38 pages • 1 hour read
Duong Thu HuongParadise of the Blind
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-6
Chapter 5 Summary
The narrative returns to the story of Hang visiting Que’s village with her mother to gather money for Uncle Chinh. As they walk to the village, Hang is overcome with fear that she’ll someday repeat her mother’s history and walk down this same path in life again. When they arrive at Aunt Tam’s home, the maidservant comments upon Hang’s likeness to her father. Aunt Tam carefully inspects Hang upon meeting her before declaring, “She’s a drop of his blood. My niece” (72). Tam treats Hang and Que to an abundant meal and prepares offerings for the ancestors and for Ton’s spirit. Hang is confused by the ancestral prayers, but Tam assures her that she’s prayed on Hang’s behalf. Aunt Tam warns Hang, though, “In a few years, when you mature, remember this and fulfill your duties” (74), to which Hang obediently agrees.
Tam, Que, and Hang enjoy jasmine tea together, Tam sharing nostalgic memories of the same tea served at Que and Ton’s wedding. Tam goes on to reflect on the devastations resulting from Land Reform: Her home divided, her land confiscated, and her continued anger at Chinh for his role in Ton’s death. Having lost so much, she’s now obsessed with becoming rich: “People say I’m extravagant. I tell them, ‘Yes, that’s right, and I’m offering this to myself in memory of all my suffering’” (79). Que attempts to defend Chinh, pointing out that he was only obeying orders in fulfilling his duties to the Communist Party. Tam won’t hear Que’s excuses, though, and asserts that Chinh is Ton’s assassin for having caused the shame and fear that forced Ton into exile and eventual death. Hang realizes that her aunt’s past has poisoned her, and she is now living on vengeance.
Que follows tradition and greets everyone she can in the village while the money for Chinh is prepared. Aunt Tam accompanies Que and Hang back to the pier as they embark on their return to Hanoi, carrying Hang on her back along the way and leaving them with a basket of provisions for their journey home. Tam confides to Hang that she’s saving her possessions to be Hang’s inheritance. She also encourages Hang to do well in her studies so she may attend university someday. Finally, she leaves Hang with earrings and rings before she departs, although Hang is only nine years old and afraid to wear the jewelry in public for fear of attracting attention from muggers. Tam assures Hang that Que can hold onto the jewelry for the time being and that much more is coming her way.
Chapter 6 Summary
Back home in Hanoi, Chinh has been searching for Que. He collects his share of the money she’s brought back and encourages her to take a state-run factory job. He’s arranged for the job for Que without consulting her and is upset when she doesn’t immediately accept the position. Hang steps in to stop the argument, and Chinh leaves on his bicycle. Que blames herself for Chinh’s behavior—she should have done a better job of raising him after their parents died—and she spends the rest of the evening sulking. A few weeks later, Que recounts the situation to Neighbor Vi, a woman from the village. Neighbor Vi is stupefied by the complicated nature of Que’s relationship with Chinh, asserting that Chinh is a tyrant and families need not be torn apart by politics.
Aunt Tam visits for Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. She brings offerings for her brother’s memory, which she bestows upon Hang as the next in her family’s lineage. When Hang returns to her studies, she begins sending monthly progress reports to Tam, who encourages and advises her. Hang begins feeling closer to her father’s side of the family through her developing relationship with Aunt Tam: “I was a different person now. I submitted to a different world, a new authority: the glory of the Tran family, my father and grandfather” (101).
Chinh has not been around since collecting his share of the mortgage from the family home. In his absence, Que is no longer an outcast in the neighborhood. Her business thrives, and she plans to repair the roof of their home. Hang offers to sell some of her jewelry for Aunt Tam, but Que refuses and works to earn the money herself. Before the roof’s repair, Chinh falls ill, and Que immediately fulfills her role of subservient sister. When they reach the hospital to visit Chinh, the hospital has released him, so Que and Hang travel to Chinh’s home to check on him at his state-issued housing. They find Chinh along with his wife and two sons, all malnourished. Chinh insists that he’s fine and was just overworked, but Que can tell they are starving. Que sends Hang back to Chinh’s home with food for his family. When Hang arrives with the provisions, Aunt Chinh is anxious about neighbors seeing the gifts and thinking they’ve acquired an abundance. From that point, Que takes on a role of providing for her nephews as her new source of happiness and self-sacrifice.
Thieves rob Que’s goods at the market while she’s getting lunch. Despite the setback, she still manages to bring back a Tet feast and begins to sound confident in her plans for improving the house again. Que and Hang visit Chinh’s home and bring a feast for his family as well. Again, Aunt Chinh is anxious about the neighbors seeing their extravagant feast and closes the windows against prying eyes. During the visit, a young man comes on official business to request Chinh’s approval of material for the upcoming Tet celebration. Chinh initially refuses to approve the material, declaring the work to be terrible and contemptuous of the Communist Party. The young man points out the relevant and patriotic history behind the material, and Chinh eventually gives in and approves. Hang watches the exchange and leaves immediately afterwards feeling no desire to ever visit her uncle again. Que continues to visit Chinh’s family, providing for Chinh’s sons in the same way Aunt Tam provides for Hang.
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
The paradox between beautiful setting and dismal tone is heavy in Chapter 5. The village is a place where evening smells blend—straw fires burn, and the softness of dusk “settle[s] like dust over the roads, cloaking the hamlet in a lazy softness” (75). The lazy softness of the countryside is a contrast to the harsh backstory of Tam’s survival and prosperity. Hang describes a jade-colored horizon falling to the earth like a necklace, young leaves tinted with smoke in the sun, “an exquisite green that would only exist once” (83). Despite this serene backdrop, Hang feels the beauty of such places pierces her soul like sorrow and wounds her (82). The settings in Vietnam are bright, vibrant, full of smells and life, whereas the settings in Russia are cold and dismal. Even when watching a gentle snowstorm in Russia, Hang appreciates the beauty and perfection of the falling snow but still feels lost (85). The author points to Hang’s struggle to find balance in the beauty and tragedy of the world using the striking differences between each setting’s appearance and Hang’s associated emotions.
In teaching Hang to honor her ancestors, Aunt Tam assigns Hang her familial duty, foreshadowing Hang’s eventual sympathy with her father’s side of the family. The glad assertion that Hang looks like her father challenges Hang’s fear that she’ll repeat the cycle of her mother’s life. This foreshadows Hang’s progressive gravitation away from her mother’s family and eventual alliance with Aunt Tam on her father’s side, as well as the joy Hang’s loyalty will bring Tam.
Tam’s assertion that Chinh is Ton’s assassin clearly solidifies the divide between the two sides of Hang’s family. Just as Que tried to defend Ton against Chinh, she now attempts to defend Chinh from Tam, despite Tam protecting her from the villagers Chinh has hurt. Que’s loyalties are still uncertain as she tries to navigate the complicated nature of the conflict between the two families to which she belongs. Hang develops sympathies towards her father’s side of the family, accepting Aunt Tam’s ancestral offerings and turning to her for encouragement and advice in her studies. The visit to Uncle Chin’s home solidifies Hang’s aversion to Chinh: “I didn’t understand this family. I had no desire ever to return to this place. From then on, my mother went alone” (125).
Although Que is torn between her loyalties at this point in the narrative, her sympathies will eventually solidify with Chinh’s family. When Hang offers to sell Aunt Tam’s jewelry to repair the roof for her mother, this foreshadows Que selling the jewelry to support Chinh later in the story. Que originally refuses to let Hang part with her inheritance for the sake of familial sacrifice, but later in the novel, Que confesses that she’s sold the jewelry herself without Hang’s permission. This hypocrisy also ties Que to her place with Chinh’s family as someone willing to rob from others—even her own daughter—and associates her with the hypocrisy and corruption so commonly associated with the Communist Party.
