Setting

Setting (Time and Place)

The Real Durwan by Jhumpa Lahiri: 

1950s, Calcutta

The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 

19^th Century (1883), 
Baker Street, Heart of London, England

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: 

18^th Century, rural town in England

Clues of storyline from setting

The Real Durwan by Jhumpa Lahiri: 

The description of the plight of an Indian lady sweeper and how she got there suggests that the story is going to be sort of a flashback, where the Indian lady would recall her journey in her life to what she is in current times. She may reminiscence her better days in the past.  

The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 

The casual conversation between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson suggests a fact paced tale of mystery, intrigue and adventure, more of a detective story.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: 

The conversation between a man and his wife describes a typical life in a Town in England in the Victorian era, where men were coaxed into marrying a family’s daughter because the family wants the daughter to be happy, or rather, the family to reap benefits and get some from the marriage. Women were also treated as commodities and had no opinion when they are match made to a man. 

Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

1. This poem is full of colours not just that of skin, what do you think these colours signify?

Besides the colours of the skin, there are other colours, namely red and gold.

Firstly, in this poem, red signifies the persona’s anger effectively contained in him upon realising that the landlady he was talking to was being racist and prejudiced against him, an African. We can see this as the persona heard the landlady ask him how dark his skin was, implying mockery. This has caused persona to feel insulted and to see red.
Secondly, the gold mentioned by the persona refers to his impression on the landlady. He described the landlady as ‘lipstick coated, long gold-rolled Cigarette-holder pipped’. What he means that he believes that the landlady is well-to-do due to the income generated from collecting rent, thus could afford gold and other accessories.

Therefore, these colours other than those describing skin colour help to give a better perception of the situation in the poem.

2. What does the dialogue in this poem reveal about the two characters?

The dialogue in the poem shows that the persona is actually well-mannered, whereas the landlady is rather crude.

The persona, I believe, has been raised to respect others since young. In the first stanza, the persona actually confessed that he is an African so that the landlady could have the chance to think twice before letting the persona rent the apartment. After which he remained silent for the landlady to absorb that shock, what he described as “Silenced transmission of Pressurized good-breeding”. Throughout the whole poem, he also addresses the landlady as madam. All these suggest that the persona has been brought out well by his parents to be courteous. Either that, he is following tradition, that dark-skinned people are inferior to those with white skin.

On the other hand, the landlady is extremely rude and disrespectful. In the whole conversation, the landlady spoke in a loud voice. “Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light Impersonality.” She kept asking how dark the persona was, an insult to the persona and an invasion of his privacy. This also shows that the landlady is prejudiced against the Africans and the Afro-Americans and she welcomed the fact that white-skinned people were the superior class.

3. The poet dramatises a battle, who wins finally and why?

In my opinion, the persona won the battle.

Though he was insulted by the landlady through and through, he maintained his composure and answered the landlady’s questions as if they were a joke. He even managed to insult the landlady that his skin colour was an array of colours, like peroxide blonde, brunette and raven black. When he asked the landlady “to see for herself”, he was implying that if she asked him over so that she could take a good look at him, he was already considered a tenant, as stated in the first stanza, he did not want a wasted journey. She also had to look at his butt as he mentioned it over the phone. This incited the landlady’s rage, thus winning the ‘campaign’.

Thus, I believe that the persona won as he was able to rebut in a subtle manner, and, in a way, trying to push the insults back to the landlady.

Comic Strip - Home Learning

HEART'S PROBLEM

- Why did you choose the different pictures or background(s)?I chose a plain background so that I can make the reader focus on the character or characters instead of the colourful screen behind them. The pictures are big to empathsise on the particular characters (like the Heart).- How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterization) of your narrative?The fat body shows that I am talking about health or something along that line, which is the theme of this comic. (Setting)The empathsis on the heart shows its determination to keep working despite the fact that it has a lot of difficulty shouldering the burden. (Characterisation)- How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?The plot shows how much the heart wants to give up. This shows that being fat is no good at all, for it will overwork the heart, eventually causing the heart to give way and ultimately leading to one's demise.The determined character of the heart helps to show us that, when we face certain problems and are on the verge of giving up, be like the heart in the comic. The heart also tells us that if we give up, we would cause a chain of other problems to take place, and other people who counted on you would be affected too.  

     

Theme - Discrimination

Discrimination comes in many ways, but sometimes we tend to overlook them due to the fact that we are ignorant or it is viewed with a certain level of in the current society.

The following types of discrimination can be categorised as shown:

Appearance

Based on race

a.   People tend to associate Indians (actually whose skin colour is black enough) to racist jokes (Shan’t elaborate on this)

Based on gender

a.       In the past, women had no right to themselves. They could not get jobs, decide on who she wants to get married to, or sold as slaves to the slave market to work as prostitutes.

Based on Disability

a.       Some people like bully the disabled because the physically disabled cannot move around as conveniently and retaliate.

b.      People like to make fun of the disabled

Background

Based on Ancestry

a.       Some people have difficulty finding jobs because of their blood-line

Based on Education

a.       Those people who hold a degree of a certain level (like a master’s degree) find it easier to get a job as compared to those who only studied till Junior College

Based on past careers

a.       A person’s job application may have been rejected because he/she may have worked in an inappropriate job before (E.g.: Ladies in nightclubs)

 Based on nationality

a.       Pakistanis has recently been associated with terrorists

Based on Marital status

a.       Women who do not marry before a certain age in rural villages were treated as outcasts.

 Based on criminal background

a.       A person who had been to jail before always has difficulties finding a job because of their criminal record.

Based on economic status

a.       A person of a lowly economic status (poor) is always trampled upon while rich people tend to gain respect from the general population.

 Based on genes

a.       Genes tell what kind of future diseases one may have, yet they have trouble finding a job due to their genes (which directly affects physical appearance)

Based on medical problems

a.       A person infected with HIV is shunned by a vast majority of people

 Based on religion

a.       A worker is treated negatively or unfairly at work because of his or her religion, or religious beliefs and practices

Mindset

Based on disability

a.       People with dementia are largely ignored with the exception of family members and close friends

Based on sexual orientation

a.       Gay marriages are disallowed in Singapore

 Based on perception

a.       A person who thinks differently are considered ‘weird’

b.      Galileo Galilei was placed under house-arrest because he had that radical idea of that time that the Earth moved around the Sun, instead of the Sun revolving the Earth.

Based on Age

a.       People prefer hiring younger employees to older people, as they believe that the young people, as greenhorns, are more energetic and tend to be eager to improve the organization. Young people are also capable of keeping up with the times

Relationships

Based on political affiliation

a.       Terrorists are treating Singapore as an enemy due to our mutual ties with the USA.

Based on Brand

a.       Wikileaks, at present means the enemy to the US government

Miscellaneous

Reverse Discrimination

a.       Discrimination against Discrimination

b.      Negative way to emphasise the particular inequality against a group. 

Literature and Life (Shel Silverstein's Poems)

The Little Boy and the Old Man

Q1:      What is the underlying message that is being conveyed in this poem?

Ans:     First, I believe that the poem is trying to tell us that old age is like a second childhood. This is because age causes the body to deteriorate to the extent that they can’t do even the most basic of things like walking.

           

            Though children and the elderly are in need of so much help, the boy and the old man feel that they are being neglected by the ‘grown-ups’, perhaps referring to the more mature people like the adults and even youths like us. Thus, they shows that we care and worry only about the current ‘plight’ we are in and hardly bother about the fact that we should empathise with them and help them even more, having been through childhood, and maybe the ‘second childhood’ in the future. 

Q2:      Has Shel Silverstein used any particular poetic technique that brings out this message more clearly?

Ans:     Shel Silverstein has used dialogue to give us the impression that the boy and the old man are just having a casual conversation, yet empathising the fact that the grown-ups are selfish and do not attend to the boy’s and the old man’s needs.

(Personally, the dialogue also gives me the impression that they are related, maybe grandfather and grandson, since the boy is willing to reveal such embarrassing situations to the elderly man.)

Messy Room

Q1:      Can you say that the poem is humorous? If so how?

Ans:     Yes, I can say that. The things in the room are all in the wrong places. Clothes on the floor, workbook in the window, even a pet lizard is sleeping on the bed!

            The funniest and most ironic thing of all is that the persona does not even recognise his room! He even thought it was one of his siblings’ rooms.

Q2:      What aspect of the human character has been highlighted in this poem?

Ans:     It is the fact that whenever we encounter a setback or a problem, we are quick to blame and criticise other people, without even stopping to think if we were actually the ones who caused such a problem to crop up. All in all, the poem implies that we think of ourselves as role models and other people are always at fault.

Cloony the Clown

Q1:      Explain the irony of the poem.

Ans:     When Cloony the Clown tried his best to entertain the crowd with his antics, the audience seemed extremely bored with him. However, when Cloony tried to tell the audience how demoralised he was, the audience did not sympathise with him or even take him seriously at all. Instead, they laughed at his plight and thought that the story was a fantastic joke.  

Q2:      Does Shel Silverstein manage to convey some harsh realities in this poem?

Ans:     Yes he does. In society, the general population tends to be sadistic and likes to see others make a wrong choice, then jeer and laugh at them.

Q3:      What poetic devices has the poet used to effectively convey his message?

Ans:     The following devices were used to help effectively convey the message of the poem:

1)      Rhymes (‘trick’ and ‘sick’)

2)      Repetitions (Just wasn’t, Just wasn’t funny at all)

3)      Onomatopoeia (“Hah-hah-hahs” and the “Hee-hee-hees”)

4)      Personification (He told of Pain and Rain and Cold, He told of Darkness in his soul)

5)      Enjambment (I’ll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown Who worked in a circus that came through town)

Which of the above poems can you identify with the most? Why?

Personally, I can easily identify myself with the poem of Cloony the Clown.

Society can be cruel sometimes. There are always people out there trying to watch you fall from grace, or make an erroneous choice so that they can laugh at and pick on you. As for me, there were some things that had left me feeling insulted.

Examples could be found in my Primary School life. It was primary 2 where there were a group of ‘havoc’ (Well, not as innocent as peers of their age) boys who were my bus mates. They constantly picked on me whenever I took the school bus back home, making names for me and teasing me ‘money face’ or ‘stupid’, maybe even the 4 lettered word. (It was probably resolution and determination that helped me to attain the position of prefect the next year, getting back at them by sending them off to the discipline master whenever I catch them up to no good. It sure is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Revenge is sweet!)

Other times, maybe when I attempted to help my classmates or do them a favour, they would say that I was harbouring a motive and crudely decline or simply shun me. I was pretty annoyed. When I had tolerated enough of that nonsense and expressed my displeasure, they would sardonically and sarcastically laugh and cheer/jeer at me, saying that I was fooling around. After which, they would chase me away with a ‘get lost’.

Since most events were in the primary school, I was assuming that morals had not been instilled in them yet. Yet it still happens in Hwa Chong, in level assemblies, like that of Carl Foo!  His accent is just different, but why is it they everybody is mocking him? Those scenes simply reminded me of my horrifying experiences in primary school as a child.