Paradise Of The Blind Critical Analysis

Duong Thu Huong’s Paradise of the Blind, offers an important political criticism of the way the socio-political climate of communist Vietnam creates the conditions that necessitate individuals to abide by strict cultural and political norms. The narrative takes place during the Vietnamese communist transition and tells the story of how Hang, the young Vietnamese female protagonist, navigates this politically tense era with her mother, Que, in an effort to find happiness and fulfillment. However, Que’s brother, Chinh, often impedes Que and Hang’s pursuits of a better life through his overbearing nature and exploitation of his status as the male in the family. Through this, Duong expands the story beyond one that grapples only with the economic pitfalls of communist society, to one investigating how this repressive society also condemns women to subservience diminishing their chances at social mobility. Using Hang’s family as a microcosm of patriarchal norms in Vietnam, Duong offers an important examination of feminism in subverting contemporary gender inequities.
Que’s unrelenting sacrifice for her brother is demonstrative of the way patriarchal values subject women to a position of docile servitude …show more content…
Through Duong’s articulation of Que and Chinh’s relationship dynamic, Duong propels an important statement about the impact of female exploitation for the purpose of male privilege while articulating the necessity in change. Duong does this through Hang, a character that does not abide in upholding traditional norms that maintain inequitable hierarchies and instead carves her own path. Through Duong’s characters, not only does she drive a strong thematic message to consider within the novel, but she also thrusts a call to her audience to politically and socially interrogate the immoral institutions around