https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev Vinod's setback en-us 2021-06-02 02:23:29 UTC 2021-06-21 10:00:05 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579324204 the juxtaposition of 'you' and 'i' that mr chow uses in many instances highlights the clear division mr chow makes between him and vinod, underscoring his obvious discrimination against the mentally ill, also seen in 'some of the other people i can take, but you...' where 'other' and 'i' are together, but 'you' is singled out with an ellipsis to suggests mr chow's hesitation and uncertainty to take especially vinod in as n employee; this therefore adds on to the lack of support vinod has in his life, but also adds to the setbacks he has faced as he has been discrimintated and stripped of his job because of his illness. ]]> 2021-06-02 12:42:45 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579324204 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579428338 'how do i know you're telling the truth?' questions vinod of his credibility with an accusatory 'you' which highlights the lack of trust mr chow has in vinod's words, doubting vinod and suspecting that he is bluffing him, which certainly emphasizes the biasness mr chow has against vinod from the contrast of 'they' and 'you' where he understands the other people vinod is speaking for in 'i know they have problems' where 'know' suggests understanding and awareness of their worries and troubles and 'they' excludes vinod from the group of people he understands as he does not try to understand where vinod is coming from and doubts his words, thereby highlighting again the lack of support vinod has in his life as nobody understand or tries to understand him.]]> 2021-06-02 13:19:30 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579428338 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579429513 Right after he fires Vinod, he calls out to him, giving Vinod a glimmer of hope. Yet all that hope is diminished as he brings up Vinod's mental illness "Don't...er...kill yourself." Right after being so insensitive towards Vinod's state, he tells him not to be affected by it, which is pretty unreasonable. Simply telling him not to kill himself instead of helping him shows that he is afraid of causing someone to die rather than being concerned for Vinod.]]> 2021-06-02 13:19:52 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1579429513 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1583681017 Mr Chow accuses Vinod of being 'disruptive' and forcing his employees 'to do things they don't want to do'. However, this was proven wrong when Ah Seng asked Vinod to talk to Mr Chow about their two months late salary instead. This was a display of Mr Chow's oppressiveness as he attempted to pin the fault on Vinod for being sacked which was proven not to be true.

When told that  'some of the workers were really upset' and he was unaware because he did not talk to them, Mr Chow questions the validity of Vinod's statements and tells him not to be a troublemaker which proves Vinod's point as he did not know that the workers were discontent which is why he questioned the validity of Vinod's statement and that lack of knowledge stemmed from his lack of concern for his workers. This revealed the ignorance of Mr Chow.

He tells Vinod  'Just do what you're supposed to do', which was oppressing to Vinod along with the mentally ill workers that Vinod was representing.

When accused of hiring ex-patients to attain a Community Service Award, Mr Chow says 'they should count their lucky stars someone like me is even taking them in'
'someone like me' reveals Mr Chow's view of himself being of higher status than the ex-patients.

'even' is used in conjuncture with 'taking them in', implying that someone his status would not hire ex-patients and therefore implying that him hiring the ex-patients was an act of his own kindness, revealing the egoistical nature of Mr Chow.]]> 2021-06-03 20:49:52 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1583681017 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584341776 mr chow's impact on vinod is such that it cultivates bitterness and resentment in vinod as mr chow represents society as people who are prejudiced against the mentally ill and mistreat them. this is demonstrated through the repeated juxtaposition of 'you' and 'i' throughout the dialogue between mr chow and vinod which illustrates the distance and clear separation between mr chow and vinod. they are oppositions and not on the same side. ]]> 2021-06-04 03:08:12 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584341776 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584390538 mr chow's oppressiveness caused vinod to acknowledge his place among the mentally ill. vinod uses the collective pronoun 'us' when confronting mr chow about not paying them their due salary. previously, vinod did not like to associate himself with the mentally ill and strived to be a part of society. however, here he is acknowledging that he is a part of the community, demonstrating solidarity and unity against mr chow. vinod's desire to help the mentally ill being ill-treated by mr chow's company is seen through the rhetorical question 'that's not fair right?' here, vinod is attempting to reason with mr chow into realising the error of his ways. he does not drop the topic despite mr chow's refusal to address their concerns and deflections. vinod defends them 'but do you know they work harder than normal people?' this rhetorical question emphasises vinod's adamant desire in standing up for the workers through his unwavering tone. mr chow caused us to be able to see vinod's solidarity with the mentally ill. ]]> 2021-06-04 03:35:38 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584390538 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584418517 i view mr chow as a very dismissive and arrogant character. at first, he acknowledges 'i know they have problems. but...' the 'but' here shows his refusal and unwillingness to address the workers' concerns. he is fully aware that the workers face issues in the workplace yet insists on dismissing them and does not want to do anything to help them. his arrogance is demonstrated through 'they should count their lucky stars that someone like me is even taking them in'. the phrase 'count their lucky stars' reveals his arrogant attitude as mr chow does not even do the bare minimum of paying his employees on time yet expects his workers to be grateful that they have a job despite not getting paid for the hard work they put in. the phrase 'someone like me' shows how highly he regards himself and views himself as 'philanthropic'. as he uplifts himself, he also puts down the mentally ill workers by saying 'fine today and has a breakdown tomorrow'. ]]> 2021-06-04 03:52:56 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584418517 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584962364 Vinod mentions that he 'lives in fear' if he lies about his condition, which is drastically different from the usual guilt one would feel after lying, this highlights the severity of the influence employers like Mr Chow have on mental patients; they terrorize them into constantly being haunted for pursuing the idea of wanting to be treated like a normal person. This creates a strong sense of oppression because it's as if the mental patients have their ambitions silenced by the employers, just like a dictatorship. This serves to highlight the symbolism of Mr Chow is to emphasize the ill treatment that stems from mental illness. Furthermore, Mr Chow states 'Don't try to be funny. Don't be a troublemaker.' The repetition of 'Don't' makes Mr Chow's commanding tone evident, he is directly demanding that Vinod should heed his words, while 'troublemaker' implies that Vinod is causing inconvenience for him by standing up for his co workers. Mr Chow labelling Vinod's righteousness as inconvenience further reinforces the sense of oppression as he is dismissing the whole purpose of Vinod's actions and forcing his view on the situation onto Vinod, making it evident how

]]> 2021-06-04 11:03:08 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1584962364 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1602559777 The unpleasant exchange between Mr Chow and Vinod is one of the series of events which eventually resulted in Vinod's redrawal from society. Mr Chow's impact on Vinod is a negative one, giving Vinod the impression of society being ignorant towards the struggles the mentally ill face. 
During their exchange, Mr Chow behaves obnoxiously, saying some insensitive "How do I know you're telling the truth?", expressing his doubt and even suggesting that the mentally ill are lying about the things they face in hopes of having some sort of advantage, despite previously recognising the troubles they face 'I know they have problems'.
He also pushes aside the fact that he is mistreating the workers "didn't pay us for two months", instead saying that they should 'count thier lucky stars that someone like me is even taking them in',  suggesting that having a job is a privilege for them, that they should be grateful and thankful towards him because they would otherwise be unemployed. We can also see Mr Chow judgemental behaviour and even distaste towards the mentally ill from the following lines where his tone is harsh. 'Who else would hire a person who is fine today and has a breakdown tomorrow?' This sentence shows us his ignorance and insensitivity as he ridicules their condition.
Mr Chow's words also suggests that he is only 'using' the workers for show, to create a facade, to get awards from the government. ]]> 2021-06-12 14:42:17 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1602559777 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1603317617 Paralleled with 'you can talk' is 'we all cannot talk'. While 'can' denotes ability, 'cannot' denotes inability. The parallelism between the two lines accentuates Vinod's ability to stand up for the workers by showing the inability of his mentally-ill colleagues. This also makes Vinod's ability more important as he is the only one who can get the justice he and his colleagues deserve. However, Mr Chow calls them 'risk factors' to his perfectly government-aligned productivity rate, implying how Vinod and his colleagues disrupt his work and they are not of any use. However, Vinod mentions that they 'work harder than normal people' , contradicting Mr Chow's statement, making his rejection of the mentally-ill unreasonable and groundless. Mr chow 'never talks to them' and 'never goes out of his office' - the repetition of 'never' highlights the lack of interaction between Mr chow and his employees, making his statement even less reliable. The fact that he rejects their only hope that is Vinod with a groundless excuse makes him look apathetic and unreasonable.]]> 2021-06-13 12:13:37 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1603317617 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604259318 in act 5, where mr chow fired vinod because he found out that vinod has a mental illness has taken a big impact on vinod. It is one more setback that vinod has encountered, on top of the many setbacks he has already had, and recently he just had a setback with the platoon commander, which put him in a very bad mental state and now, mr chow had fired him. Vinod got really affected by this and he seemed very down and dejected because of this issue. This adds up to what vinod said to saloma later on in the act, where vinod completely loses hope of getting a job and his life together. He states that there are only 2 options for the both of them, which was to choose whether to reveal their mental illness and risk a chance of getting fired, or just work in secret and risk getting caught which meant that they had to be very careful and cannot let their guard down and live in the fear of getting caught and then getting fired. Hence, vinod lost all absolute hope in getting a job. vinod keeps dismissing her words of encouragement and is being very dismissive of whatever she has to say to him and separates the both of them by saying words like ‘I’ or ‘you’ but never ‘we’. Showing that he does not want to include saloma in this, whatever he is going through and talks about how he does not want to be in the way of saloma’s improvement which was in contrast to previously where vinod interferes with saloma’s life when he heard that saloma got her life together and are starting to make improvements and do something with her life. it shows how he realised that the mental illness hinders them from being able to do or have many things, and because he got fired, he totally lost hope that he didn’t even bother stopping saloma from getting her life together but instead says that he does not want to be in the way of the her. He then proceeds to say ‘boom’ with a muted tone, when boom is used for explosions, things that are extremely loud. This shows how vinod is just numb to everything and he just says it in a monotonous tone. Furthermore, in page 119, he points at someone in the audience and states that he Is mr chow and this shows that the audience actually represents mr chow as the audience are seen as ‘normal’ people who are also like mr chow, would fire others because of their mental illness and looks down on people with mental illness.

]]> 2021-06-14 04:32:16 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604259318 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604388825 Mr Chow silences Vinod by reminding of his place as part of the mentally-ill in society. Vinod expresses his desires and concerns eloquently throughout the conversation. However, at the end of the conversation, Mr Chow says 'You're just crazy, like the rest of them. Yes, I have decided'. The 'just' completely reduces Vinod's identity as a part of the mentally-ill and the declarative 'I have decided' underlines his unwavering certainty in his judgement. In response, Vinod can only call out for Mr Chow's name with the end-stop symbolising the inability to continue, contrasting the very eloquent Vinod we saw earlier. Mr Chow's certain judgement of Vinod as a mentally-ill person snatches Vinod's eloquence from him, silencing him.]]> 2021-06-14 05:52:00 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604388825 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604488756 mr chow's impact on vinod causes vinod to be further convinced that society was going against him as a mentally ill patient. mr chow's appearance also serves as a reminder and further emphasise of the Platoon Commander's (PC) scene, as both characters are similar in their lack of trust and understanding towards vinod, the mentally ill. for instance, mr chow questions vinod's credibility as seen from "How do I know you're telling the truth? Don't try to be funny. Don't be a troublemaker". this is similar to what the PC says "You cannot bluff me", as he does not believe that vinod's condition was true. another similarity would be that both mr chow and the PC reduces vinod's worth, as seen from mr chow "You're not Jesus Christ you know? You're just crazy, like the rest of them." the use of "just" reduces the value of "being crazy" which clearly shows mr chow's dissmissive attitude towards vinod and his mental condition. ]]> 2021-06-14 06:49:37 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1604488756 https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1617341883 upon vinod finding out that mr chow has fired him due to him finding out about vinod's mental condition, he was facing the switch and change in saloma's life and her progression. in that moment, his instability, uncertainty and loss in confidence is revealed when there was an abrupt change and shift in his behaviour, as he becomes noticably demanding, assertive and defensive. he is already going through a tough time, as he witnesses saloma's desire and will to be "normal" and attempts to get a job, he is unable to accept the change as the mental illness was one of the main reasons that they were connected and he did not want to be alone. but to add on to his misery, he was also alone when mr chow fired him, adding insult to the injury, and the loss of his job - which has once gave him hope, is another loss for him, like how razali has 'abandoned' vinod. the impact of mr chow on vinod is further intensified because the reason why he was fired was due to his mental illness, which is saddening because he has been so restricted and casted out because of his mental illness, which can be also be seen when vinod gets rejected from NUS, society, his parents, the PC, and even his own friends. vinod is terribly affected by this, 'I don't know. I don't care anymore' (pg 117) shows him giving up on hope, and the severe amount of hurt that he was in, causing him to feel numb. vinod becomes more negative and doubtful as we see him lose complete faith and reject all of saloma's suggestions and assistance, and being more accepting about his fate as he felt that with his mental state, there was no way that he could lead a normal or decent life, as he would always be bound to being prejudiced or placed in more vulnerable positions as he was unable to fit into the societal standards. vinod then proceeds to talk about his vulnerability and weakness by talking about how they have been 'robbed... put of everything. There's nothing' (pg 118), where the use of the hyperbole and absolute underlines that he has been reduced from his eloquence, dignity and worth | robbed: 'words were his weapons' but he is now weaponless' | elipsis: the usually articulate vinod is not his usual self, hesistant | uncompromising in seeing how his world has been destroyed----> we can see mr chow firing him has taken alot away from vinod
the severity of the impact is further emphasized when we see vinod going through yet another mental breakdown, which in this case is very similar to the breakdown he has had in the army with the PC. 'Boom... Boom...' connotes an 'explosion' but in this case it is muted, showing the numbing of his pain, and the repetition of the word 'Boom', as mentioned, is similar to the breakdown in the army, when he repeats 'I HAVE BALLS' ---> the recurrence of such a traumatic breakdown, further highlights and increases the negative impact from being sacked from his job by mr chow, as he is no longer in control (robotic repetition) and there is no progress in his illness (mr chow may have been a huge factor to this too)
vinod's state of a confused mind, and his fragmented thoughts are once again revealed as he is seen still stuck in the past, holding on to moments when he experienced glory and joy 'trophy. Best speaker. No less', this is an effort to numb and silence out the agony and suffering he was in -----> yet another sign that mr chow had a huge impact on vinod
when vinod points at someone in the crowd that looks like mr chow, the desperateness to get a response and a reply is seen when he constantly attempts to get mr chow's attention and reminds him of when mr chow fired vinod, once again, we remember that when vinod had the job, mr chow shed light on him and gave him hope, as having a job ( for vinod ) meant that  he still had worth and relevance, and we see that at that juncture, mr chow has begun to prejudice and differentiate vinod along with 'other people' who would be associated to be more normal or centered, and we see that vinod is beyond mr chow's limits and capacity of patience and tolerance as vinod has been giving mr chow 'alot of problems', but as much as mr chow may be casting vinod out because of his mental illness, we still catch a glimpse of when mr chow showed somewhat of concern for vinod, reminding vinod to 'Don't... er... kill yourself' (pg 122)]]> 2021-06-21 09:04:34 UTC https://padlet.com/chia_yen_har_junice/s367jns25r5e9oev/wish/1617341883