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Tan presented male characters in these chapters challenge stereotypical ideas of masculinity through the contrast of Magnus and Frederik belief and perspective. In chapter 7, when Yun Ling was worried about Frederik’s safety from the CT, Magnus reassured her by saying “He’s a man Yun Ling and a soldier.” This suggests that Magnus believes that as a man, is naturally more capable of handling danger and therefore does not need concern or protection unlike someone who’s not a man, thus comparing man’s indifference to woman. Magnus does not believe in woman being able to survive independently, showing his mindset of toxic masculinity. This assumption of Magnus implies his view of a man is stereotypic. However, Frederik contrast his perspective of man. For example, Frederik’s willingness to talk about his emotional scars like when he openly talks about his mother’s death with yunling over dinner. He is not afraid to be vulnerable and connects with Yun Ling through reminiscing when he tells her about his past “ the first time I came here.” He is not afraid to come off as sentimental, as contrast with stoic, detached male norms. His openness with Yun Ling suggests a more vulnerable, human portrayal of male pain, which contradicts with Magnus’s perspective of males that they should be tough and protective.

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The water wheel acts as a significant juxtaposition with the chaos of Malayan Emergency. This can be seen from ‘It was turning slowly, frothing the water over a weir and down along a narrow stream fringed with ferns and rocks wrapped in moss.’ The water wheel is described as a zen, calming beauty. It contrasts with the violent Malayan Emergency, a guerrilla war fought by communists and British forces. It shows that the garden acts as a symbol of peace while violence lies outside the place.

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Tan presents to us how people treat each gender differently through diction. Through Aritomo and Yun Ling, we see how different genders interact whilst having been on opposite sides of the war. When Yun Ling asks, “Has any woman ever been taught to be a gardener?” ( pg 94) she’s told that women don’t usually make Japanese gardens due to the lack of physical strength. This contrasts the idea we have of gardening being a women’s art. Additionally, Yun Ling takes up a stereotypical men’s role whilst gardening. She, along with the other male workers, carrying the large stones for the garden. She refuses help from the workers,’The workers scrambled around the help me, but i moved them away’,which emphasises her independence and masculinity often present in a man.

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Gardening serves as a form of emotional healing for Yun Ling, allowing her to process her trauma and survivor’s guilt in a quiet, reflective space. When Yun Ling works with Aritomo in the garden, she notes that “each stone, each plant, was placed with such care it felt like they were being laid over wounds.” This metaphor highlights how the act of gardening becomes a symbolic way of tending to her own internal wounds. By carefully placing each element in the garden, Yun Ling mirrors her effort to make sense of her past and restore emotional balance. The physical act of arranging nature offers her a sense of control and mindfulness—something she lacked during the chaos of war and captivity. In learning the philosophy behind Japanese gardening, she also begins to accept the impermanence of life and the inevitability of loss, which helps ease her survivor’s guilt over living while her sister died. Through gardening, Yun Ling finds a non-verbal, meditative way to reconcile with her past, showing how nature and art can offer solace in the aftermath of trauma.

Working with Aritomo, a former gardener to the Emperor of Japan, marks a significant emotional breakthrough for Yun Ling as it forces her to confront her hatred and grief directly. For example, despite her initial resentment, she eventually admits, “I hated him for being Japanese, but I needed him to build the garden.”

Gardening allows Yun Ling to preserve her sister’s memory in a meaningful, living form. For example, she says, “The garden was for my sister. I wanted it to be a place where she could have found peace.”

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Tan Twan Eng uses gardening as a form of healing in these chapters for Yun Ling as he shows us how Yun ling to confront her biases and Trauma against the Japanese by making her work for and under Aritomo . By showing us the calm and peacefulness of aritomo while juxtaposing it with thee brutality and cruelty of the Japanese in the camps we can see how how Yun ling is forced to change her image of him . This allows for her to work through her biased view that all Japanese are sadistic savages who are out to cause pain to the world. An other way Yun ling heals in these chapters is by the methodic meditation and exercise of building the garden and enriching her mind of the Buddhist traditions and history which are essential part in the art of Japanese gardening due to them being the root of it . Thus by doing these regularly she works through her feelings and achieves a sense of Zen which in incredibly important for her to calmly look through her emotions and acknowledge and overcome her inner demons to rise above them to have a peace of heart

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En En & Lidiya

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Dhejal & Aeisya

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Yuan Qing & Eunice

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Chloe & co

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Sukruth & Sam

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You will work in pairs to craft a response to these questions [20 mins]

1 developed PEEL paragraph

2-3 other points with evidence (no need to analyse evidence)

You will then present these to the rest of the class.