Literature Holiday Assignment

Story: Evening Under Frangipani
Conflicts External: Prakash laughed about Elaine’s and her father’s hand when Elaine was trying to be romantic to him. As they remind him of beetles.
External: Elaine’s mother is very judgemental. She sees class difference. And Prakash wasn’t employed even though he had only just passed his diploma.
Internal: Prakash wanted to give up, but he still went to look for Elaine.
Climax When Prakashed laughed about Elaine’s and her father’s beetle-like hands.
Resolution Complete Resolution.
Elaine didn’t want to see Prakash again. And Prakash decided not to be so dependent on Elaine. He would not meet Elaine, and it was up to fate to see if they’ll be able to meet again. That’s the end of their relationship.

Characters
1. Prakash • He is a nervous-wreck(during job interview)
• Competent. ( He was a platoon comander)
• Forgetful( fumbled out the lines he had learned)
Pg 27
Pg 48
Pg 49
2. Elaine • Feminist(Believes that women are equal to men)
• Very casual(how she dresses)
• Does not like conventioned way( Study = work, work, work)
• Caring( Cheered Prakash up if he was depressed by an afressive unsympathetic interview)
• Petty( Didn’t speak to Prakash after the incident)
• Strong willed( Doesn’t want to talk to him even though she misses him)
• Persistent( Continues to ignore his calls)
Pg 49
Pg 51
Pg 52
Pg 53
Pg 62,63
Pg 63
Pg 64
3. Mother • Highly successful( Lawyer)
• Judgemental( See class difference)
• Arrogant( She’s a successful lawyer whereas Prakash had just only passed his diploma)
• Condescending( Trying to appear not smug but concerend)
Pg 54
Pg 48, 83
Pg 84
4. Father • Not judgemental( Was gentle to Prakash)
• Passionate( Towards insects and bugs)
• Humble/ Easy going(anxious for a quiet life)
Pg 60
Pg 55

The most interesting segment was when how Prakash and Elaine lead their life sperately and differently, when they were still thinking of each other after that incident.

Story: Lee
Conflicts External: Li Wen and her father couldn’t get along with each other.
External: Li Wen was too westernised. Her dressing and attitude.
Internal: Li Wen’s father tried to make her local but it was harder than he thought.
Climax During the family reunion at her Grandmother’s.
Resolution Open ended Resolution.
We do not know if Li Wen had finally listen to her father in the end, as it said he could still see the lighted window hovering in a corner of his mind. And in literature, a light could mean anything.

Characters
1. Li Wen • Rude( She keeps swearing, eg. What the hell, Jesus Christ.)
• Rebellious(She lost her temper and gave her father a twisted, half sneer, James Dean scorching look, heavily nasty)
• Straight forward (When her father mentioned about her mother, blaming her mother for his daughter’s behaviour, she just answered back: “That’s sick.” without thinking)
Pg 103
Pg 97
Pg 103
2. Father • Caring (He allowed Li Wen to live with him, instead of leaving her alone after her mother, which was his ex-wife, drowned accidently)
• Patient (When Li Wen shouted at him, he endured and did not make a huge fuss out of it)
• Traditional (He tried to interest Li Wen in her culture and talk about Chinese stories during dinner)
Pg 85,86
Pg 98
Pg 102

The most interesting segment was when it was always Lee who broached a reconciliation. And they have something in common which was their same taste in music and how they couldn’t study even though Lee was reunited with her father after 8 years.
Story: A history of Tea
Conflicts External: Beverly and Tien Yee are half-cousins.
External: They always talk with a cup of tea or more.
Internal: How Beverly granmother disapprove of her mother’s marriaged to a ceylonese.
Climax When Reginald Jones, Beverly mother’s father died because he drank tea to regain heat from hot water and then losing it all too quickly.
Resolution Complete Ending.
All the conflicts are resolved and when the narrator opened his cup of tea, he saw his relatives and the life that would appear before him before it happened.

Character
1. Narrator • Very simply( Used a tall mug with blue on white bamboo patterns whereas beverly used a pot, trimmed at the top and base in a blue and gold pattern-Japanese imitating Royal Doultan)
Pg 108
2. Beverly • Tall
• High-class( Wears a Calvin Klein shirt)
• Mixed blood( English, Chinese, Ceylonese)
Pg 109
Pg 109
Pg 109
3. Grandmother • Likes to make up story(‘bout how Beverly’s father became the oily man)
• Disapproved of Bevery’s parents marriage when she her own married an Englishman
Pg 112
Pg 116,117

The most interesting segment was when they revealed their family tree how they were related to each other.

Story: Release
Conflict External: The neighbour compared Eileen together with their dog as they were both pregnant, this showed a form of disrespect.
External: Her husband was irritated by the fact that Eileen forgotten to collect his suit .
External: Eileen’s neighbours cut down her guava tree while she was at the supermarket.
External: Philip was angry over the fact that Eileen were taking trival matters so seriously.
Climax When Eileen couldn’t take it any more, she decided to do something about it, she decided to wait for the person who gave the dogs their food, to do something to solve the problem.
Resolution Open – Ended.
The problem is only partially solved. It is only partially solved because, the dogs are quiet now, but they are already dead as the man used the tools to kill them.

Character
1. Eileen • Friendly (She went over to say hi to her new neighbours when they were moving in )
• Petty( Her neighbour only intruded a small section of her garden and she became agitated)
• Patient( She talks and rock the baby even though it keeps crying)
Pg 139
Pg 142
Pg 144
2. Philip • Petty(Just because it slipped Eileen’s mind to collect his suit , he became angry )
• Understanding ( He was telling Eileen to let their neighbours to have that tiny bit of space since they don’t do gardening anyway )
Pg 141
Pg 143
3. The man
Who took care of the dog • Kind(He offered to carry Eileen’s baby , and he even stroked the baby’s cheek )
• Understanding( He agreed to shift the dogs to another place, to help Eileen solve her problem)
• Evil( He killed the puppies one by one to silence them)
Pg 146
Pg 147
Pg 148

The most interesting segment was when Eileen got very frustrated / angry with the dog’s noise. She couldn’t take it anymore for any longer; she called the police to help & even thought of calling the spca to help resolve the problem. Calling the police to solve this trival matter is a little uncommon. She was showing signs that she was slowly becoming mad because all she wanted, is to let her & her baby to catch some sleep.

Story: An Orbituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late
Conflict External - Their mother continually bewailed her lot – nine children, thirteen if you counted the dead babies, the endless chores, the drudgery.
Internal - Aunt shocked herself with her power of speech. She could only calm herself then with a trip to the kitchen sink, plowing her hands into dishes and dish-soiled water.
Climax




Resolution





Characters
1. Narrator • Disrespectful ( She was my aunt but I didn’t make a point to be her niece )
• Had an air of nonchalance (I suppose since I couldn’t be heard I didn’t try to think very much either.)
Pg 149
Pg 149,150
2. Fifth Aunt • Filial ( She was in her fifties. She lived in my grandmother’s house. )
• Apologetic ( One day she fell off her stool because she shifted her weight wrong, and she said, “Oh sorry, oh sorry, I’m very clumsy.” )
• Put others before herself (Who filled every soup bowl before her own.)
Pg 149
Pg 149
Pg 150
3. Grandmother • Whiny ( Their mother continually bewailed her lot )
• Traditional – prefer boys ( Don’t waste out sugar, her mother admonished, your brothers need the sugar for their school sandwiches. )
Pg 152
Pg 152

The most interesting segment was when


Story: Pastime
Conflict External - There was a psychological conflict as Mr Lee and Tai Poh try to trick each other into admitting to something .
Internal - Mr Lee was laughing on the inside as he thinks that he thinks that Tai Poh has failed in trying to fool him .
Climax The start of the climax is when Mr. Lee started on his own “Story”
Resolution Nothing changed as its just a story, it was just a past time and nothing was real .

Characters
1. Tai Poh • Quiet ( He did not talk to the passengers nor disturb them in any way. )
• Observant ( He watched and carefully considered before he picked the person to feature in his story . )
• Secretive ( He stopped to check his face , it betrayed nothing nor let anyone know anything through his face expressions. )
Pg 212
Pg 212
Pg 217
2. Mr Lee • Vigilant ( He was prepared . )
• Cunning ( It betrayed nothing and he expected it , he was not simple minded . After living through so many years this way , he could not be simple minded )
Pg 216
Pg 217
The most interesting segment is when Mr Lee started his story about the man that works as a security manager in a large wafer fab plan . He talked about how important the job of a security guard is and he then goes on about the plan to make a lot of money ,which is enough for a few people to retire . I think it’s the most interesting part of the story is when Mr Lee was telling his story , we can see how Tai Poh’s expressions change from laid back to guilty and frightened . As though he was scared of being tricked into admitting to something he shouldn’t .