The Rent Collector

Use this activity to engage all types of learners while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

RESEARCH PAPER: “The Correlation Between Literacy Rates and Poverty”

In this activity, students will research the correlation between literacy rates and poverty in a country of their choice.

In Wright’s novel, one of the main barriers to education for residents in Stung Meanchey is poverty. In this Activity, you will research the effect of poverty on literacy rates in a country of your choice. Use the following questions to guide your research:

• Literature Review: What are hypotheses related to the relationship between literacy rates and poverty?
• Case Study: Which country are you focusing your research on? What is the data for your chosen country?
• Analysis: Does your chosen country’s data match the hypotheses in your literature review? Does this country value The Importance of Education? Why or why not?
• Suggestions and Recommendations: Moving forward, how and in what ways could this country improve? Why?

After drafting your paper and submitting it for peer review, share an abstract of your research with the class. Be sure to include any relevant visuals, such as videos, graphs, or photographs.

Teaching Suggestion: This Activity invites students to utilize their research writing skills in the context of poverty and education. For students who are new to the process, consider reviewing the following steps prior to introducing the Activity (i.e., initial research, annotated bibliography, thesis statement, outline, draft, peer review, abstract).

Differentiation Suggestion: For a more-focused Activity that relates to the setting of the novel, the above Activity may be amended to a research project that focuses on Cambodia’s relationship with education, as well as how the Khmer Rouge affected the correlation between literacy rates and poverty. Students who struggle with time management may benefit from a more streamlined approach to this activity. For example, you might provide a list of countries to choose from, reliable resources to use, and/or additional steps to take to help guide them through the research and citation process. Alternatively, visual learners and auditory processors may benefit from a presentation component; students might share their research in the form of a poster, slide presentation, or video with commentary. This would give the presenter and the rest of the class the opportunity to participate in a question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation, which would promote public speaking skills as well as audience engagement. 

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Before Sopeap agrees to teach Sang, she insists Sang must find an example of literature on her own but refuses to define “literature” for her. Even after Sang finds an example, she is still unsure why it is literature.

• How would Sang and Sopeap define literature? (topic sentence)
• Using 2-3 specific examples from the text, explain how their lessons and discussions support this definition.
• In your concluding sentences, discuss the significance of this lesson and how Sang and Sopeap’s understanding of literature connect with the theme The Power of Story.

2. Throughout the story, Sang tries to find ways of curing Nisay’s illness using both Western medicine and Cambodian folk remedies, and both function as symbols of knowledge or wisdom.

• What is Sang’s attitude toward Western medicine and traditional Cambodian cures? (topic sentence)
• Find 2-3 examples from the text to analyze, and explain your ideas carefully.
• In your concluding sentences, reflect on what the story implies about The Influence of the Past on both knowledge and wisdom.

3. Sopeap insists that “[g]ood stories teach” (83); however, Sopeap does not explain what makes a story good or bad.

• What is the difference between good and bad stories, as reflected in the text? (topic sentence)
• Identify 2-3 stories that are considered “good” or “bad,” and explain your ideas carefully.
• In your concluding sentences, explore how the dichotomy of “good” and “bad” stories relates to the larger theme of The Balance of Good and Evil.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Sang and Sopeap struggle throughout the text to understand what awaits humanity after death; however, Sang seems to come to terms with her beliefs by the time Sopeap dies. Using evidence from the text, explain how Sang’s attitudes and beliefs about spirituality develop and change throughout the story. What is her conclusion, if any?

2. The novel both begins and ends with a fable. Fables are stories that teach a lesson, often with supernatural events or characters. In what ways does The Rent Collector resemble a fable? What lesson, or lessons, does it teach?

3. Sopeap and Sang discuss and read several texts throughout the story, including Aesop’s Fables, Moby Dick, Sarann, “The Tiger Road,” and Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Phoenix Bird.” Which of these is most important to the story? Explain your reasoning using evidence from the text.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following words best describes Sopeap’s initial reaction to seeing the book in Sang Ly’s home?

A) Disgust

B) Anger

C) Exhilaration

D) Anguish

2. In Chapter 3, Sopeap tells Sang Ly, “If you’re looking for hope [...] you should know that it died at Stung Meanchey.” Which of the following literary devices does Sopeap use in this quote?

A) Allusion

B) Metaphor

C) Personification

D) Simile

3. Which of the following best explains why Ki is hesitant about his wife learning how to read?

A) Because she may find a job

B) Because she may leave him

C) Because she will not take care of Nisay like before

D) Because she will befriend Sopeap

4. Which role does Grandfather play in Sang Ly’s life throughout the novel?

A) He is a constant deterrent to her education.

B) He is an activist for women’s literacy in the capital.

C) He is a somber reminder of the abuses Sang Ly suffered as a child.

D) He is a spiritual force that Sang Ly looks to for guidance.

5. Which of the following phrases best describes Sopeap’s discussion with Sang Ly about her first piece of literature?

A) A poetry analysis

B) A historical commentary

C) A political debate

D) A journalistic endeavor

6. Which of the following is generally true about the police in Stung Meanchey, based on the conversations in the novel?

A) They are corrupt.

B) They are foreign mercenaries.

C) They are advocates for change.

D) They are pacifists.

7. Which of the following groups does Sopeap quote throughout the novel?

A) Modern Cambodian revolutionaries

B) Notable female poets

C) Ancient Chinese philosophers

D) Famous Western authors

8. Which famous piece of literature do both Sopeap and Sang Ly reference?

A) Cinderella

B) Aesop’s Fables

C) Romeo and Juliet

D) Moby Dick

9. Which of the following phrases best describes the destruction of Sopeap’s book in Sang Ly’s village?

A) A hatred for women’s literacy

B) A desire to destroy all pro-Communist propaganda

C) A disregard for the importance of literacy and education

D) A jealousy of the special treatment that Sang Ly receives for her classes

10. Which of the following words best describes Soriyan’s behavior at the end of the book?

A) Motivated

B) Confident

C) Renewed

D) Resigned

11. Why does Sang Ly believe that the elephant in the story represents Soriyan?

A) Because it is confident

B) Because it is strong

C) Because it is smart

D) Because it is wounded

12. Which of the following is true about the Khmer Rouge political regime?

A) They were egalitarian.

B) They were responsible for the education of millions of people.

C) They used totalitarian tactics to control the population.

D) They had a female president.

13. Which of the following words best describes Ki’s behavior towards his wife?

A) Jealous

B) Supportive

C) Abusive

D) Ashamed

14. Which of the following phrases best describes the character of Lucky Fat?

A) An example of positivity in difficult situations

B) A representation of the failures of Western medicine

C) A reference to the importance of Buddha in religion

D) A reflection on the problems of Communism globally

15. Which of the following animals does Soriyan’s character in Sang Ly’s revision of the “false fable” most parallel?

A) A horse

B) An elephant

C) A phoenix

D) A pigeon

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is the narration style of the story? How does this style speak to the narrator’s transformation throughout the novel?

2. What is the setting? How does the setting inform the characters’ development?