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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Poppy War, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dehumanization and the Horrors of War
Identity, Cultural Trauma, and Coming of Age
The Purpose of Education
Addiction, Drugs, and Control
History
Summary
Analysis
A proctor for the Keju makes Rin change into a smock and checks her mouth and eyes for signs of cheating or drug use. Then, Rin takes her place in the classroom with the other test-takers in rural Tikany Township, in Rooster Province—a place where only a hundred students take the test, compared to thousands in Nikan’s more cosmopolitan provinces.
From the beginning, the novel establishes that Rin is very different from her fellow test-takers—and hopefully, her prospective future classmates. She’s an outsider and an underdog, and much of her development will occur as she makes peace with these identity markers.
Themes
Stepping back in time two years, Rin is 14 and her foster parents, Uncle Fang and Auntie Fang, summon Rin to meet Matchmaker Liew. The matchmaker reveals that she’s arranged for Lin to marry a wealthy merchant in his 70s who happens to be the village’s imports inspector. Rin realizes what’s going on: the Fangs are the region’s biggest opium dealers, and Rin’s marriage to the merchant will give them a monopoly on the business. They’ve also never been subtle about wanting to get rid of Rin, an orphan from the Second Poppy War whom they were forced to take in when she was an infant. They’ve been making her run their shop since she could count.
This step back in time reinforces Rin’s status as an outsider who has to fight her way through circumstances that are stacked against her. From being a war orphan to being raised by foster parents who don’t want her, Rin has little support as she grows up. This passage also establishes opium as the illicit drug of choice in Nikan. Despite being illegal, it gives the Fangs control and power—this is the entire reason they want Rin to marry the merchant.
Themes
Later that night, Rin steals a packet of opium and runs to Tutor Feyrik with the news that she’s getting married. She asks for help: she wants to take the Keju in two years. Though he argues that everyone who passes has been studying since toddlerhood, unlike Rin, Rin insists she can prepare for the exam in two years. She knows she has no other options to get out of her marriage, so to convince Tutor Feyrik, she asks him to quiz her on the most recent book she borrowed. She has it memorized, though she has no idea what any of the text means. Tutor Feyrik reads a passage that suggests Rin should stay in her place (the Keju is supposed to be proof that Nikan is a meritocracy, but the country actually has a very rigid hierarchy). Rin insists she can memorize all 27 books the Keju covers.
Rin is extremely stubborn and driven. It doesn’t matter to her that poor orphans like her are supposed to stay poor orphans: she wants more out of her life, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. Despite Tutor Feyrik’s lack of overt support for her here, note that Rin is able to speak openly and honestly with him about her goals. She has someone, at least, to help her.
Themes
Rin tries to tempt Tutor Feyrik: he’ll gain prestige as a tutor, and therefore more money, if one of his students passes. Rin admits that she can’t pay money for Tutor Feyrik’s services, but she pulls out four packets of opium, worth about half of Tutor Feyrik’s yearly earnings. She explains how she managed to steal these packets, assuring Tutor Feyrik that he’ll be safe—Auntie Fang is known to poison people who cross her. Tutor Feyrik agrees to teach Rin and keep their arrangement a secret.
Rin seems to instinctively understand that people are selfish—so she appeals to Tutor Feyrik’s personal wants, rather than the fact that helping her would just be a nice thing to do. This helps readers understand Rin’s worldview: she’s not used to encountering people who are generous. She’s used to people who are selfish and self-absorbed, and she’s more than willing to manipulate a person’s selfishness if doing so will help her.
Themes
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Next, Rin approaches Auntie Fang about studying, but she thinks Rin is just afraid of sex or having children. Auntie Fang tells Rin to give her future husband opium—he’ll die before long, and then Rin will inherit all his assets. Rin insists that she wants to study, and she threatens to tell either the inspectors or Auntie Fang’s eight-year-old biological son, Kesegi, about his parents’ smuggling if she doesn’t support Rin’s education. Auntie Fang agrees, though she refuses to pay Rin’s tuition. But Rin notes that Sinegard Academy, the country’s most prestigious military academy, is free. Auntie Fang laughs, certain that Rin will fail the Keju and end up marrying anyway.
Auntie Fang frames opium as a tool Rin could use to gain power and make a good living for herself as a merchant’s wife (or widow). Rin, however, wants more from her life, so she continues to set her sights on receiving an education and attending Sinegard Academy. And once again, she shows that she’s very attuned to what people in her life value, and she has no qualms about manipulating them if doing so gets her what she wants.
Themes
That night, Rin begins studying for the Keju, which tests the “Four Noble Subjects”: history, math, logic, and the Classics. History is easy for Rin, as Nikan’s history is essentially a bloody and entertaining war epic. It was founded 1,000 years ago and, since then, has been split into 12 provinces that have been split and unified multiple times. It’s been invaded and occupied on several occasions, most recently by the nearby island nation the Federation of Mugen during the two Poppy Wars. Since the end of the Second Poppy War, Empress Su Daji has been in charge, and the country is very unstable.
This passage does two important things. First, it establishes Rin’s naivety: this is her country she’s reading about, and she finds it entertaining rather than disturbing and concerning that it’s in such disarray and has been for centuries. Second, this clues readers into the political situation the novel will explore later. It’s important to keep in mind the note that Nikan isn’t stable—a fact that Rin continually fails to understand due to her youth and innocence.
Themes
Math isn’t difficult—the Keju mostly wants to identify students who can keep the country’s finances in order. Logic is a challenge for Rin, though with practice, she comes to enjoy the questions and treats them like games. Classics is the hardest subject for Rin, as the 27 books students must learn are in the confusing Old Nikara language and range from poetry to philosophy to statecraft. Rin settles for memorizing the books, since she understands little of what she reads. She motivates herself by thinking of her wedding night, imagining it as a rape. When Tutor Feyrik encourages Rin to keep going, she begins burning herself to stay awake.
Rin sees excelling on the Keju as the only way to save herself from sexual assault and a life spent serving her potential future husband. The novel seems to liken Rin’s drive to study as being something of an addiction: she craves the success so badly that she’s willing to knowingly hurt herself in order to achieve her goals.
Themes
Back in the present, Rin can barely function in the days after she takes the Keju. She can’t remember anything of the test itself and spends the week until results are posted annoying everyone in her life. She considers smoking opium or taking enough to kill herself, but she decides against it. Despite not being religious, Rin even visits a temple to pray to the Four Gods. The Four Gods—the White Tiger, the Azure Dragon, the Black Tortoise, and the Vermillion Bird—are the main gods in Nikan, and there are dozens of smaller ones. Rin asks them for help but is asked to leave the temple when the attendant catches her trying to smoke the incense stick. Soon after, results are posted. Rin and Tutor Feyrik go together and discover that Rin scored the highest in the province. She’s going to Sinegard Academy.
Even at this early stage, Rin recognizes that opium has the capacity to offer relief from difficult and stressful situations—that is, people might begin using drugs for sympathetic reasons. Her turn to religion after considering opium is interesting, as it suggests that she’s looking for some way to give her life meaning and herself a sense of control, but for now, she isn’t finding it. However, when she scores so well, it suggests that Rin herself is in control. If she works hard enough, she can make things happen—she does have agency.
Themes
