Paradise of the Blind

Hang’s narrative goes back further in time as she retells her own mother’s history: “She told me it had all happened long before I was born” (19). Que finds herself alone in her village after her parents die and her brother Chinh goes north. Within a year, she meets Ton, a handsome schoolteacher. Their courtship is quick, which draws spite from villagers who believe Que should adhere to the traditional three-year mourning period: “Degenerates! Just wait and see. Misfortune comes to those who flout the ancestral laws” (21).

Fourteen months after Que and Ton marry, peace is declared, and soldiers begin returning home. Chinh returns months later as a land reform leader determined “to crush the landowning classes, these cruel oppressors, and return the land to the peasants” (23). Chinh demands that Que no longer associate with Ton, despite their marriage. Ton’s family, Chinh explains, belongs to the exploiting class because they are landowners, even if that amount of land is humbly small. The villagers can’t understand why Ton’s family is suddenly considered a political enemy: “Many families in our village lived this way. Villagers who owned a bit of land, like my aunt Tam, were the pillars of the countryside” (23). Ton’s mother and sister, Tam, face accusations from villagers frightened and encouraged by the new Communist order. Ton’s mother dies, but Tam perseveres through the land reform and its aftermath. Ton flees from the village to escape persecution and humiliation, leaving Que with no idea as to where he’s gone. When Ton is gone, Chinh urges Que to consider the interests of her family and her class, pointing out that his own authority will be questioned if his sister continues to engage with landowners like Ton’s family.

Que, mad with grief, runs away. When she returns, she discovers the family home in decline. Uncle Chinh has gone into hiding after the failed land reforms, and the Special Section for the Rectification of Errors is upon the village attempting to undo the devastation of land reform. Que stays behind in her ancestral home, despite the anger villagers still hold against her brother. When a mob confronts Que, Tam steps in to save her. All of this takes place 10 years before Hang’s birth, leaving the story of her father a mystery.

The history of Que, Chinh, Ton, and Tam is interrupted when Hang’s train pulls into the first station along her journey to Moscow. The man sitting next to Hang on the train plays music that triggers another flashback for her, this time to when she visited a friend whose uncle attempted to seduce her. The music and the memories bring Hang to reflect on the singer’s voice: “She too must have known this weariness, this despair” (39). Hang’s reaction to this despair is an urge to revolt, which she wishes her own mother had felt as well.