85 pages • 2 hours read
Camron WrightThe Rent Collector
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
At their next lesson, Sang asks Sopeap about the role of the hero. Sopeap has told her that everyone “want[s] to be the story’s hero” (132), but one of Sang’s neighbors argues there are no heroes in the dump. Sopeap explains that there are all kinds of heroes, but the common denominator, “what sets him apart from everyone else, is sacrifice. A hero gives something up, sometimes even his own life, for the good of others” (133). Sang argues that Sopeap is a type of hero for teaching her. This makes Sopeap angry and insist, “[I am] not a hero […] not to anyone!” (133).
Sopeap next teaches Sang about different types of characters: the shape-shifter, the trickster, and “the mask of the shadow” (135). Sang wonders if this is “the evil person, like the gangs” (135). Sopeap explains that it is not always that simple: “[A] shadow may also be someone who simply disagrees with the hero […] And sometimes the shadow isn’t a character at all” (135). Sopeap emphasizes that the shadow can be another aspect of one’s self, and “sometimes these characters are all mixed together. We may find that any character in the story can temporarily wear the mask of any or all of these, even the hero” (135). Sopeap finishes their lesson by explaining to Sang that “[i]n almost every story, the fiercest battles often take place within” (136).
After their lesson, Sang tries another folk remedy for Nisay, a tea brewed from the leaves of the bitter melon, which “[o]f all the fruits in Cambodia, there is none more bitter or acrid to the taste” (136). However, since it is known to help with both fevers and digestive issues, Sang is eager to try it. Ki mixes it with juice from the sweet custard apple and Nisay takes it, but it does not help. Devastated and overwhelmed, Sang wonders why she is bothering with her lessons when her “son cries for most of the morning” (137).
Chapter 17 Summary
Sang recounts a dream she has had, one “so real, so detailed and profound” that it could “alter the course” (138) of her life. In the dream, she awakens to the dump covered with snow, something she has heard of but never seen. In addition to the snow, the trash is gone, “no germs, no stench, no toxic water, no smoke, no fires, no bustle, no gangs, no rotting food. The filthiest place on earth has been made clean” (139). She can see her “home province of Prey Veng” (139) from Stung Meanchey, even though this is impossible. She then sees a man in her childhood home, whom she at first believes to be her grandfather because she often dreams of and thinks of her grandfather. However, this is not her grandfather. The figure is someone she does not recognize, who says to her repeatedly, “You should have come sooner. Why didn’t you come sooner?” (140).
Sang asks Sopeap about dreams, and Sopeap says that there are many different opinions about the importance of dreams. Sopeap believes that if a dream “feels important it probably is” because the “subconscious can be downright persistent in prodding us along our path” (141). She then discusses the importance of dreams to the study of literature, noting that dreams have inspired many important works, such as Alice in Wonderland and psychiatrist Carl Jung’s work on dreams and their relationship to myths. Jung concluded that “both came from a deeper source” (142). Sopeap urges Sang to think about and listen to her dreams.
Chapter 18 Summary
At their next lesson, Sopeap gives Sang the story of Pyramus and Thisbe to read, “the story that many believe inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet” (144). Later that day, Sang notices four trucks in the dump, but no pickers nearby to begin sorting through the trash. A woman tells her that some of the men have caught one of the gang members who attacked Lucky Fat. By the time Sang arrives, the gang member is dead, and Sang realizes that he is Maly’s brother and just a boy himself.
Sang is horrified, as is Ki, and they “sit together in the garbage of Stung Meanchey and weep for the killing of a thief, a crook, a thug, a brother—a boy” one they “didn’t even know” (148). Sang thinks of Moby Dick and finally understands why good and evil are so hard to define.
The next day, Sang goes to where the boy was killed to “make an offering, a gift to appease the person’s soul” (149), a common Cambodian tradition. Sang is not the only one, as Lucky Fat is also there to make an offering. He tells Sang he hopes that Maly’s “brother will now be in a place where he can finally watch over her” (149). Sang thinks that the events of the past 24 hours have made her “too emotional” (149) to study literature with Sopeap. However, she reconsiders, connecting the death of Maly’s brother to Moby Dick, and thinks that this is “a perfect time after all” (149) to consider what literature can teach her about life.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
This section continues Wright’s exploration of the idea that everything is shades of gray, neither black nor white. This exploration occurs through Sang and Sopeap’s discussion of different literary characters, especially what constitutes a hero. Sopeap tells Sang that heroes “come in many varieties” and the only constant is “sacrifice. A hero gives something up, sometimes even his own life, for the good of others” (133). They discuss other character types as well, including the shape-shifter, the trickster, and “the mask of the shadow” (134). Sang notes the real-life counterparts of these characters but considers that none are all one thing or another. For example, she sees in Lucky Fat parallels to the trickster, someone who is “always mischievous and making jokes” (134), but Lucky Fat also rescued Maly, demonstrating that he is also a hero. What is true in life is also true in literature: “[T]hese characters are all mixed together. We may find that any character in the story can temporarily wear the mask of any or all of these, even the hero” (135).
In Chapter 17, the motif of dreams returns with Sang’s dream of the dump covered in snow and a figure beckoning her to return to her home province. Sopeap points out the relationship between dreams and literature: Dreams inspire many works of literature, but interpreting a dream can be just as tricky as interpreting a story. Furthermore, dreams, like stories, seem to reveal a common connection between all humans. Sopeap here mentions the work of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who worked with Sigmund Freud. Jung used the term “collective unconscious” to explain the similarities he saw in literature and dreams. As Sopeap explains, Jung “documented a connection between the dreams of his patients and figures in mythology—even with people who had never read mythology” (141), which indicated to Jung “that both came from a deeper source” (142).
Chapter 18 brings to fruition all the things Sang has been thinking about and discussing with Sopeap. A mob of pickers attacks and kills one of the gang members who injured Lucky Fat. Sang recognizes him as Maly’s brother. This event devastates both Sang and Ki as well as other members of the community. The boy was “a thief, a crook, a thug, a brother—a boy” (148). He did terrible things, but he was still a human being. He was neither purely evil nor purely innocent. This compassion for others is one that runs deeply throughout the story overall, and it is a common thread for all the characters.
