quickly prepares to leave Russia, taking another train back to Moscow for an exit visa. This time in Moscow, Hang avoids looking for Chinh, although her Bohemian friend appears, and this time, he helps her get the documents processed to leave Russia. Hang flies back to Vietnam, closing the chapter of her life as an exported worker.

Back in Hanoi, Hang first visits her mother. Que and Hang catch up and even share a moment of tenderness. Their reunion takes a turn when Que asks about Chinh, triggering fury and frustration in Hang. Hang leaves in the middle of the night, no longer able to stand her mother nearby. She arrives at Aunt Tam’s relieved to see that the old woman has not died yet, but her health has declined significantly. Tam recounts her hatred towards Que’s family and gives Hang the keys and directions for finding her inheritance.

Hang bathes her aunt, respecting Tam’s lifelong desire for cleanliness and order. Neighbors and relatives visit to welcome Hang’s return, but Tam remains in her room. As he leaves, Tam’s driver approaches Hang and requests that she sell Tam’s home to him after her death. Hang is noncommittal, telling the man she can’t think about those details right now.

As she combs Tam’s hair that night, Tam shares her dying wish with Hang: Tam wants Hang to remain in her home and continue caring for the ancestral rites for their family. She also tells Hang to cancel any debts owed to her after her death. Tam dies in her home, and Hang organizes the traditional funeral arrangements. She goes through the motions of locating her inheritance and discovers wedding dresses Tam had saved, relics of forgotten dreams her aunt once had.