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The quote could mean that absence from the people we love or even hate could have a dramatic effect on us which could be worse than death, because in death you wouldn’t be able to feel anything. It could also mean that people just want to be where everyone else is, they have the fear of being alone or neglected by everyone else, implying that death is the easier way out.

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The story is about a middle child son sacrificing his time to take care of his widowed mother who seems like she favours her first and youngest child. But behind all of the misunderstandings, both Mother and son do love each other and have reasons why they oppose which other a lot. The mother doesn’t want his middle son to experience the same shame she received as an actor but the son wants to pursue this career of his. But when both are ready to reconcile their relationship, time does not fall on their side and mother and son are not able to say their hidden feelings and thoughts for each other when the mother died

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I think the Son was trying to start the play by stating the main point of this entire play. This sentence could mean that the feeling of someone absence is more difficult to deal with than the death of someone. Death is something that one have to go through one day but the absence of someone whom we love could mean that person's presence, which could mean our interest in heart is not there.

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Chew yi jun(05)
I think that ‘absence’ is about the relationship many ‘middle children’ might have with their parents. The play shows that the mother think very highly of her first child and the third child, but feels that her second child is a failure. This story also shows the traditional mindset that some parents or grandparents might have. They have the common misconception that having an education or job in the arts is unreliable and makes you a misfit in society. This is shown from how the mother berates her son for wanting to study art instead of medicine, engineering or law. She thinks that her son mixes with bad people or drunkards just because of the fact that he does not have a reputable job or make a lot of money. The play greatly reflects the reality of people in big families facing favouritism and people who don’t have a big earning job, and thus is very realistic. The message it is trying to send across is very important and eye-opening.

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It is about a misunderstanding between the middle child, the son and the mother on whether they love each other or not while the mother compared the son to his brother, Mervin and his sister, Cheryl and in the end they never got to tell each other that they loved each other as the mom passed on

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She seems to be very cold towards the son and there was a hint of favouritism for the son’s brother.
I think she favours the son’s brother more than the son.

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She ignored his kiss on her forehead and does not respond to him when he talks to him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  she gets more agitated everytime her son speaks and refuses to eat until she had sown her husband’s shirt to give to Mervin

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The key idea is a misunderstanding between a son and a mother. The misunderstanding is about the amount of love given by the mother to her three children. The middle son thinks that the mother has more love for the oldest son, Mervin, and the youngest daughter, Cheryl. At the end, the mother wanted to say how much she loved him and didn't want him to end up like her while the middle son wanted to thank his mother for everything she's done for him. However, neither of them got to say what they wanted due to unforseen events.

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The key point is that there is a misunderstanding between the son and the mother .The son’s job isn’t like the sister and brother. Instead he is a art director . However , the mother doesn’t show her love towards her son , causing the son to think that she doesn’t love him. But she does love him and she wants to tell him that she was a performer too , but due to the father’s parents she had to stop being a performer and she wants her son to be a engineer or doctor or lawyer because she doesn’t want her son to be laughed at , like  how she was . However , she was too late to tell him how she loves him.

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The mother sews more faster and  aggressively to show her frustration and because she is anxious and stressed.  She just wants to finish sewing the dress for Mervin and that's on her mind. She does not care that her son bought her the food that she wanted and by sewing more faster, she showed that she wants to finish sewing the clothes urgently.

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The mother compares her son to his siblings, Mervin and Cheryl. The mother is not proud of her son. She says that he has never done anything to deserve his father's things.She thinks of him as a huge disappointment as a son. She keeps stating the fact that he does not have a good job.

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Absence is about a family, including 3 children, the son (middle child), the eldest son, Mervin, and the youngest daughter, Cheryl. The key point is that there was a misunderstanding between the son and the mother. The son (middle child) thinks that the mother doesn’t love him as much as his other 2 siblings as they are more successful than than him and that he has the “middle child syndrome”. But it obviously turns out that the mother of course loves the son as much as the other 2 siblings just that she doesn’t show it. The mother was also a performer in the past and was successful herself with many talents. She just wanted the son to be like his other 2 siblings. In the end, the mother and son did not manage to tell each other that they both loved each other before she had went into a coma and passed away.

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The mother compares the son to the older brother Mervin who works doctor while he works as a artist as showed from when she says one doctor and one lawyer.She criticises the son for going to a university and still decided to work as as an artist

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The feeling of a loved one no longer being there for you is worse than the feeling of dying

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mother was focused on sewing fathers shirt for mervin,  but the son kept urging her to eat. this is seen from “ son reaches gently to take shirt and needle away. puts spoon in hand. “ the son is trying to convince mother to eat, but she refuses to and continues sowing father’s shirt for mervin. from this, i can see that the mother favors mervin over the son. she is focused on mervin more than the son, as she believes that mervin is more successful in life than the son.

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‘Absence’ is about a mother living with her middle child, one of her sons. where she is biased towards her oldest child, one of her sons, who is a neurosurgeon and her youngest child, her daughter who is a lawyer. But, she does not agree with her middle child choosing to be an artistic director.

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She compares him to his older brother which is a neurosurgeon. She thinks that Mervin is more successful than Son as Mervin is a doctor while Son is an Artistic Director doing what he enjoys.

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In my opinion, this line is about the Mother's favouritism towards the other 2 siblings, Mervin and Cheryl  and the resentment of the middle son's career choices. The Mother, who is one of the people that the son loves the most, is sort of absent from the son's life, as seen from her being resentful towards his career choices and favouring the other two siblings. The other part of the line, where it says that it is worse than death, probably means that the son feels that this favouritism and the absence of the Mother from his life is worst than even death, which is one of the things which most people find to be the most dreadful.

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the son feels unloved and unfairly treated by his mother. although his not as successful as mother's other children he shows care and love towards his mother. but the mother on the other hand doesn't love him as the other of her children. hance the middle child feels the absence of love of his mother and it hurt him to the core.

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she compares her son to her other children, cheryl and mervin. she did not care about her son's passion and expected him to be an engineer. the son was left behind. she thinks he is a huge disappointment as his career will result in him being poor and does not have faith in him. her 2 other children earn lots of money and she compares them to her son's earnings, which aren't as much. she doesn't approve of his university choice as he isn't studying chemical engineering or medicine.  even when he tries to tell her that he can get a proper job, she does not entertain that idea. overall, she is disappointed in her son for his passion and his career choices. she. compares him to his other siblings

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Mother compares the son to the son’s younger sister and older brother. The Mother wants the son to take engineering but the son disagrees with the idea as it is not something he enjoys. The mother wants the son to take engineering as it is a course that is popular and well known as opposed to the one the son wants to take.

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The key focus of the play is the relationship between a mother and son, which is built on misunderstandings. The mother didn't support the son's aspirations, but that was only due to her not wanting to him to end up sacrificing his pride like she did. The son doesn't know the mother thinks this way, and believes she looks down on him. They went majority of the play without expressing their true feelings, and before they had the chance... the mother passed on. The playwright is trying to tell us that we may not know what someone's true intentions are, and they may not really resent us. Another message the writer is trying to represent is that we shouldn't keep our true feelings inside for too long, because one day we might lose to opportunity to finally tell them.

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Mother gave Son the silent treatment. Mother was upset or mad at Son for his career choices which was a career in the arts. Mother wasn’t happy because she was worried that Son would be laughed at.

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the son feels that he is somewhat feeling home sick as his mother’s love is more directed at his siblings instead of him. the mother was proud of his siblings instead of him and shows them more love as they got the ideal job their mother wanted for them but the son wanted to pursue his dream job which the mother was reluctant of as the job is probably stereotyped as low-earning job compared to a lawyer or a surgeon

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Mother criticises her son because of his career as an artistic director . She feels that an artistic director is not a respectable job unlike a doctor and lawyer which was his brother and sister's job . Mother was never able to tell her son that she loves them equally .

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Mother compares son to mervin. Mother crtisises son for not having a respectable job and wanting to follow his nonsensical dream of being an artistic director.

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The Mother ignores the son as she sew her husband's clothes for her eldest son. She is trying to concentrate on making clothes for her eldest son thus she ignores the second son.

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It signifies the pain and loss that will be felt when a loved one is separated from you for an extended period of time. this can be seen by how mervin and cheryl not visiting the mother in the play. this can also signify the amount of grief and regret the son felt after the mother passed away before he can say how much she meant to him

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The mother compares the son to the eldest son mervin and the youngest daughter cheryl. The mother said that the son would not have a future if he decided to pursue art.

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the mother doesnt respond much to the son and just keeps sewing the father's favorite shirt for her oldest son Mervin and gets agitated when the son tries to convince the mother to eat

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She gives the silent treatment or cold shoulder due to her disappointment of her 2nd son who was, according to her, "sponging on his father and mother." Meaning she feels as though her son was immoral and can't make a future for himself but has to rely on his late father and mother to live by.

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Mother compares son to Cheryl and mervin.She thinks son is embarrassing. This can be seen from him dressing 'so arty farty'

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▼・ᴥ・▼

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ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

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(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)