In the novel, Paradise of the Blind, by Duong Thu Huong, many economic, political, and familial troubles arise within the Vietnamese communist government between the different social classes. Ché is symbolic of the beauty or ugliness in a corrupted government, the differences between social classes, and the unification within a community. As the novel progresses, ché plays a diverse role in the Vietnamese society. Duong Thu Huong explains at the beginning of the novel the importance of food in the Vietnamese culture. It can display the love, respect, or hatred of one giving or receiving food. Without ché, the Vietnamese experience would not be demonstrated sharply because ché is a cultural food only found in Vietnam. Food in general is important to the Vietnamese population because there are so many kinds of ché that can be made for each celebration. There is a myriad of ché and each kind is significant to the event taken place in the novel. Although the people in the novel live within an untrustworthy form of government, they still celebrate the Full Moon Festival by gathering and communing together as they cherish the various kinds of foods including ché (pg 20). Hang retells the story of her mother when she was younger and she could only smell the scent of ché, which shows that one must be at a certain social class to afford the luxurious sticky rice. To the rich within the communist government, ché is easily affordable, but to the poor, the sticky rice is nothing but an essence. From the two perspectives of ché, the elegance and repulsiveness of the government is exemplified and the differences between the social classes are demonstrated. By the families coming together to cherish the fulfilling flavors of the rice, the unification of the communities is displayed. Buddhist nuns also sold their own form of ché for religious sales (pg 55). Ché also reflects the religious purposes in the dominant Vietnamese religion of Buddhism. Ché in the examples of the Buddhist nuns is symbolic of another layer of social differences. Without the sales of ché, the Buddhi