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.
Essay Topics
Throughout the story, Sang tries to find ways of curing Nisay’s illness using both Western medicine and Cambodian folk remedies, and both function as symbols of knowledge or wisdom. Consider Sang’s attitude toward each and explain what the story implies about both knowledge and wisdom overall.
Before Sopeap agrees to teach Sang about literature, she insists Sang must find an example of literature on her own but refuses to define “literature” for her. Even after Sang finds an example, she is still unsure why it is literature. Use Sang and Sopeap’s lessons and discussions to create a definition of literature as reflected in the text.
Sopeap insists that “[g]ood stories teach” (83). However, Sopeap does not explain what makes a story good or bad. Explain the differences between good and bad stories, using the text as a guide.
Sopeap tells Sang that “[e]ducation is almost always good” (93). However, she tries to dissuade Sang from learning about literature, and both Ki and Lena worry that Sang’s education could harm their relationships with her. Compare these attitudes toward education with those of the Khmer Rouge.
Sopeap and Sang discuss and read several texts throughout the story, including Aesop’s Fables, Moby Dick, Sarann, “The Tiger Road,” and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Phoenix Bird.” Which of these is most important to the story? Explain your reasoning using evidence from the text.
When Sang and Ki take Nisay to see Bunna Heng, her uncle’s mother-in-law destroys most of the book Sopeap gave to Sang. Sang is furious and devastated, as the book was a gift for Nisay. Nevertheless, when they are preparing to leave the village and return to Stung Meanchey, Sang gives the old woman the rest of the book. Why does Sang do this? What does this tell the reader about Sang? How does it connect to the attitude toward education revealed by other characters in the story?
When Sang reads the story about the old woman and the elephant in Sopeap’s collections of essays and lessons, Ki thinks the old woman symbolizes Sopeap, while Sang thinks Sopeap is the elephant. Which of them, if either, are correct?
Sang and Sopeap struggle throughout the text to understand what awaits us after death. However, Sang seems to come to terms with her beliefs by the time Sopeap dies. Using evidence from the text, explain how Sang’s attitudes and beliefs about spirituality develop and change throughout the story.
Why is Andersen’s “The Phoenix Bird” Sopeap’s favorite story?
The novel both begins and ends with a fable. Fables are stories that teach a lesson, often with supernatural events or characters. In what ways does The Rent Collector resemble a fable? What lesson—or lessons—does it teach?
