Throughout When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, Le Ly uses rhetorical questions to challenge the reader to think deeper. In chapter eleven, Le Ly is challenged to think deeper into politics and her own life as she examines the world around her. She is challenged to discover what "paradise" is really like and recalls a time when she was almost in "paradise" when she began working at the hospital in Danang. This new job was a paradise for her as she had never been in an atmosphere of such friendly people before. On her return trip, she rediscover paradise through the eyes of a young girl. The young girl, upon seeing Le Ly and her American fashion, is amazed at Le Ly's beauty and dreams that someday she could go to America to be in paradise. The young girl is a worker in a factory in Vietnam under the management of a staff of all men except one woman, Tam, who challenges Le Ly saying:
"The world is always out of balance, eh?" (287)
Although this question is rhetorical, the reader is challenged to look deeper into the words of the female manager. The world is unbalanced for Tam as she is the only woman manager at the factory. In addition, the world is unbalanced due to the wealth of some and the poverty of others. Physically even, the world tilts causing the rotation of the Earth to be unbalanced. Thus, how can one define balance when everywhere their is unfairness? Le Ly believes she has almost found true love in her boyfriend Red, paradise in her job with good people and pay, family as she is almost home, and peace as the war is almost over. Yet still, from love to peace, nothing turns out as planned as unbalance causes Le Ly's scale to tip too far.
Today, unbalance continues to tip the world's scale as people are faced with disadvantages physically or are unbalanced statistically in wealth. The richest twenty percent of the world's population accounts for three-quarters of the worlds income, leaving the other eighty percent of the population only twenty-five percent of the worlds income. The unbalance of wealth in society is one of the most dividing factors in the world today. Without balance, one is only almost in paradise.
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| http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats |
Mandy, I like the use of Rhetorical Questions AND I challenge you to analyze a better reason than "... to challenge the reader to think deeper. I like the analysis that comes after the RQ "The world is always out of balance, eh?" (287). What is the reader supposed to do with this question? Perhaps remember / connect to personal or world events that seemed out of balance in order to appreciate what Le Ly needs to see as well....Hm....
ReplyDeleteBravo on visuals to enhance our knowledge of the book, times, information...
Mrs. S