The Rent Collector

One of the main themes of the story is the ways in which the past informs the present and future. As author William Faulkner famously once said, “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” Sopeap and her experiences at the hands of the Khmer Rouge demonstrate how the past is always with us and the terrific consequences of ignoring that past.

The Khmer Rouge’s desire to return Cambodia to an agrarian utopia is a misreading of the past. Their determination to achieve this goal by eradicating anyone with an education—and essentially both denying and erasing the past—yielded horrific results: “By the time the Vietnamese army overthrew the regime […] well over a million-innocent people had been brutally exterminated,” and those who survived “had been bruised in more sinister ways” (220). It is this past that defines Sopeap’s present and future. Many past events haunt her, particularly the deaths of her son and husband, as well as the death of the real Sopeap Sin, who sacrificed herself for Soriyan. This trauma drove Sopeap to obliterate her painful memories with alcohol. However, her past as a teacher is also what allows her to help Sang and others and is what ultimately redeems her.

Similarly, Sopeap and Sang’s lessons about literature are also concerned with the past, as one way to define literature is as the history of humanity. Without this history, humans are destined to repeat the same mistakes. Sopeap tells Sang that literature “has been called a handbook for the art of being human” (93). However, this “handbook” also reflects the place and time in which it was written, and in that way, reflects the past. However, since people of every culture often consume stories written in the past, this past then affects the present and the future. 

Wright weaves the importance of education throughout the text. Sang’s initial desire to learn to read—and her belief that doing so will improve not just her life, but Nisay’s life as well—speaks to the importance of education. This is particularly evident when set in contrast to the events of the Khmer Rouge revolution, in which the regime attempted to wipe out the educated and create an ideal community of simple farmers.

All the good that happens in the novel stems from the Rent Collector’s prior education. As a former literature professor, Sopeap is able to teach Sang to read and to understand literature. This allows Sang to then pass those benefits on to Nisay, Lucky Fat, Maly, and others in the Stung Meanchey community. Similarly, Sopeap is able to use her education to obtain the properties she owns at the dump; she sends the profits to the family of the real Sopeap Sin, who use that money to procure education for the murdered housekeeper’s siblings and their children. Education has clear ripple effects on the community, in stark contrast to the devastating effects of the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities.

The Rent Collector argues that education, particularly in terms of literature, has the power to create community, not to divide. The idea that education creates division is what motivated the Khmer Rouge, and this fear echoes in Ki and Lena’s apprehension of Sang’s education. Even Sopeap worries that if Sang becomes literate, she might become discontented with her life and disconnect from her family. Ki explains that their life “at Stung Meanchey […] forces [them] to work things out, to need each other” (51), and he fears that if Sang learns to read she will no longer need him. Similarly, Lena expresses to Sang’s aunt the worry that Sang will move away from her once she learns to read. However, the opposite is true: Sang’s literacy pulls her closer to her family and unexpectedly allows her to see the beauty of Stung Meanchey, which has become a home for her and for others. Reading also helps Sang deal with death, make sense of her own spiritual beliefs, and find a sense of peace and happiness despite Sopeap’s death.