A Wish in the Dark

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-10

Chapters 11-17

Chapters 18-26

Chapters 27-36

Chapters 37-49

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Redemption and the Light Within

The primary theme of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is redemption and grace, and it is at the forefront of Soontornvat’s adaptation as well. The novel follows Pong’s internal conflict over his guilt after escaping prison and the shame instilled in him by society and the Governor for the circumstances of his birth. Ultimately, the novel explores individuals’ power to grant themselves grace and redemption.

Pong begins the novel mesmerized by the lights of Chattana; he considers them symbols of a better life that awaits him in the world beyond Namwon (9). However, after Pong internalizes the Governor’s words that “those who are born in darkness will always return” (28), a belief in darkness’s inescapability characterizes his perspective on both society and himself. Pong thinks that the lights now “only made Namwon seem darker” (29); likewise, he becomes convinced of his own immutable criminality. Throughout the novel, he struggles with the perspective of darkness imposed on him by the Governor. Pong sees light and dark as an uncompromising dichotomy and does not believe that a good heart can coexist with a history of past wrongs. Even when characters such as Father Cham try to reinforce the goodness of his heart to him, Pong has the urge to “stuff his fingers in his ears so he couldn’t hear” (110). Although other characters offer him redemption, he cannot accept it because of the negative belief that he internalized from the Governor: Redemption is unattainable because people like Pong who were born into dark circumstances are unable to escape them. Pong’s self-image is directed by the belief that darkness precludes light; he feels that redemption is not possible for him, even though his only real crime was escaping from the prison that unjustly held him captive.

Pong’s perspective on the impossibility of redemption for himself also directs his perspective on his ability to do good. Because Pong believes he is irrevocably bad, he adopts a perspective of helplessness; he does not believe his actions can create positive change. Pong’s conflict over his ability to embrace goodness is also reflected in the contrast between his cynical perspective on social change and other characters’ positive ones. Throughout much of the novel, Pong struggles with feelings of helplessness and cynicism toward the people’s ability to challenge the Governor’s oppressive rule, a perspective that is a direct result of the Governor’s words to him in Chapter 5. In Chapter 28, Pong tells Ampai that broken things can’t be fixed (215), and she wisely discerns that his pessimism is an expression of his self-image (216). Like Father Cham, Ampai also reinforces Pong’s goodness to him (218). Although he wants to accept her words, “He could only hear the same words he’d heard constantly over the years” (218), signifying that Pong is still a captive of the Governor’s cruel words.

Pong’s internal conflicts are resolved in Chapter 40 with his encounter with the spirit of Father Cham. Through the vision, Pong understands that “darkness is everywhere” (324), and the Governor’s words lose their weight; they now feel “thin and flimsy” (323). Pong realizes that they reflect the Governor’s purposes, not a universal truth. Although he cannot erase the metaphorical “darkness” of his past (if there were any to begin with), Pong learns that he can still “shine a light” (324) by accepting his darkness and embracing his ability to do good. This moment succinctly encapsulates the novel’s theme of redemption: Redemption comes through acceptance of darkness and the choice to do good in spite of it. The novel’s climax in Chapter 47 concludes this theme, utilizing the symbol of the light orbs. Now that Pong has embraced his innate goodness, he can hold the Governor’s light and share it with everyone, a symbolic assertion of each person’s innate ability to create light and goodness.

Ultimately, the novel suggests that redemption isn’t something to be externally granted; it’s found within a revolution of one’s perspective. Pong’s realizations about embracing his innate power to create light communicate the idea that redemption is not an act of counterbalancing one’s real or imagined darkness but of accepting it and embracing one’s innate ability to enact good.

Freedom from Darkness

Pong’s primary motivation in the novel is to find freedom: from Namwon, from the forces that pursue him, and, most importantly, from the darkness that haunts him. However, he learns through his spiritual encounter with Father Cham in Chapter 40 that he is mistaken about the nature of the true freedom he seeks. While Pong pursues freedom from both material and psychological darkness, he ultimately learns that freedom from darkness isn’t possible. However, the inevitability of darkness in one’s life doesn’t diminish one’s ability to face it. Pong uses this realization to empower himself to fight back against the Governor’s oppressive rule; the narrative suggests that perhaps the true forces of darkness are the unequal systems that keep the people of Chattana oppressed.

Freedom from darkness scaffolds the social order of Pong’s world. The Governor’s mythic status as Chattana’s savior from the Great Fire and the resulting darkness anchors his power over its people. Through the Governor’s authority, darkness becomes a metaphysical force that characterizes people and things positively or negatively. Light is a commodity that separates the rich from the poor; the lower classes can afford only the cheap violet orbs, for example, and struggle to survive if they can’t afford crimson orbs for cooking (177), while the upper class lives in luxury with gold orbs (37). The Governor upholds his power by establishing himself as a mythic savior who is the only source of light to protect his people against the darkness, thereby creating and sustaining a sense of helplessness and dependence upon him. The Governor uses literal darkness as a distraction from the true force of darkness: his own control over Chattana.

Pong’s realization about freedom in Chapter 40 removes the power from the Governor’s words and helps Pong realize that darkness is only a tool of power for the Governor. Darkness is not a metaphysical force; it is a literal, natural phenomenon that is neither good nor bad. Similarly, Pong realizes that the Governor manipulates this dichotomy to distract from the true darkness of the oppression that he sustains. Subsequently, Pong confronts the Governor and resolves the narrative’s conflicts after accepting his own darkness and embracing his own ability to do good.

Like Pong, Nok seeks freedom from social prejudices and expectations. Her character’s journey begins when she learns of the rumors about her parentage that challenge her parents’ good standing in high society. In fact, social prejudice in part motivates some of Nok’s actions before she learns to question her assumptions about law and justice; she perceives Pong as a criminal because he is a fugitive. However, Nok’s needs to prove her worth and restore her family’s reputation are the deeper motivations for her efforts to capture him. Her perspective is challenged on the streets of Chattana when she encounters impoverished people for the first time in Chapter 26. In the face of true suffering, the Governor’s words about the law’s light ring hollow (192). Confronted directly by the reality of life on the streets of Chattana, Nok realizes that the light (and, accordingly, the law) are not as equalizing as she thought. In addition, the revelation of the circumstances of Nok’s birth in Chapter 33—that she was born inside a jail—shifts her perception of her identity and helps her realize that unequal systems keep people in darkness, not their own actions.

Both Pong and Nok learn to combat darkness through accepting their own ability to shine a light. The narrative removes the polarized perception of light as unequivocally good and dark as unequivocally bad and refocuses the forces of darkness on the oppressive social order the Governor keeps in place. The people defeat this system, not a literal or personal darkness; by taking the Governor’s light from him and sharing it among themselves in Chapter 47, they reinforce the idea that an escape from “darkness” lies in reclaiming one’s individual power. True freedom is freedom from injustice and unequal systems. To truly be liberated from oppressive rules, one must deconstruct them entirely, rather than trying to escape them or live within them.

Ultimately, the darkness Pong and Nok escape isn’t within society or within themselves; it’s the darkness the Governor created by constructing a false social hierarchy to sustain his own power. The oppression the Governor brought to Chattana and the protagonists’ negative views of themselves are the true forces of darkness they need freedom from.

Laws versus Justice

While Pong is already intimately acquainted with the difference between laws and true justice when the novel opens, this lesson primarily drives Nok’s character arc. Through Pong’s perspective and Nok’s arc, the narrative communicates the distinction between the law and true justice.

This theme is first foreshadowed in Chapters 2 and 5 when Pong reflects on whether he will find true justice outside Namwon and concludes that he won’t. He feels a “burning feeling” (8) whenever he sees injustice; he can’t ignore it, no matter how hard he tries. Pong’s experiences at Namwon, particularly the lack of help or protection from authority figures like the guards (4), immediately underscore the point that the characters cannot look to law and authority to treat them fairly or intervene on their behalf.

In contrast to Pong, Nok was raised in a wealthy family, and she has never been disadvantaged by the rule of the law. She believes the Governor’s words that “light only shines on the worthy” (23). However, as she pursues Pong, she also realizes the fallacy of those words. This conflict in Nok’s character arc is first introduced in Chapter 16 when Pong asks her who has the authority to decide what’s fair, and Nok finds that she has no answer for him (121). However, it isn’t until her conversation with the Governor in Chapter 33 that Nok truly realizes that the law is not a bastion of justice; rather, it’s a tool in the hands of its dictator.

Nok’s realization that the Governor, her idealized figure, does not truly represent justice helps catalyze the narrative’s climax. She learns that he plans to change the law to suit his purposes and had Ampai killed to justify quashing protests against his power. Nok’s conversation with her father in Chapter 41 is also significant in communicating this theme. His lesson to her that everyone is “trapped by the rules we live by” (331) helps Nok understand that the law itself cannot govern with compassion; it serves the purposes of those in charge, and it’s up to individuals to shine a light and bring justice to others. This motivates Nok’s actions to stand with the marchers on the bridge and warn them of the Governor’s plan in Chapter 43. Through her perspective, the narrative asserts that justice should always be valued over the law.

Although this theme is primarily communicated through Nok, Pong’s experiences also examine the theme of justice. His encounters with Ampai challenge the idea of what is right and what is legal. Although Ampai will not allow certain illegal actions, such as stealing, Somkit points out that she still knows “the difference between what’s the law and what’s right” (227). Ampai can identify which rules—such as those against stealing—are unjust because they harm others and which regulations are intended only to oppress. This demonstrates that justice is not always found in laws.

Through both protagonists’ revelations about injustice both within the law and without, the narrative indicates that the law is the tool of the user, not a moral imperative. Rather, one must let their own sense of right and wrong guide their actions.