A Wish in the Dark

“How could fairness find its way to them through all that darkness?”

Pong’s thoughts as he watches the lights of Chattana establish the juxtaposition of light and darkness and their roles as symbols of justice and equality. The implication that darkness prevents the light (fairness) from reaching Namwon suggests the light as a tool of control, reflecting the way the Governor enforces the light-dark binary to maintain unequal social systems.

“[Tip] leaned closer. ‘You know what Mama says: Trees drop their fruit straight down.’”

This aphorism demonstrates the prejudice that pervades Chattana’s upper class. The author varies the syntax and diction of the common aphorism “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” to emphasize the societal belief that wrongdoing is inevitable for those born outside the privileges of wealthy society.

“‘As [the darkness of Namwon’s nights] should be,’ said the Governor. ‘Chattana is a city of light, but that light must be earned. That is why I had this reform center built here, away from the city. To remind people that wickedness has a price. You see, light shines only on the worthy.’”

This moment reveals the Governor’s true ideology and establishes him as an antagonist. His philosophy reflects the conflict Pong faces against the societal prejudices that designate Pong and others as unworthy.

“[The Governor] looked into Pong’s eyes with his own cold stare. ‘Those who are born in darkness always return. You’ll see. You and I will meet again.’”

The Governor’s words to Pong dramatically disrupt his hope for a fairer future world. They shape Pong’s negative self-conceptualization and create the cynicism and perceived helplessness that characterize his outlook on society and self for much of the novel. This establishes Pong’s main internal conflict, which reflects the novel’s thematic statement about Redemption and the Light Within.

“All prisoners in Chattana were tattooed with the name of their prison. Pong and Somkit had gotten theirs when they were babies. The ink was permanent, set with the light from a powerful Gold orb owned by the Governor’s office. No one could make it disappear except maybe the Governor himself.”

Pong’s prison tattoo symbolizes his past and the darkness Pong was taught to see within himself. The fact that it is inscribed and removed only by the Governor’s gold light suggests the Governor’s godlike power to grant both guilt and grace in Chattana. This quote foreshadows the end of the novel, when the gold light Pong and the others take from the Governor erases the prisoners’ tattoos, symbolizing that the people reclaimed the power to light their own way.

“A hot, angry knot started forming in Pong’s stomach. He was a runaway and a thief and a liar, and if there was a word for someone who disrespects a monk in his own temple, he was that, too. It had all happened so fast. In the span of a few days, Pong had become exactly what the Governor said he was.”

This quote demonstrates the full impact of the Governor’s words on Pong’s self-image. He has a distorted sense of his own actions: he doesn’t see his flight from Namwon as an escape from a corrupt prison system nor grant himself leniency because hunger motivated his theft. Because of the Governor’s words, Pong disregards the fact that he acted not out of malice but out of desperation. His situation here parallels the lesson he learns later from Father Cham about desperation and compassion, developing Pong’s internal conflict in relation to the redemption theme.

“[Thank you] For teaching me that the desperate deserve our compassion, not our judgment.”

Father Cham thanks Pong for teaching him this lesson, but really it’s Pong who learned this from the monk. The narrative reinforces this lesson in the arcs of both Pong and Nok; He learns to grant himself compassion for the actions he took in desperate situations, while she learns to recognize that law-breakers are not inherently bad people.

“It was as though Nok had done something wrong. But that was impossible. She had never once in her life done anything wrong. Nok was the perfect daughter. That wasn’t bragging, not when it had been such hard work.”

Nok’s ruminations on the source of her parents’ sudden displeasure with her establish a core internal conflict that mirrors Pong’s sense of deep unworthiness. By stating that Nok works hard to be the perfect daughter, the author indicates that Nok’s actions are driven by a need to achieve highly to be perceived as worthy by her parents. This foils Pong’s situation, as he struggles to escape from his intense feelings of inner darkness and feels that he must achieve “worthiness” by amassing good deeds to make up for past wrongs.

“Father Cham looked out the open doorway. ‘[…] I learned the hard way that it’s not up to me to save people or to force the world to bend to my desires, even if I have good intentions. That’s not what my gift was meant for.’”

Father Cham’s perspective on the role of his gift directly contrasts the Governor’s abuse of his light-giving powers. While the monk humbly accepts that he cannot change the world according to his own desires, the Governor enforces his totalizing view of justice on the people of Chattana. The foil between Father Cham and the Governor reinforces the theme of individual power and freedom.

“Pong wanted to stuff his fingers in his ears so he couldn’t hear. He wasn’t good. He was a liar and a thief and a runaway. Plus, he’d lashed out at the one man who’d cared for him. Pong was so ashamed that he had to fight off tears.”

Pong’s reaction to Father Cham’s assurances reflects Pong’s internal conflict. At this point in his development, Pong is not ready to accept forgiveness; his rejection of Father Cham’s words reflects his inner turmoil, developing Pong’s conflict against himself.

“Nok advanced slowly, confidently. Even though she was smaller than Pong, she felt like a giant. It was a rush, this feeling of being the bearer of justice. She wished that her parents were there to see her.”

This quote suggests the subtle hypocrisy of Chattana’s idea of justice. Here, the reader knows that Nok is not truly enacting justice by apprehending Pong; although Nok herself does not realize this, the author demonstrates that Nok’s motivations do not truly arise from her sense of justice. The sense of confidence Nok derives from the thought of Pong’s capture and her wish that her parents could see her indicate that she is using the concept of justice as a way to make herself feel worthy, just as the Governor wields his justice to maintain his control over Chattana.

“Back in Namwon, when Pong had dreamed of walking under the city lights, he’d assumed those lights were the same for everyone. But life outside the prison walls wasn’t much fairer than life inside it. The best lights were only for the people who could afford them.”

This moment develops the novel’s theme of the metaphorical darkness of inequality. Pong learns that the social systems of Chattana favor the rich and disadvantage the poor, just as the smaller, weaker children in Namwon like Pong and Somkit were picked on by the older ones. This reinforces Namwon as a microcosm of the unfairness of the larger Chattana, developing inequality as a thematic element within Freedom from Darkness.

“According to that book, the principles of spire fighting stated that everyone has a light deep inside them. The book said that it was like an ember, or a tiny piece of glowing coal.”

Nok’s remembrances of ancient spire-fighting philosophy foreshadow the narrative’s symbolic climax in Chapter 47 and reflect the novel’s thematic statement on everyone’s innate potential for good. This quote also foreshadows the direction of Nok’s character arc; by establishing inner light as the source of her powers, the author suggests that Nok, too, will come to embody the redemptive belief in everyone’s innate potential for good.

“Usually when the Governor’s words popped into [Nok’s] head, they gave her strength. But tonight they did nothing to banish the sad things she’d seen. They were words that belonged in a sunny classroom, as useless here on the East Side as her mother’s fancy dresses.”

Nok’s encounter with the suffering people on the streets of Chattana is the first serious challenge to her worldview. When the Governor’s words about the light of the law fail to comfort her in this moment, Nok realizes the flimsiness of the ideals they purport. This moment develops her perspective on law and justice, reinforcing the novel’s theme of Laws versus Justice.

“Pong stared down at the floor. Desperate people deserve our compassion. Father Cham had gathered up children, blessed them, and found them families. But here, the Governor was going to catch them like dogs and stick them in a pen.”

The difference between Father Cham’s reaction to those in need and the Governor’s reaction to them foils the two characters further and communicates the difference between true justice and mere control. While Father Cham shows others compassion and offers them genuine aid, the Governor treats them with contempt. The image of the Governor “catching them like dogs” reinforces his inhumane perspective regarding the people under his rule, unlike Father Cham, who blesses and cares for his people.

“Pong shut his eyes. He tried to let what Ampai said settle in his mind. But he could only hear the same words he’d heard constantly over the years.”

This moment parallels the moment in Chapter 15 when Pong couldn’t accept Father Cham’s assertion that Pong was good. The difference in his reaction demonstrates his development. While Ampai’s words still do not quite reach Pong, the fact that he wants to believe them demonstrates his slowly evolving perspective on the possibility of redemption for himself.

“As the memory faded, Nok shook her head side to side. She loved her father so much, but even though she hated to admit it, she was also a little ashamed of him. How could a man who had been the warden of a prison—who was the Law Commissioner—be so wishy-washy when it came to what he believed? Why did he have such a hard time seeing right from wrong?”

Nok’s view of her father gives the reader a glimpse into the dichotomous, law-dictated morality that is still deeply ingrained in her. Although Nok perceives her father as “wishy-washy,” Warden Sivapan’s supposed moral dubiousness reflects a deeper understanding of true justice than Nok realizes. The irony of this moment foreshadows Nok’s later perspective shift that aligns her views with her father’s, reinforcing the theme of the Laws versus Justice. 

“Nok suddenly remembered what her father had told her years ago: when the Governor rose to power, the first thing he had built wasn’t a temple, but a jail.”

Through the symbolism of temple and jail, the author recalls the foil between Father Cham and the Governor and indicates the leader’s true villainy. While Father Cham and the temple represent charity, grace, and goodwill, jail represents the microcosm of maltreatment and injustice that Pong spent the first nine years of his life struggling against. This signals that the Governor is on the side of oppression and inequality, not justice and freedom.

“Pong took a step back. Was that really Nok? Shadows pooled under her eyes. She stared at him flatly, as though she didn’t know, or care, who he was. She couldn’t look more different from that confident, defiant girl he’d last seen on the cliff’s edge. The girl sitting slumped over a few yards away looked like the most miserable creature he’d ever seen.”

Nok’s drastically changed demeanor recalls the transformation Pong underwent after he heard the Governor’s words in Chapter 5. Just like Pong’s were back then, Nok’s worldview and identity are shattered by the Governor’s revelations of her true parentage. This moment is significant because Pong reacts to Nok with pity, not scorn; this characterizes the compassion that guides him, despite the injustice that he has seen, reinforcing the idea that compassion for others transcends strict ideas of right and wrong.

“‘You can’t run away from darkness,’ Pong whispered. ‘It’s everywhere. The only way to see through it is to shine a light.’”

This moment is the climax of Pong’s character arc and an encapsulation of the novel’s thematic statement on redemption. Pong learns that darkness is inescapable but not in a hopeless way; rather, it’s a natural part of life and self. By accepting his darkness and choosing to focus on his ability to enact good despite it, Pong deconstructs the helpless outlook that directed him for so long and learns that he can grant himself redemption.

“Now Pong understood what sad, cruel words they were. If you believed them, then the only way to make sense of the world was with courts and judges, rules and jails. Those were the things that kept a city orderly. They kept people in line. But by themselves, they did nothing to make the world better.”

Pong’s realization about the truth of the Governor’s words communicates the theme of the metaphorical darkness of oppressive authority and unequal systems. Here, Pong grasps that the Governor uses the light and dark dichotomy to maintain order and control, and it does not reflect true morality or justice. This realization also reinforces the Laws versus Justice theme.

“Nok had been grasping for that light her whole life. She thought that if she were perfect in every way—if she were the best spire fighter, the best student, perfect daughter, perfect everything—she’d be worthy enough for the light. But she’d gotten it all backward. So had the Governor.”

This moment reflects the ingrained ideals that damaged Nok and encapsulates the significance of her character arc. Like Pong, Nok also struggles with a sense of unworthiness instilled in her by the unattainable standards of morality set by the Governor’s false justice. Nok’s realization that worthiness cannot be earned externally communicates the novel’s theme of self-granted redemption and innate inner goodness.

“Pong met [the Governor’s] eyes. ‘This light doesn’t belong to you,’ he said.”

Pong’s statement at the novel’s climax reinforces the narrative’s themes on individuals’ power to effect positive change and the role of authority in enforcing inequality. It’s not the Governor’s place to impose his will on a whole people or to dictate morality according to self-serving ideals; the power of justice and goodness belongs to all in an equal and free society.