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•Themes:

Ø Respect for the elders – Even though Siti is furious for the decision made for her, she still remain quiet and does not argue her parents’ decision to arrange her marriage. Ø Absence of love to the animals – Siti displays violence towards the animals around her house as she is dissatisfied with her parents’ arrangement. Ø Gender role – It can be seen in the short story that Siti and her mother are always belong in the kitchen and do the kitchen works. •Writer’s message: *Gender stereotyping -This short story shows how women are seen as not as important as men and their decisions are not taken into consideration. Their roles are limited to those in the kitchen and taking care of the household. *The roles of women - Women are not given to find love of their own or make decisions on their own. They are considered as passive objects and have no voice on their own.

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11. A QUID OF SIRIH AND A BOWL OF WATER

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11. A QUID OF SIRIH AND A BOWL OF WATER

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•Themes:

Ø Science and Technology vs Cultural Beliefs – Farid mocks his father’s job as a pawang as it is considered as old-fashioned and hinders the progress of development in their village. Ø A son who is embarrassed by his father’s job -  Farid is ashamed of his father’s job and he considers his father’s job as superstitious and not relevant anymore in today’s world. •Writer’s message: *Have respect to the elders as they have more experience than the younger people - Even though the practice of the old people might not seem relevant anymore to the young people nowadays but they still have to retain their respect towards them as they still have more experience than the younger people. -Plus, if the elder people is the parents, the respect towards them must be  the matter of the utmost importance.

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•Themes: Ø Intercultural Marriage – the marriage between an Anglo-Indian, John Lewis with a Bengali girl, Lily. Ø The power of love – John will do anything so that he and Lily could be together as he even willing to move to Bhutan. Ø Friendship – John’s relationship with Lily is highly supported by his friends, Dhun and Protul Dal, who are willing to help in any way they could. •Writer’s message: *The influence of one’s culture and belief. - John’s father and Lily’s aunty are against the relationship formed by John and Lily as they both have their prejudice towards the each other races. Their beliefs are also aided by the norms that are put by the society.

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•Themes:

Ø The Malay community in  a village – As a close-knit community, most of the villagers know about Mak Jah and her tells which brings embarrassment to her daughter-in-law and son. Ø Responsibility towards parents – Mak Jah’s children take turns taking care of their senile mother but they give up  when Mak Jah constantly embarrassing them to their neighbours. •Writer’s message: *Responsibility towards parents when they are still alive. -All children are required to take care of their parents while they still alive, whether they in a good health or are sick. It is their responsibility to take care of their parents as their parents have taken care of them when they were young, in sick or good health. -The children have to provide the best care that they can give to their parents to repay back all of the things that their parents have done to them even when they are not asking for it. They should not push the responsibility between them instead work together to take care of their parents in their last days in this world before they pass away.

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•Themes:

Ø Feminism – the stereotype of women and how they are considered as inferior in status to men. Ø Conformity gone mad – obsess with the tradition of marrying children, undervalue of women and children, and preserved traditions of a culture. •Writer’s message:

*The undervalue of women -This short story shows how women are considered as inferior compared to men and how they are easier to be used and manipulated by the society who does not expect much from them. -The undervalue of women is still happening nowadays and that women are being treated as an object rather than as humans in some societies. Decisions are made for them and the women cannot have any saying in the matter. The society who uphold the tradition that undervalues women are usually more proud of their men than their women. They think that anything done by the women who do not follow their rule or conform to the society’s way is disgraceful and should be prevented.

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•Themes:

Ø Community spirit – Hidup receives helps from the village chief and Anita. Ø Difference between Western and Eastern Culture -  Mr Wright proposes to Siti to send her father to old people’s home. Ø Materialism – Hidup claims that money that causes his life to be like this. •Writer’s messages: *The abandonment of parents by child. -This short story shows the reality nowadays of how parents are send to old people’s home or welfare house as the children cannot take care of them anymore. -Some children sends their parents away with excuses  like they are too busy to take care of them, or they do not have enough money to afford the needs of their own family plus the parents. -The children fail to realize that the parents will do anything for them and will not abandon them even when they could not afford much to support the family.

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•Themes:

Ø Family values and relationship -  Agil takes care of his wife’s feeling more than he does for his father’s. Ø Modern vs Traditional – Budin vs Agil Ø Love and Sacrifice – Budin goes through various hardship to make his son happy. •Writer’s message: *The love between parents and child. -This short story shows at what length will the parents do to make their children happy but many children fail to realize that. -Many take thing for granted for things that parents did for them and they do not even think that all those things come at a cost. -Some children also are more conscious towards other people’s feelings than their parents’ and are more determined to not offended them rather than taking care of their parents’ feelings more.

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•Themes:

Ø Interracial love – The blossoming relationship between Velu’s son, Devan with Hasnah, Sulaiman’s daughter was prevented by Velu. Ø The consequences of being too egoistic and making harsh decisions – Velu regrets his decision to not allowing his son to marry Hasnah and what his decision has done towards their lives together with his family’s relationship with Sulaiman’s family. •Writer’s message: *Interracial relationship - In the past and nowadays,  some people still has a negative perception about interracial relationship. Although they can accept living together in a community with them, but having a relationship such as friendship or marriage is still against their rule. They have a prejudice thinking about people from other races and this thinking is not easily changed.

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•Themes:

Ø Unaccomplished love  - Siew Ping and Ali love each other but they do not confess about it directly. Plus, Siew Ping’s mother is against their relationship and at the end, Ali died causing Siew Ping to be heartbroken. Ø Appreciation towards nature and people – the poetic language used by Ali and Siew Ping’s appreciation towards flower. •Writer’s message: *Racial prejudice -The racial prejudice is shown by Siew Ping’s mother who against her daughter has a relationship with a Malay boy as a Malay had killed her father before. She thinks that all Malay people are the same and rejects the idea of having a good relationship with them.

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•Themes:

Ø Belonging vs Alienation – The narrator father does not feeling any sense of belonging towards the country that he has lived in for many years and he longs for the country that he was born in. The narrator has listened to many stories of China and feels connected to it but she lost that connection when she visited China and feels that she does not belong there. Ø Relationship between family members – The narrator has a good relationship with her family. Her father and his brother has an estranged relationship as they have not talk for a while and the feeling of discontent that her uncle has toward his brother. •Writer’s message:

*The reality might not be as  beautiful as the dreams are. -  Ones may dream about the good and nice things only as they hope for it to become true and really happen. But they will face disappointment when they encounter the harsh reality that come together with their dreams. Real life is hard and one must be able to survive to live in today’s world. They also must expect some disappointment that will come along their ways in achieving their dreams.

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•Themes:

Ø Love – The love connection between Daw Mya Yin & Ko Tun Nyo is strong even when Ko Tun Nyo has already died. Ø Hard work -  The hard work of Ko Tun Nyo growing the tamarind tree brings good result as he was able to provide for his family even after he has died. Writer’s message: *Love requires many sacrifices but it will bring happiness to the person who deserves it. -One might have to sacrifice something in order to obtain something. Even though the feeling of love is not strong when it first started but it will grow stronger as one overlooks the other’s flaw and tries to compensate the flaw with the good qualities that the latter has. *There is a difference between those who work hard and those who only enjoy the benefits. - The ones who work hard and know what their hard works will bring to the other people will give their full commitments to the work and fulfill their responsibilities but for the ones who only enjoy the benefits will not know the price that comes with the benefits and the hard works poured down to produce those benefits. They usually take things for granted without even thinking about how all of that could happen without hard work.

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•Themes:

ØMother’s love - A mother’s love stays as long as she lives. ØRefusal of the children to take care of their mother.

Writer’s message: *A mother could take care as many children as she has, but can many children take care  of one single mom? -This short story shows that how a mother could take care of her many children but her children will not be able to take care of her the same way she take care of them. -A mother will do anything for her children without any complaint but her children might not be able to do so . -Mother and children perceive their relationship  differently as a good mother never see her children as a burden while the children might think their mother as a burden as  they grow old. Their loves for each other is also not similar as one might love the others so deeply that she would not give them up for the world, but the others might have different person that they will give their utmost loves to.