Paradise of the Blind Essay | Critical Essay #1

Paradise of the Blind Critical Essay #1

Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth century literature. In this essay, he discusses the novel as a coming-of-age story.

Paradise of the Blind is a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story. Although it is set in a society that is probably unfamiliar to American readers, the story of a young girl growing up in an impoverished single-parent family, pulled in different directions by various family ties and obligations, feeling lonely and out of place, disillusioned with society and longing to get away so she can forge her own destiny and realize her own dreams, will be recognized by many a young American.

Hang, a highly sensitive, reflective, intelligent girl, has few role models to emulate as she grows up. Like many teenage girls, she refuses to contemplate a life that resembles the one lived by her mother. Even when she is only nine...
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