Flawed Implementation: The Symbolism of Sticky Rice Anonymous 12th Grade

In the novel Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong,the shifts in the government, cultural, and social factors in Vietnam under the implementation of communism are illustrated through the use of symbols, such as sticky rice.In the beginning of the novel, Vietnam is consumed with cultural values and solid family structures, but these values and families are soon destroyed as communism takes over the country.This instance is illustrated throughout the novel by the comparison of sticky rice to communism, cultural values, and family structure. Therefore, Huong uses the preparation of sticky rice as an analogy to the functioning of a communist government system.

The instance of preparing sticky rice is used to illustrate the hardships of the implementation of communism. In the novel, Aunt Tam was in the process of preparing sticky rice for a celebration and stated, "'It's not easy to make sticky rice with rose apple'" (Huong 150). This excerpt explicitly demonstrates the idea that the preparation of sticky rice is difficult, which is representative of the difficulties that derive from the implementation of communism. Although the preparation of sticky rice may be a challenging endeavor, the taste of "'a sticky rice flavored with...