I Stand Here Ironing

1. The narrator in this story is the mother and the point of view is interior monologue.
2. The mother seems to mention 'you' to a person who have responsibility to help her with her daughter.
3. The mother was 19 years old when she gave birth to Emily, her daughter.
4. The situation was the young mother in are she was left by her husband, stuck in the depression world and poor.
5. In how old her daughter should be in nursery school. The results of following the advice of experts is her daughter had been treated badly in the nursery school.
6. The relationship between Emily and Susan is stepsister. This is because Emily's mother married again after being left by Emily's father.
7. These hardships affected Emily to be a passive person because her mother did not spend much time with her as her mother is busy with her career. Her life experience that gone through unhappy family institution, poverty, and unpopularity in school had made her lost her self-confidence and self-esteem.
8. Emily discovered that she has talent in acting.
9. The mother feels that there is no necessity of her go to school to talk about her daughter. This is proved when she talked on the phone with somebody that are willing to help daughter, says that she still cannot make things better even if she come to the school.
10. The iron symbolize the responsibility of the mother to take care her daughter, Emily. While the ironing board symbolize the ways of the mother to take care of her daughter without her husband, how the mother takes care of Emily since she was born.

The Disappearance

1. The title does hinted something ominous by stating something will disappear. If something disappear, there will be a worry from someone or some people. However, the title did not mention what is going to disappear. So, the readers are still unclear about what will disappear.

2. The father does not give any indication to the son that his mother is coming back because the father are too heart-broken at first and he does not care much about his son.

3. Yes, because the husband did not think about her wife anymore as he remarried.

4. No, because Americans and Indians view something in a different way.

Confession of a wife: her reality life revealed

August- After the nation-shocking story about a husband who dares to spend $100,000 as a reward to everyone to have any information regarding the missing of his wife, we manage to set up a team to investigate the exact location  of the wife and luckily we managed to get an exclusive interview with her personally. so here is the interview with The Wife.

          The first question was why did she leave her husband and her son. She answered it calmly and said that she suffered a lot when she lived with her husband as she describe her ex-husband as a 'silent abuser' . She claimed that she had 'mentally abused' as she was especially when she refuse to have sex with her husband.She confessed that she did not want to marry him at the first place but she agreed to marry her ex-husband because she expected to have a modern thinking husband as her ex-husband lived in America. She later confessed that  she never get a chance to do what modern women of the west can do as her ex-husband was a very conservative person.She admitted that her ex-husband was a nice person but somehow she never felt sincere love towards her ex-husband.

           When she was asked about her son, slowly tears wept down her cheek and said that she missed her son so much and she hope that she can meet him again. She hope that she will have an opportunity to apologise to her son as she left him when the time he really needs a mother to raise him up. She hope that her son will grow up and become a good and dependable person. She also denied that she was a person who can never live by her own. She proved it as she now had a job and live happily alone in her rented house. 

       She also planned to further her studies as she never get that chance when she was married.

The Disappearance

1. Does the title hint at anything ominous? How?
2. The father does not give any indication to the son that his mother is coming back. Why is that so? Do you think it is acceptable to tell a white lie?
3. Do you think the saying 'out of sight, out of mind' summarises this short story? How?
4. Do Americans and Indians share the same values? Explain.

     1. Yes, the title do hint something ominous because the disappearance usually associated with something bad         and unlucky.

       2.The father does not tells his son that his mother will come back because he does not want to give his sn hope that are merely will become reality even though he really put high hope as she will come back to her and always remembered his wife as he was unable to  resume his daily life regularly.(paragraph 19) 

          Telling white lie to his son is acceptable only in one condition which is his father must not tellwhite lies  for too long because eventually the son will know that his mother left them and will never come back as he grows as an adult.

      3. No,we do not agree that the saying summarises this short story because the husband still remember almost everything about his wife even though his wife is no longer by his side as shown in paragraph 25 and in paragraph 12 in the missing page.

        4. No, American and Indian does not share the same value because there is a huge gap of difference between Indian an American values. Indians are typically more traditional and have some eastern values in their life such as the husband never allow his wife to wear American clothes. The American themselves are typically more modern and does not have any of the Indian values as described in paragraph 11.

Theme Jade Bracelet

Death  

The evidence of the theme of death in the story of Jade Bracelet by Mary Frances Chong is many people know that the grandmother is dying.

The death of the grandmother is foretold through her physical conditions. The first sign of her grandmother poor physical condition is shown during Siew May and her grandmother sitting in the car. Her grandmother mouth open and work, making funny motion but no one could be heard. She is also gasping for air. This happens at page 31, paragraph 5 and from line 4 to line 9.

In other story, for example, Lamb to The Slaughter by Roald Dahl, also show the theme of death but in this story, the death happen are different from the story of Jade Bracelet. This is because, in Lamb to The Slaughter the death happened when the wife kills the husband, while in the story of Jade Bracelet, the death occur naturally that is the grandmother is sicks. It because of her old age.

Alternate ending of The Jade Bracelet

After receiving the jade bracelet, Ah Kow faced another financial problem that forced him to sell the bracelet to the local pawn shop. He promised himself to get the bracelet back as he sold the bracelet secretly. But eventually he was unable to gain more  money and the bracelet was taken away by the pawn shop permanently.

As for Siew May, she felt very frustrated as she did not receive the jade bracelet. Eventually she continues her childhood and forget about the bracelet and never thinks about it anymore.

Mrs Wong regretted her action on giving the bracelet to Ah Kow as she knew how irresponsible Ah Kow was.
Deep inside her, she felt sorry for Siew May but she realised that she can not change was already happen in the past.

Questions About Jade Bracelet

1.            Is Mrs Wong a filial daughter? Give threereasons.

• Mrs Wong is a filial daughter because she take care of her mother, fulfilling all her mother's needs without arguments.
• She handle the funeral of her mother. Normally, the funeral process is the son of a family's responsibility, usually the eldest son. Unlike this story, Mrs Wong is the one who takes care of her mother's funeral. This shows the important role of Mrs Wong in the family. This can be the evidence of Mrs Wong as a filial daughter.
• Mrs Wong also had the power to decide in the family. After her mother dead and burned, the relatives come to collect the remains of the body. They did not use chopstick to pick the remaining of her mother because it is clean for her. Then, the relatives also follow the same.

1.            What is Ah Kow's real name? How is he related to the dying woman in the short story?

·        Fook Kee is the real name of Ah Kow. He is the son of the family and Mrs Wong’s brother, that is the dying woman’s son. He is characterized as an unresponsible and carefree person because he rely on his brother-in-law for money.

2.            Why is Sam Poh Tong mentioned in the short story?

·        Sam Poh Tong is where the grandmother sent to spend the dying moment of her life which is waiting for her death. She is sent there so that the funeral possession can be done there.

3.            What do you think the jade bracelet symbolizes? Give your reasons.

·        The jade bracelet symbolizes the owner’s self and become part of the body. The jade bracelet will look beautiful if the owner is happy and healthy. The jade bracelet also said  to function as a protector.

4.            Do you think Siew May is naive? Cite your reasons with quotations.

·        Siew May is a naïve kid as she is still small and cannot adapt the situtations that are happening around her. The evidence of her naivety is:

Ø  (page 35, para. 2)

Ø  ‘ I want to go home… Grandmother will be waiting alone!’

5.            Did Siew May get the jade bracelet in the end? Why?

·        Siew May did not get the jade bracelet because her mother , Mrs Wong had given the bracelet to her brother and the uncle of  Siew May, Fook Kee. Siew May did not get the jade bracelet because her mother probably do not want to recall the sad moments of her dying mother. This is because Mrs Wong is also a sentimental person. So, having Siew May as the owner of the jade bracelet will recall back the memories with her mother.

6.            Do you like the story? Why?

·        I like the story as the settings of family background got my interest as they are among the rich people. The family are probably rich because Mr Wong are running a business. The story also are chronological and it had made the reader understand it easily.

Conversation between uncle teng and his father

Birthday- Themes, Plot and Characters

THEMES :
Loneliness
The protagonist is a loner because she haven't married even though she already aged 25 years old. She also seen a lonely person because no one really cares about her. As an evidence, her grandmother ask her to go for a matchmaking with a man that she called 'uncle'.

Sorrowfulness of Life
The life of the protagonist is full of sorrow because no one remembers her birthday. Other than that, she also follows every demands and commands of her grandmother without arguing. Her life also seen as sorrowful as she is not yet married.


PLOT :
 Introduction:

She is looking at a baby by the window and have thoughts about the way the baby’s mother take care of the baby. Then, her grandmother calls for her to go downstairs.

Rising Action: (2-3 key moments leading to the climax)

-she is introduced to Uncle Teng, a man from the northen village. Uncle Teng come to their house because he wants to propose her for marriage.

Climax

She serves the dinner to the guest. She is distracted by a cockroach and she accidentally spilled the curry that she cooked for the dinner at Uncle Teng.

Falling Action

Her grandmother scolded her, saying harsh words to her and said that she is so clumsy. Her grandmother do not let her have her dinner because of her mistake.

Denouement

She runs to her room, neglecting her grandmother's from downstairs. Her grandmother said she is a spinster and other bad things.

CHARACTERS :

SHE-a young girl whose life is controlled by her grandmother. She obeys every commands of her grandmother. She also scared of her grandmother and have a brother. She is said to have her mothers’ eyes and her grandfathers’ chin. She is also easily distracted by something. She really wants to get married and have a child.

GRANDMOTHER-old but strict and controls the life of her granddaughter. She also is a demanding person and prioritize her own good. She does not care about the well being of her granddaughter.

C.B.-The brother or relative of the protagonist, and he can easily blend with people. He appears to be the favorite grandchild of his grandmother. He also favors beautiful modern girls to be his future wives.

Uncle Teng-a man from the northen village that are going to propose the protagonist. He runs business of fruit plantation and he looks like a proud person in the way of he talks. Very observant person as he watch every protagonist character's movement.

BIRTHDAY by LEE KOK LIANG

1.Does the protagonist have a name?

• No,because in the story her name does not mentioned in the story. The protagonist only mention the protagonist by "she" and 'her'. 

2.Whose birthday is it?

• It is the birthday of the protagonist which is twenty five years old.

3.How chinese culture did help you to understand the story?

• Red strings symbolize the bond of  love of a couple. Other than that it shows the tradition of matchmaking in chinese culture.