The Rent Collector

Dreams and how to interpret those dreams feature frequently in The Rent Collector. Sang begins by describing her dream about her grandfather, and it is her dreams that convince her to take Nisay to her home province for treatment. Sopeap and Sang spend some time discussing dreams, and Sopeap acknowledges that dreams may not always mean nothing. Sopeap claims that some dreams are the mind’s way of forcing the dreamer to consider something important:

Our subconscious can be downright persistent in prodding us along our path, even if it’s a road we’d rather not travel. In this way, dreams are similar to literature. There can be a lesson, but sometimes that lesson is misinterpreted or misunderstood (141).

Sang’s dreams reflect this concept of subconscious “prodding." The dream Sang has at the beginning of the story—before she discovers that Sopeap can read and hatches a plan to learn to read herself—is prescient. Her grandfather tells Sang in her dream that “it starts today. Today is going to be a very lucky day” (3). At first, this seems ironic, as it is also the day that gang members rob Ki and Sopeap tries to evict them. It is not until much later that Sang realizes that “[t]he day Ki found Sopeap’s book, the same day he was robbed, the day that felt so miserable and terrible and discouraging—it was indeed a very lucky day” (264).