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1. "Describe a time when you judged someone before getting to know them better. What led you to make those judgments?"

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Fill up the columns - "Narrator" and "Neighbor" with your impressions of them.

You can use both both direct and indirect characterisation

Look at what characters say, do, think, and how others react to them

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Discuss the guiding questions below:

1. "What do the cakes and sweets exchange tell us about both characters?"

2. "Why does the narrator throw away the sweets?"

3. "How does the final stanza change our understanding of both characters?"

4. "What does the contrast between their public smiles and private actions reveal?"

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"Choose one line from the poem that you think best reveals the true nature of the narrator and the neighbour. Explain why."

Follow the format below in your answer.

(i) Narrator " "

Explanation:

(ii) Neighbour " "

Explanation

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So there was this one time when i show someone the starting of secondary school we were having orientation, a girl who looked like the on who has an attitude of an attention seeker . How it let me to judge it her in that way is that she was so upfront to do anything help with this and like answer every question.

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The one time I judged someone before I got to know them better is when I was a primary three student I make fun of somebody because he was so skinny but it is because he got cancer.

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There was a time when I quickly judged a classmate as unfriendly and distant. During our first few interactions, she gave short responses and didn’t engage much in the conversation. I figured she wanted to keep to herself and didn't want to interact with anyone.

However, after working together on a project, I learned that she was just shy and needed time to open up to new people. As we worked together more, we became more talkative and even shared some of our personal stories. That experience taught me the importance of being patient and not jumping to conclusions about someone’s personality based on their first impressions.

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It was a time where I had not learnt about different races and as such, I assumed that everyone was Chinese and would communicate with others in Chinese when I was young. However, I later found out the hard way that people find this offensive as when I talked to a Indian boy, he would assume that I would be scolding him in vulgarities

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when i first saw this person, she looked scary like she would kill me. but when she asked me to add her on whatsapp, we started to chat with each other and we are now very close friends. she made me have this judgement as she looked as if she was going to hunt me down and eat me but when i made became friends with her, she is actually nice and fun to hang out with.

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1. There was that one time when I saw my classmate talking to other people. I was disgusted by his looks and thought that he is very mean but when he started talking to me, I started to realise that people’s personalities don’t depends on looks

Group Work:

1. The cakes and sweets exchange tells us that the neighbour is really kind. The narrator tells us that the Neighbour is really grateful for the sweets. However, the Narrator is judgemental as she threw the sweets

2. The Narrator threw away the sweets as he/she might be allergic to it which may result in throwing it.

3. The final stanza tells us that they had a strong sense of hatred for each other and would fight each other to the death if they had to.They would keep their emotions to themselves not letting each other know their hatred for them.

4. Their public smiles was to keep a cover for their private actions as they wanted to act civilised in front of each other but had a deep hatred for each other.

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There was once when I was young and i did not know about the different races in Singapore. So I spoke to a Malay boy in Chinese thinking he would know what i was saying. He then got confused and mimicked my talking as he did not know what i said and thought it was funny. I then realised that there are different races that speak different languages from me.

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narrator:

The narrator is rude because she commented on how a woman should dress and said that the reason why the neighbours children is in normal stream and one can’t spell his own name is because the neighbour feeds her children maggi after school everyday.

Neighbour :

The neighbour is poor as she feeds her children maggi for lunch after school everyday and she only could afford sweets with gelatine but doesn’t know that the narrator is Malay and she can’t eat it

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I remember that when I was in primary school, he was a transfer student from other school then that time he was quiet and me and my friends always look at he and secretly said somethings about him but after like few months we became best friend

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There was a time when I knew someone that did bad for their studies, and I thought that I shouldn’t hang out with people like them because I may be influenced by them. However, when I started to know them better, I realised that they have a good personality, and they are kind. I then realised that I should not judge people based on their academic results

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1. The cakes and sweets exchange tells us that the narrator who gave the cake was well-of and the mother who gave sweets tell us that she is not that well-of to buy the stuff to bake a cake.

2. The narrator throw away the sweets is because during Hari Raya, they are not allowed to eat food that has gelatine inside and the sweets that the mother give has gelatine inside.

3. Both characters wants to keep their family safe and so they lock their door and slam the bolt shut.

4. Public smile are to show or tell the public that you are a person that does this things, but a private action reveal means that the thing you do without the public know has been exposed.

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my classmate in primary school. she’s malay and i assumed that she learnt malay but she actually learnt chinese

when i first found out, i found it weird that she wasn’t learning the language of her race and judged her for it. but i realised that many other people was like her and that they might be mixed

but after awhile i found out that it was normal and realised that she was better than me in chinese and helped me with my work

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Narrator: My impression of the narrator is that she is a sexist person.

This can be seen in the passage, “If I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. No shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood.” This tells me that the narrator is commenting on the neighbour that she does not know how to hide her womanhood because she wears shorts, which is usually what youths wear. But people should not make such sexist comments because other people can wear shorts as well, and it does not matter at all.

Neighbour: My impressions of the neighbour is that she does not care for her children.

This can be seen in the passage, “Poor woman, doesn’t know how to make cakes. Her children eat Maggi after school every day.” This tells me that the neighbour does not treat her children’s health very well as she feeds them Maggi everyday, which is an unhealthy food, and she does not take the effort to feed them healthy food, which would benefit their healths

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(i) Narrator “ if I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home”

Explanation: the narrator is judging based on what she feels the neighbour is doing wrong

(ii) Neighbour “ i once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself ”

Explanation: the neighbour may be stress from taking care of her children but she does not care for them well so she wanted to give up

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there was this time where i saw this kid who look like the typical chinese with that kind of spiky hair cut and learns instruments but when i was put into a grp project with him i got to know him better he was actuallty a really cool guy and i ended up being friends with him now (nathaniel)

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Narrator she says “if I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home . No shame ,she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood.”

This evidence shows that she was a very judge mental about what her own neighbour wear comparing to herself she is supposed to mind her own business and not others

Neighbour says “she wanted to kill herself.”

This evidence show that she wants to kill herself leading to her being stress pressure from her kids not forcing .

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When I first met my friend I thought that she is annoying and very proud. As she keep on talking to other people how her life in Malaysia was like, and she plays piano well. But sometimes she will be quiet and when someone ask she will started saying that ‘I know how two play different kinds of song using the piano and I am at grade 8’. Whenever I hear this I will feel that she is like trying to get attention, since she is new in school. However, my mindset changes as I get to know her well. There is once, I even went up front to ask her a question about the group project for math, because I really needed help and she is my teammate that I am closer to. She explain to me nicely and very detailed, it took her at least 10 minutes to finish explaining it. When done I noticed that her homework is not done yet. I suddenly realised that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I should have understand her better before making judgements so quickly. From then on, I started talking to her a lot and even became best friends. Whenever I ask her questions she will use her heart to explained it to me until I get it.

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i fel that the narrato is actually quite rude as she talks about how her neighnour dresses adn how they are in normal acad and only feeds her children maggi

i feel that the neighbour is not doing so well as can only feeds the children maggi

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"Describe a time when you judged someone before getting to know them better. What led you to make those judgments?"

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"Describe a time when you judged someone before getting to know them better. What led you to make those judgments?"

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There was time I had a friend (who has now passed away). She was always strange to me, as her quirky nature made her stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of many people. Some people in school did not like it, and I was one of those people who did not like it too. This hit me the first time I met her. In my mind, the judgemental side of me was slowly taking over, clasping me with unkind thoughts about her nature. But, eventually, I warmed up to her and she made feel like I was in my childhood days again. She made me feel free with her strange ways, but nevertheless, it never mattered to me. The only thing that mattered was her happiness and my freedom. I never knew she was bullied. Due to people’s bullying and judging sis, I lost a friend by suicide. She Hung herself as she wanted to Be free from this monstrous world. And, if I was in her shoes,I do not deny that I would have done the same thing too. But now, looking back at that memory made me learn a lesson. Never be judgemental to a person until you get to know them to their best abilities!

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1. It tells us that they were nice to each other by sharing their food.

2. The sweet contains gelatine which they can’t eat as their Malay and celebrate Hari Raya.

3. It tells us that they never like each other.

4. Their public smiles shows that they were warm to each other while their private actions that the author is nice to the neighbour but talk bad things behind her back.

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1) there was a time where my neighbour just moved in . in my she was really pretty . until , every morning I always see her but she would give me a stare . that offended me so I assumed she didn’t like me at all although I didn’t do anything to her . one day , I came across her tiktok video and saw that she posted something about her neighbour basically not welcoming her to her new estate . again , I assumed it was me so I confronted her and she explained everything . I misunderstood . the video was about her old neighbour and she did not gave me a stare . it was just her resting face and she was shy . so now , we are really close and our friendship is going well .

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(I) : Narrator “ During Hari Raya, she knocks on my conscience.” Explanation: The phrase shows that the Narrator does not want to get involved with the neighbour. The narrator is trying not to interfere with the neighbour and when the neighbour knocks oh the door of the narrator, the narrator would feel like it was disturbing due to the word “ CONSCIENCE”

(ii) Neighbour “ No shame, she doesn’t want to hide her womanhood “ Explanation: The phrase shows that the Neighbour does not know basic courtesy as she is not aware of her actions. Thus, the neighbour has a possibility to not know basic manners. The word, “ SHAME “ shows that the neighbour does not care about her surroundings which shows that she is uncillivised.

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1.the cakes and sweets tell us that they both have a heart to give things to each other

2.the narrator throw away the sweetest as she could be annoyed yesterday does not want to explain why she doesn’t eat it .

3. Shows how stead the narrator is if anything bad could have happen the her getting beaten by her own neighbour or even worst getting killed by her .

4. The public smile shows the fake smile just to cover up with what she actually says about each other and the private actions shows the reality they do actually beside each others back .

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1. There was one time that I thought that one teacher was very strict. These judgments were made because, i heard him shout at us before. But I realised that he was actually very nice and caring, my friend who is taught by him said some nice things about him and this had changed my impression of him as a teacher.

Pair Work

My impression of the narrator is that she is very judgemental. This could be seen when the narrator said “ If I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. No shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood.” This shows that the narrator was judging what she wears.

My impression of the neighbour is that she is very insensitive. In the text, the narrator said “ She says she likes them and gives me Sweets with gelatinous inside. I throw them away.” This shows that the narrator probably have food restrictions and the neighbour didn’t put thought in it and made it anyhow.

Group Work

1. The cakes and sweets exchange tells us that they both celebrated Hari Raya due to exchanging food with one another as a kind gesture.

2. The narrator throws away the sweets as she could be annoyed and doesn’t want to explain why she throws the sweets, it’s most likely because she is restricted to eating some ingredients inside the sweets.

3. They are distant and doesn’t interact with each other, they have grudges against each other.

4. It reveals that they secretly hate each other and doesn’t reveal it maybe because they don’t want the kids of the writer’s neighbour to know.

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1. It tells us that the narrator and the neighbour are caring as they give each other foods to consume

2. The narrator is Muslim , and the neighbour gave her sweets containing pork inside to her. Muslims are not allowed to consume pork, so the narrator threw them away

3. They are both bad characters and both of them have conflicts with each other

4. In their public smile, they are nice and caring to one another as they exchange goods to each other. But in their private actions, they have conflicts with each other.

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1. Both characters try to be nice to each other.

2. The sweets taste may not be nice.

3. The neighbour does not care about her life the narrator feel disgusted.

4. They want mind their business.

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Narrator”No shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood” She wanted the people think that she is not shaming other people, but when she say no shame, the people will think that if say no shame means there is shame to them.

Neighbours”Her children eat Maggi after school every day” This means that she is too poor to feed her children proper means every day.

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(i) Narrator:

“ if i was her age i wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. No shame, she does not know how to hide her womanhood.”

Explanation : i say this because she was judging on what her own neighbour was wearing.

(ii) neighbour :

“ but i once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself”

Explaination: i say this because she was stressed and wantedto kill herself from the pressure and stress

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Narrator “ if i was her age i wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home.no shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her woman hood”

Explaination: the narrator is using her standards to judge the neighbours attire. The narrator thinks that women should be modest and old poeple should not wear shorts.

Neighbour “ but i once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself.”

Explaination : the neighbour wanted to kill herself as she was stressed and i feel like she wants to give her children a better life but can’t.

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1. both characters are insensitive towards each other.

3. the neighbour gave sweets with gelatinous inside without knowing that the narrator couldn’t consume it. the narrator, instead of telling the neighbour, she threw them away and did not care about how the neighbour might feel about throwing away her kind gesture.

4. they hated each other

5. neighbour : to the public, she wants to portray herself as a good person by gifting the narrator sweets. but in private, she was poor as she fed her children maggi everyday (?)

narrator : to the public, she portrays herself as a good person by gifting the neighbour cake. but in private, she was very judgemental and toxic, judging the neighbour for wearing shorts at home and how her elder kid was in normal stream and how her younger kid couldn’t spell her name because they ate maggie everyday

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It tells us that both characters are quite friendly

This is because she celebrate Hari Raya so she is Muslim so she can’t eat gummies which are made out of pork and other stuff

It tells us that the children might have tried to break in to the neighbours house

It reveals their true colours and how they treat the children when no one else is around to see it

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(I)’’knocks on my conscience” it means she is scared of the neighbour.

(II)”hate my life” thiss means that the neighbour do not value er life.

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Guiding Questions To Help us Answer The Question :

Question ; "What do the cakes and sweets exchange tell us about both characters?"

Answer : It tells us that one of the neighbours does not bother to prepare any gifts for the other neigh boirwile the other neighbour is very kind to spend their time either buying the cake or baking the cake for the other neighbour./ it tellsus that one neighbour is qiute poor to offer any luxurious things to the the other neighbour and the other neighbour is rich enough to buy or bake cakes for the other neighbour.

Question : Why does the narrator throw away the sweets?"

Answer: thenarrator rhrew away the sweets as she cannot eat pork and the sweets might contain pork gelatine in them.

Question : "How does the final stanza change our understanding of both characters?"

Answer: it means that at the end of the day, they also have their own personal problems and struggles to get to, so you must never judge a book by its cover.

Question : "What does the contrast between their public smiles and private actions reveal?"

Answer: it means that sometimes,behind their smiles and happiness, lies 1000 problems of their own and coflicts of their own and with each other.

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(I) Narrator “During Hari Raya she knocks on my conscience.”

Explanation: The word, “conscience” tells me that the narrator does not want to get involved with the neighbour when she is knocking on her door, as she find it disturbing.

(II) Neighbour “Poor woman, doesn’t know how to make cakes. Her children eat Maggi after school every day.”

Explanation: This tells me that the neighbour does not care about her children’s health, as she feeds them unhealthy food, and she does not take the effort to get them healthy food for them to consume, which can benefit their health.

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(i) Narrator "She says she likes them and gives me

Sweets with gelatine inside. I throw them away. "

Explanation:It shows that the neighbour hated the neighbour and didn’t like it so she threw it away.

(ii) Neighbour "Poor woman, doesn't know how to make cakes.

Her children eat Maggi after school every day. "

Explanation: it shows that she couldn’t cook or bake as she always fed her kids Maggie and the cake that the neighbour baked was bad.

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i judged a girl named nelly. i thought she was a person that was always so rude and bossy but then when i got to know her better, she was actually 10x worse than what i expected. I made those judgements because i have an issue with judging people before knowing them just base on the looks and body language.

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Narrator “ if i was her age i wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. No shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her woman hood”

Explaination: the narrator is using her standards to judge the neighbours attire. The narrator is stating that women should be modest and old poeple should not wear shorts.

Neighbour “ but i once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself.”

Explaination : the neighbour wanted to kill herself as she was stressed and i feel like she wants to give her children a better life but can’t afford to give them a better future .

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(i) “ I once here her scream she wanted to kill her self ” this line shows that the neighbour is in need of help but when people visit her she never tells them her struggles. As killing yourself is not a healthy way to cope

(I) “No shame she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood” this line shows how judgmental the narrator truly is even thought on the outside she never says these thought out loud. . The word “shame” show how the narrator truly feels towards the neighbours kids showing her disdain

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(i) “ During Hari Raya, she knocks on my conscience.”This shows that the Narrator does not want to get involved with the neighbour. The narrator is trying not to interact with the neighbour.(narrator)

(ii) Neighbour “ No shame, she doesn’t want to hide her womanhood “ Explanation: The phrase shows that the Neighbour is not mindful of her actions. She is also shameless to other people,”Her children eat Maggi after school every day” This shows that she is too poor to feed her children properly.(neighbour)

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(i) Narrator " During Hari Raya she knocks on my conscience."

Explanation: This tells us that the narrator wanted to isolate herself and didn’t want to interact with the neighbour.

(ii) Neighbour " I once hear her screen she wanted to kill herself."

Explanation: This shows that the neighbour has a tough life that she thinks that death is less sufferable.

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"Choose one line from the poem that you think best reveals the true nature of the narrator and the neighbour. Explain why."

Follow the format below in your answer.

(i) Narrator: "But in our hands we hold with fists clenched tight / The keys to our homes, each night we slam the bolt shut."

Explanation: This line reveals the narrator's guarded nature and emotional detachment from their neighbor. It shows that, despite interacting with the neighbor, the narrator ultimately maintains a sense of superiority and keeps their distance, reinforcing social and class divisions.

(ii) Neighbour: "I once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself."

Explanation: This line reveals the neighbor's deep suffering and emotional distress. It suggests that she is overwhelmed by her struggles—whether financial, social, or personal—and feels trapped in her situation. It contrasts with the narrator’s distant attitude, highlighting the neighbor’s vulnerability.

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(i)Narrator “If I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. No shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood.”

Explanation: This line implies that the narrator is a very judgemental person and believes in stereotypes.

(ii) Neighbour “I once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself”

Explanation: This line implies that she is a very vunlerable position.

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1. Both the characters wanted to show their courtesy to each other and may be improve on their friendship with one another .

2. The narrator throw the sweets as it has gelatine inside . It’s either she’s a Muslim or she just doesn’t like gelatine .

3. By slamming the door , the both just didn’t like each other and wanted to live their own lives .

4. The both are 2 faced . When they see each other , they smile to show their “kindness” but in reality they gossip about each other .

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Question Four (Individual Work By Pearline, I just helped to post)

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Question Four (Individual Work By Pearline, I just helped to post)

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(i) Narrator “ Poor women, doesn’t know how to make cakes.”

Explanation: This means that the narrator is insulting, says that the women is a bad mother who does .,not care for the children.

(ii) Neighbour “Sweets with gelatinous. I throw them away”

Explanation: this means that, the neighbour is poor as she give the narrator cheap food and it is not edible as it is made with pork. Which means that the neighbour does not know or she is poor and cannot afford more.

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(i) the narrator was judgemental

“if i was her age, i wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home. no shame, she doesn’t know how to hide her womanhood.” this shows that the narrator thinks that woman should dress modestly and that old people can’t wear shorts. the narrat was using her own standards to judge her neighbour when it was none of her business

(ii)

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(i) Narrator “if I was her age I wouldn’t be wearing shorts at home.”

Explanation: From this, it shows that the narrator is a very judgmental person, as she is implying that older people cannot wear shorts. When it is not her business what type of clothes the neighbour wears, especially in her own home.

(ii) Neighbour “But once i hear her scream she wanted to kill herself.”

Explanation: from this, it shows that the neighbour does not like her life, and she is trying to pretend that she is fine, but she actually isn’t. She knocks on her neighbours door to give sweets, so that it would seem like the neighbour is a good person and does not have any problems. But she is actual struggling financially as she feeds her children Maggie everyday and she has suicidal thoughts.