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Paradise of the Blind Essay

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Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong
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Name: Chung Yee, Lee
Candidate number: 003072-225
Year 11
QASMT
Teacher: Ms Jennifer Russel
Word Count: 1477

Work in Translation
Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong

In the novel, Paradise of the Blind, written by Duong Thu Huong originally in Vietnamese and translated into English by Phan Huy Duong and Nina Mcpherson, the author constructs characters Aunt Tam and Uncle Chinh as analogs of conflicting political ideologies of 20th century Vietnam in order to display her opinions on its effectiveness in attaining proclaimed paradise. The characters are constructed to differently express the author’s voice towards extremist ideologies, Uncle Chinh …show more content…

The author has used the juxtaposition to represent the disillusioned result of a successful employment of communism, heaven, to the reality of communism, tragedy, the result of failure in the employment of communism.
Duong also provides her opinion about the capitalist ideologies through the characterisation of Aunt Tam. In contrast to Uncle Chinh, Aunt Tam was constructed as a character with protagonist nature. “Aunt Tam was beautiful. Few women could boast such fine features.” (Hang, page 250) Aunt Tam was conveyed by the author as a metaphor of beauty and was represented by the author to be an example in the successes in achieving the capitalistic goal of wealth. The emphasis on the word “few” could be placed as the idea that success in capitalism belonged with a minority and suggests impracticality of the capitalistic ideals.
The disregard for capitalist ideals by 20th century Vietnam however has been constructed by the author throughout the novel. The effect on the peasantry had been constructed by Duong in relation to the character Que. Within the book, the close paternal relationship of Que and Hang had deteriorated since the beginning of her relationship with Aunt Tam. “Because Aunt Tam had taken me under her protection…a kind of indifference had slipped into our relationship.” (Hang, page 136). The author has inserted tragic tone of voice used to express the strain in Hang and Que’s as Hang’s relationship

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