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 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
Ki is not happy about having to provide Sopeap with wine, and he wonders if she can even really read. Nonetheless, he helps Sang by sharpening the pencils that Lucky Fat, an orphaned child who also works as a picker, helped her find. Sang is extremely excited about learning to read; in fact, she has trouble sleeping the night before. As she lies awake, she thinks about the broken clock that hangs on the wall of their home. Although she tells Ki that she likes the flowers that decorate it, the clock actually helps her “to remember that even though something is broken, it can still serve a purpose” (36). Sang plans to eventually have the clock repaired because even “[s]ometimes broken things deserve to be repaired” (36).
The next morning, Sang prepares for Sopeap’s arrival: She cleans her home as best she can, organizes the scrap paper she has found, polishes the bottle of rice wine with which she will pay Sopeap, and finds a sitter for Nisay. However, Sopeap does not show up until late, and she is clearly too drunk to function, though she nevertheless demands the rice wine. Sang gives her the wine and pencils and sends her away before Sopeap can see that Sang is on the verge of tears.
Chapter 5 Summary
Sang treats Nisay with a folk remedy: She applies menthol oil to his skin and, after “it’s had a chance to soak in,” uses a piece of metal “to scrape [his] back, chest, and arms” (39). She does this to “bring the toxic air to the body’s surface[,] […] restore the natural balance of hot and cold, […] [and keep] these universal elements in harmony” (39-40). Sang reflects on the disdain a doctor showed for the treatment, which he dubbed “superstitious nonsense” (40). However, the doctor’s treatment did not work either. Nisay is very unhappy about the treatment, though Sang tries to explain that she is only doing it to help him. She hopes that one day he will understand why she has tried so many different remedies for his illness, none of which work for long, if at all.
Next, Sang goes to purchase water. While carrying it back to her home, she runs into Sopeap, who says she is ready to begin their lessons. Sang accidently reveals that Ki does not believe Sopeap can read. However, this does not anger Sopeap. Instead, Sopeap replies, “I have been called many names in my life. Some call me Sopeap Sin. Here at Stung Meanchey many call me the Rent Collector. Still others simply call me Cow” (42). Then she reveals her “most cherished title […] Teacher” (42), from when she was a professor of literature at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Chapter 6 Summary
Sang has her first lesson and is surprised at its difficulty. However, Sopeap is not the most patient teacher. When she teaches Sang the difference between consonants and vowels, she explains that in the Cambodian or Khmer alphabet, consonants are divided into two series: “[The] sound each vowel makes will depend on the series to which the consonants belong” (44). Sang copies down each letter and draws a small picture next to it to remind herself of the sound it makes. Sopeap gives her three days to have them memorized. Sang, so engrossed in learning to read, does not even realize that she and Sopeap have been studying for six hours.
Everyone is curious about the lessons, and Lucky Fat asks Sang if she will teach him to write out his name; the idea of herself as a teacher satisfies Sang. Ki, however, is still unsure of the lessons’ wisdom, calling Sopeap nothing more than “a hapless drunk” (46). Sang cannot deny that Sopeap drinks too much, but she believes there is more to the Rent Collector. Sang determines to understand more of Sopeap’s story.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
This section of the story continues to develop the importance of education and marks Wright’s tendency to foreshadow events that take an unexpected turn. For example, although Ki Lim is not happy with Sang’s decision to ask the Rent Collector for reading lessons, he helps Sang by sharpening the pencils Lucky Fat scavenged. Although the reader may have expected there to be an argument between Ki and Sang, this is not the case, and it reveals the real love and compassion that form the basis of Ki and Sang’s relationship.
Wright does this again when Sopeap shows up late for their first lesson, very drunk and unable to teach. Sang does not give up or become angry, and when Sopeap returns, they begin their lesson despite the previous encounter. This is a pattern that will continue throughout the text.
In Chapter 5, Wright explores the idea of Western medicine versus folk remedies. Sang tries to cure Nisay’s unnamed illness by applying menthol oil to his skin and then scraping the skin to “restore the natural balance of hot and cold” (40) to his system. This sets up a seemingly binary opposition, which Sang’s approach, one borne of humility and the desperation to see her son well, resolves. Sang does not believe either approach is better than the other, and she is willing to try both. This mentality is also evident in Sang’s attitude toward her spiritual beliefs. While she believes ancestors watch over her, she is also determined to improve her station without divine or supernatural intervention. A prominent example is her willingness to both work hard and to learn to read.
Chapter 6 begins to develop another important theme, the idea that nothing is purely good or purely evil. This happens at first through the character of Sopeap Sin. Ki believes that Sopeap is no more than a “hapless drunk” (46), while Sang believes there is much more to her story.
