literature discussion 2

Q1: Choose two stories that reveal the thinking of an older generation of Singaporean. What new insight have you gained from such a revelation

Story: Evening under Frangipani
In the story, Evening under Frangipani, Elaine's mother is very particular about Elaine's relationship with Prakash. Since Prakash comes from different class from Elaine, her mother does not knowledge their relationship. This day, it rather rare to still to find parents who have the mindset as Elaine's mother. This proves to the fact that the generation thinks differntly than teenagers. With this, it is likely that both mother and daughter arguments. Evidence can be found at page 58 and 59. It conclude that older generation have a different mindset. From this revalation, I've realized that older generation who are our parents, thinks differently from us, teenagers. They will still thinking from olden days.

Story: The Move.
in this story, Madam teo do not wish to move house because the house have memorable memories about her famliy and her a husband. but her son, tommy wants to throw the thing that he thinks that is useless or unwanted. this shows that the older generation really treasure the things but the younger generation do not. when they want they will keep but when they do not want they will throw away. the older generation prefer sons to daughters because sons carry the family name. from this revalation, I've realized that the older generation are sentimental

literature discussion

Q1: How is motherhood presented in any two stories in the collection?

Story : Mid-Autumn

In the story Mid-Autumn, motherhood is presented when the mother bought lantern for her daughter. Evidence found in page 177 of the book. This goes to show that the mother really cared for her daughter as the daughter really wanted a Mickey Mouse lantern instead of the candle lantern which she initially wanted to buy for her daughter. It also concludes that there is motherhood in the begginning of the story. Another example of motherhood would be the mother paying for all her daughter's education which includes, tuition, ballet, art and piano fees. Evidence can be found in page 180. This adds to the fact that the mother loves her daughter and wants her to do well in the future. In all, motherhood is presented in a way that the mother really wants whats best for her daughter.

Story : Paper

In Paper, mother asked Tay Soon and his wife not to play with stocks, they did not heed the advice. The evidence found in page 3 of the book. This shows that mothers really knows what's best for their childrens. They regretted not listening to the mother only when the stocks start to crash. This concludes that even though Tay Soon was rude to his mother, his mother still bothered to advice him. Another situation happened at the end of the story when Tay Soon passed away. Despite being treated badly, Tay Soon's mother still bought him his 'dream house'. She paid for all the funeral expenses. Evidence found in page 9 of the book. Conclusion is, mothers still wants what's best for their child even if they were treated badly. This proves that motherhood is presented in the stories.

Q2:Select two stories in which there is conflict between parent and child and show how far there is some resolution of these differences at the end of the story.

Story: Lee

In the story Lee, both internal and external conflicts were shown. Internal conflict happened when Li Wen's dad picked her up from the airport. When they were in the car, her father was thinking so bad of what to say to Lee. Evidence found in page 87 of the book. This proves that there is conflict in the story Lee. Besides that, external conflict is also shown when Lee's dad found her in his bedroom with a guy. They were in bad terms for two weeks. Evidence found in page 103. There was a resolution to the this story is a complete resolution.

Story: Corridor

In this story,external conflict is shown. The daughter thought that her mother is not happy at home so her daugher bring her for a holiday in Jakarta. In the hotel, a conflict occur. The daughter ask her mother try to be happy because she had spent a lot for the trip but her mother said that is happy even through she do not want to follow them to go shopping. The evidence found in page 164 -165. This show that a simple conversation can even lead to a conflict. The resolution of this story is open ended.

Q3: With reference to a suitable stories, discuss how far change is shown to be either welcomed or feared.

Story: The Move

In this story, Madam Teo is a sentimental person. She cannot let go of her past. She insisted of bringing her things along. Her son advised her that she cannot bring all her things espeacially the pomegranate palnt because the plant is huge. She wants to bring it along the palnt have been with her for long time since her granddaughter , Melissa and Florence were born. Her son, Tommy said that the new place do not have big corridor like their old house.The evidence found in page 204. In the end, she only snapped off a branch off the plant and put in a moist tissue hoping that one day that there will be a sapling of the promegranate plant.The evidence found in page 210. She took a branch of the plant so that the memories will not go away even through the origanal plant is not with her. The change of this story is that at last Madam Teo can accept the fact that she has to move on to the future and do not need to stay with the past.

Q4: How are young people and their ideals presented in two stories in the collection? How far do you identify with these young people?

Story: Mid Autumn

In this story, the daughter thinks that after she become a general practitioner, she can forget about her parents. She wants things to go on her own way. She wants to go to Uganda to be the general practitioner.

Story: Release

Conflicts
External conflicts

• Eileen and neighbour ( Eileen feels frustrated when her neighbour cut down her guava tree down, pg 141)
• Eileen and her neighbour’s dog( her neighbour’s dog keep barking at night that make her feel frustrated, pg 143)
• Eileen and her husband (she angry with him because he does not bother with the neighbour who Eileen thinks that they are making trouble, pg 143)


Internal conflict

• Eileen with herself (she cannot tolerate with her neighbour’s dogs. She decided to call the SPCA, pg 144)


Climax Eileen cannot tolerate her neighbour’s dog that keep barking the whole day and called up the SPCA but the SPCA say that they cannot do anything because the dog is not being abuse. (pg144)

Resolution Ironic resolution
I thought the problem will be solved but the man makes noises because of the thudding of the spanner.




Characters

Eileen
• She is friendly( approached her neighbour to say ‘hi’, pg 139)
• She is unreasonable(she is angry with her husband because her husband keeps speaking up for other people, pg 143)

Eileen’s husband, Philip
• He is sarcastic ( he tells his wife not to forget to take his suit from the laundry the moment she put down the phone with a sarcastic tone, pg 141)
• He is nonchalant( he does not care with his wife complaining about their neighbour, pg143)
• He is workaholic( he bring his work at home to prepare his director’s meeting, pg 143)
Neighbour
• She is rude( the way she ask her worker about Eileen when she saw her walking toward her, pg 139)


The most interesting segment is when Eileen saw a man in her neighbour’s house. She asked him nicely to move the kennel the other corner. The man agreed to move the kennel to the other corner without hesitation. It means that the problem is solved Only that he asked for tools from Eileen to starts his work.

Story: Pastime

Conflicts

Internal conflicts

• Mr Lee and himself ( he thought that Tai Poh has stop telling the story but he just keep quite to himself, pg 215)i
• The man in the Tai Poh’s story that the man do nit have the courage to go to the woman ( the man finds it difficult to go to the woman and ask the question that he wants to know, pg 216)

External conflicts

• Mr Lee and Tai Poh ( they were telling each other stories and suddenly Mr Lee asked if they were still friends, pg 217)
Climax When Mr Lee tell Tai Poh the second story( pg 218)
Resolution Complete resolution
Mr Lee finishes his story as they reaches the last station line (pg 220)


Characters

Tai Poh
• He is old( he said that old man like him do not do much, pg 212)
• He is a storyteller ( he made up stories about a lot of things, pg 212)
• He is considerate ( he did not disturb or talk to other passenger, pg 212)
Mr Lee
• He is a good listener (he listen to Tai Poh’s story attentively, pg 213)
• He is sarcastic ( he suddenly ask Tai Poh if they were still friend, pg 217)

The most interesting segment is when Tai Poh suddenly stopped telling Mr Lee the story and saw the fat pink scar on the back of Tai Poh’s on the back of his head, near the middle. It is visible through his white hair. Tai Poh suddenly bent his head down while he is talking to Mr Lee.

Story: Lee

Conflicts

Internal conflicts
• Lee’s father with himself( he feels awkward when Lee calls him ‘dad’, pg 89)

External conflicts
• Lee and the weather(Lee say that the weather in Singapore is hot, pg 86)
• Lee’ father with Piscopo, ex-wife’s lover(he feels a bit of loss when Piscopo took his wife and daughter away from him, pg 89)
• Father and the presence of Lee ( he finds the presence of Lee is distinctly awkward, pg 94)

Climax When Lee’s father found Lee and Holden Mankiewicz in his bedroom. ( pg 103)

Resolution The resolution of the story Lee is happy ending. Lee talked with her father again after the incidence. (pg 107)


Characters

Lee
• She is straight-forward person (when talking to her father, pg 90)
• She is rude ( she say the f___k word in front of her father, pg 90)
• She is impertinent (she asked her father about why he spilt with her mother, pg 91)
• She is mature (people mistook her to be much older than she really was, pg 93)
• She is health- conscious (she doesn’t eat meat. She eats yogurt, celery, cream cheese and HVA Health-Fi All- Vitamin Tonic, pg 94)
• She is skinny ( her grandmother thinks she is skinny ,pg 100)
• She is arrogant ( her aunt, Lily, thought she is arrogant, pg 102)
Lee’s father
• He is patriotic ( he was angry when Lee was talking bad about the woman she saw Chinese Garden, pg 96)
• He is religious ( pg 96)
• He is traditional (he does not like the way Lee dress up, pg 96)
• He is old-fashioned (he wants Lee to dress up as women in the shopping centre that they saw. He does not like the way Lee dress up, pg 98)
• He is observant ( he observe Lee’s picture, pg 98)

The most interesting segment is when father found Lee with a person. Father was shocked to saw that. For the next two weeks, they do not talk to each other. Lee finally asked her father for reconciliation. They go to her father’s workplace where her father works as a deejay.

Story: Evening under Frangipani

Conflicts
External conflicts
• Prakash and the man who interview him ( he does not like the man because he asked about his previous job, pg 48)
• Elaine’s mother and Prakash ( she does not Prakash because of different class, pg58)
• Elaine and prakash (when Elaine tries to unbutton Prakash’s t-shirt Prakash start laughing, pg 62)

Internal conflicts
• Prakash with his feeling toward Elaine ( he feels that Elaine;s absence makes him sleepless and body ached, pg 65)
• Prakash with Elaine’s absence in his life ( he became listless without her, pg 76)
• Elaine with her feeling ( elaine feels that she still like Prakash, pg 84)
Climax They quarrel. Prakash being insensitive about Elaine’s feeling. ( pg 62)

Resolution Complete resolution
Prakash and Elaine move on their live in a separate ways.




Characters

Prakash
. He is a nervous-wreck (during job interview, pg27)
• He is observant ( he saw how similar Elaine’s hand to her father, pg 60)
• He is loving( he will kiss Elaine’s whenever they meet, pg 61)
• He submit his love to fate( he did not Elaine again, pg64)

Elaine
• She is feminist ( she believe that women have the same right as men, pg 49)
• She is casual (the way she dresses. She wear light cotton slacks and loose white T-shirt, pg 51)
• She is caring (she will cheer Prakash if the interview is not successful.
• She is impatient ( she does not give Prakash a chance to explain why he laugh, pg 62)

Elaine’s father
• He is passionate about insects ( he missed their family trip just to National Park in Malaysia, pg 55)

Elaine’s mother
• She like to show-off her thing to Prakash ( pg 59)
• She is unfriendly and sarcastic (pg 58-59)


The most interesting segment is when Prakash bought plump golden-green pomelo. Elaine tell him that she do not has a knife but Prakash uses his key and hand to open the pomelo. At the end of the story, when Elaine’s mother ask her if Prakash’s coming too strong and she answered him that it is too strong but Elaine was referring to the pomelo incident.

Story: A History of Tea

Conflicts
Internal conflicts
• Author and herself ( when the car was going along the old lane, she found it similar enough to conjure her memory, pg113)
• Beverly and herself (even though she had meet Tien Yee before, she cannot remember when they meet for the second time , pg 115)

External conflicts
• Grandmother and Uncle Raja ( grandmother does not like Uncle Raja because he ‘stole’ her beautiful daughter, pg 111)
• Grandmother and Aunt Sherrie (even on her deathbed, grandmother does not want to forgive Aunt Sherrie, pg 115)

Climax When Reginald Jones died in a shipwreck in World war two, pg 117

Resolution Open ended resolution.


Characters
Narrator
(Tien Yee)
• She is poor (just tall mug with blue on white bamboo pattern and cover to help it brew, beaded on its underside with water, pg 109)
• She is look at Beverly very detail ( pg 109)
• She is very curious about her family

Grandmother
• She is racist ( in grandmother’s eye, Uncle Raja (black man) stole her daughter ( white woman) pg 111)
• She is mean and harsh ( she create story that Uncle Raja is the evil oily man , pg 112)
• She is stubborn ( she does not want to forgive Aunt Sherrie, pg 115)

Beverly
• She is rich ( trimmed at the top and base in a blue and gold pattern – Japanese imitating Royal Doultan pg 109)
• She is boastful ( she say that she studies nineteenth and twenties centuries Chinese history and then take a sip of tea, pg 111)
• She is ungrateful ( she wants to be independent but she say that Tien Yee’s family always controlling her and look after her, pg 112)
• She is ambitious ( she plan to study in Oxford or Cambridge , pg 114)


The most interesting segment is when Beverly told the author that she wanted to get engaged with the guy that she meet in Oxford but her parents do not allow because of his religion, Jewish. This means that her parents are conservative. They do not allow her daughter to marry someone who is from a different religion.

Story: An Obituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late

Conflicts

Internal conflicts
• Author and herself ( she regretted that she does remember her Aunt better, pg 150)
External conflicts
• The grown-up and Aunt ( they do want their children to know their Aunt, pg 149)
• Author’s grandmother and her aunties (grew up in neglect. Favour the boys more, pg 151-152)
•
Climax When the war came ( pg 156)

Resolution Revelation resolution


Characters

Aunt
• She is timid ( spoke did so in rat-a-tat fashion, spewing out words that were closely guarded, in a loud but uncertain voice, pg 150)
• She get panic easily ( could calm herself with a trip to the kitchen sink, plowing her hand into dishes and dish-soiled water, pg 150)
• She is literate
• She is hardworking ( pg 157)

Author
• She is mean ( she does not want to make it a point that she is a her niece, pg 149)
• She is judgmental ( she likes to judge her Aunt by listening to other people, pg 159)


The most interesting segment is when Aunt became a daughter again, the Fifth Sister and the Fifth Aunt. They had a small ceremony to welcome. It seems that they reunited again after many years. When the author saw that her aunt’s hand was in kitchen even in the first day aunt ad came back to the house.