The Irony of “River of Victory”
Sang Ly narrates, “ When people ask where we live, I tell them we reside alongside the bank of a beautiful river called Stung Meanchey. After all, the name does mean River of Victory. If they know the place at all, they hesitate, smile quizzically, and then we both break out into a tremendous laughter, for in spite of being named river, Stung Meanchey is the largest municipal waste dump in Phnom Penh-indeed, in all of Cambodia.” Sang Ly’s description of their place of residence as beautiful is sarcastic considering the enormousness of the garbage. Obviously, the name ‘River of Victory’ is not consistent with the reality of the life-threatening waste which is discarded there. Accordingly, the place is absolutely dreadful due to voluminous, omnipresent waste.
The Irony of Mitigating the fire Hazard
Sang Ly observes, “Monstrous government bulldozers will push the garbage around, hoping to reduce the hazard, but ironically, they don’t care who they run over and bury in the process.” The objective of the bulldozers should be to mitigate the fires that befall frequently at the dumping site. However, the bulldozers subsidize more complications when they hurt the persons whom they are required to rescue. Clearly, the government overlooks the welfare of the families that reside at Stung Meanchey.
The Irony of Lucky Fat’s Cheerfulness
Sang Ly elucidates, “He (Lucky Fat) was taught to sort trash by Prak Sim, another boy orphan four years older…Eight months ago, however, Prak Sim was run over and killed by a garbage truck. If it were me and I had lost my family in such a tragic manner, in a place so desperate and bleak, I would have chased after the truck, thrown myself beneath the massive and heartless tires as well. Not Lucky. To this day, he remains cheerful.” Although Lucky losses someone who is correspondent to his brother, his cheerfulness does not contract. Lucky’s personality enables him to face life dauntlessly in the face of death; he is utterly iron-willed.
