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Literature questions

3. How is motherhood presented in any two or three stories in the collection?

The 2 stories: Mid-Autumn and Tanjong Ruh

In Mid-Authum, motherhood is presented when she told her daughter that she will pay for her education so that she can study hard and go to any university that she wants. Eventhough she hated teaching at Yat Sen Primary, she stayed there so that she could afford the best education for her daughter. She even sent her to art, piano and ballet classes and chinese tuition and paid for all of them herself without the help of her husband.

In Tanjong Ruh, motherhood is presented by ah-ma helping Mr Li to hold onto his past when he was a little kid in Tanjong Ruh. When Mr Li bought the binoculars for ah-ma, She said "Things you can buy, I do not need" & " I know I have everything I need". As Mr Li got irritated, he started to retreat when suddenly, ah-ma told him that if the binoculars could see Tanjong Rhu, she would try them from his office.

4. Select the 2 stories in which there is conflict between parent & child, and show how far there is some resolution of these differences at the end of the story.

Stories : Mid-Autumn & The move.

In Mid Autumn, threre is conflict between the mother and child, and the father and child. Back when the daughter lost the Mickey Mouse lantern which was bought on that same day, the mother scolded her 'Idiot' & said that she felt 'gek sim'. Despite all the mother's hard work in hopes for her daughter to become a GP, the daughter refused & instead, wanted to be a missionary in Uganda.When the father heard her saying that she wanted to be a Missionary, he said " I worked all those night shifts, drive taxi until I get night Blindness, so you can study to be a doctor. You so ungrateful, don't want to stay in Singapore & take care of me, want to go take care of Niggers." He even said that if she goes to Uganda, that would be the last meal they're having together.

In the move, there is conflict between the mother and her sons. When they were all packing their things that they wanted to bring to their new house, there were many things that Madam Teo, the mother, could not bring with her even if she wanted. She had wanted to bring along her plants to the new flat but she could not as there were no big corridors to lay out her potted plants. She had espically wanted to bring her pomegranet plant with her but it had grown too big to place at the corridor so her sons did not allow her to bring it along so in the end, she had to seceretly break off a branch of the plant without her sons knowing about it.

6. With reference to suitable stories, discuss how far for change is shown to be either welcomed or feared.

Stories: Corridor

In corridor, Mak's family brought her out for a holiday , but all she wanted was to stay in the hotel to spend some quality time with herself , to relax , to take things off her mind . A man was murdered at her corridoor , but after she came back , she wished that she was there when the man had been killed as at least he wouldn't had been alone when he died. She tried to recall what could she be doing at that point of time if she didnt went for the holiday . This shows that she is very compassionate .

12. How are young people and their ideals presented in two or three stories in the collection? How far do you identify with these young people?

Stories: A History of Tea & Lee

In the story A History of Tea, it is about TienYee and Beverly, it differentiates the high class from the middle class. TienYee's cousin Beverly, is someone who is very high class. She has a discerning taste for tea. She drinks her tea in a pot, trimmed at the top and base in a blue and gold pattern - Japanese imitating Royal Doulton, with matching cup, saucer, tiny jug of milk, a plated spoon and tea strainer on its own base, all produced on a gleaming tray with roses and briars worked onto the handles. Compared to TienYee, he drinks tea in a tall mug with only blue on bamboo patterns and a cover to help it brew, beaded on its underside with water. TienYee is very simple minded as he treats tea like any other normal tea while Beverly is very complex as she treats tea very importantly, which had to be served properly every single time.

In the story Lee, young people play an important role. Lee is an example. Young people this days do not really care how they act in front of their parents. From this story, you can see that Li Wen speaks very harshly to her father. Evidence can be found in page 87 and page 90 of the book. This shows that the way they present themselves is totally rude and wrong.
Besides that, young people nowadays also dress inappropriately. In the story Lee, dressing inappropriately means dressing 'skimpily'. Evidence found in page 91. Lee went out wearing extremely short shorts. Nowadays, it is common to see ladies on the streets dressing inappropriately. In my own opinion, it is not proper. But it is entirely up to individuals. That's the matter today. Young people, teenagers, do not care at all abot how they talk, act or dress.

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posted by PeArLyN @ 5:24 PM