Literature as Universal Human Connection

Through Sang Ly's lessons with Sopeap, the author explores the universal link that literature allows across generations and cultures, and between a multiplicity of human spirits. The more Sang Ly reads, the wider her lessons become. The themes of each story she reads gradually gain expansive meaning and nuance. As Sang Ly begins to apply Sopeap's teachings to her own life, the author explores the ways in which the individual can become a citizen of the world through literary learning and discovery. Though Sang Ly is isolated and often despairing in her life at Stung Meanchey, the world of fiction and poetry connects to her past and future, to hearts and voices far beyond the physical limitations of the dump.

In her early lessons Sang Ly is initially frustrated that everything in literature seems to mean something else. Sopeap tells her this...