Shirley

Geok- Lin
Lim
Adila
Kwan Pei Ling
Chee Kar Mei
Siti Nur Fatin
Husni

Content
I. SOCIAL CRITICISM
II. GENDER CRITICISM
III.FEMINISM

Social Criticism
- culture
- beliefs
- traditions
In this short story, it is related to the
traditions, beliefs, the way one
thinks, the norms which in relation
with the arts in Baba and Nyonya
culture.

CULTURAL ASPECT
InPeranakansculture, girls are not
allowed to sit with their legs open
because it is not polite.
Textual evidence:
MeiSimsmother scolded her Tamalu!
you noshame! Close your legs.
(Pg 70, para 1)
MeiSimsmother said Were going to visitTuaEe.
And dont sit with your legs open there. She
think I bring you up with noshame.
( Pg 70, para 5)

Traditions Aspect

Malay influence is very strong in their

clothing and food, butthey have also
retained their Chinese heritage,
especially their religion, name and
ethnic identity.
MALAY
HERITAGE

CHINESE
HERITAGE

- CLOTHING
- FOOD

- RELIGION
- NAME

Clothing
ancientChineseculture

In
&MalayCulture, girls must wear
skirt. As we can see, throughout the
whole story, all the female characters are
wearing skirt. In this story we can see
most of the characters wearing skirt and
kebaya.
Textual
evidence:

Grand-aunty came out through the gap in the

fence in flurry of kebaya lace. (pg.73, para 2)
Mother dressed her in her New Years party
frock, an organdy material of pink and purple
tuberoses with frills down the bib and four stiff
layers gathered in descending for a skirt.
(pg.71, para 1)

Food and Name

The characters are having Chinese-styled
names. (MeiSim,SiewEng,JengChung)
MeiSimsmother visited her aunty at
least once a week with gifts of fruit,pulot,
andang-pows and consulted her on every
matter in the Chung familys life.
This shows that,the Malay culturesuch
as visiting among relatives are
practiced during that time.

Superstitious

Commonly, Baba andNyonyasocieties

are believed in the fortune teller and
about the luck.

Textual evidence:
Mother saidSiewEng was cursed. The
fortune teller had told her that the
girl would eat her blood, so she
wouldnt nurse or hold the baby, had
sent her to a foster mother, and had
taken her back at seven to send her off
to the kitchen where she slept on a
camp bed. (pg. 75, para 4)

MeiSimsgrand
aunty
is
superstitious.She
treated
her
daughter
badly
and
violently
because of the fortune teller.

Textual evidence:
You must stay for lunch, I have already
told thatprostitute daughterof mine to
boil the rice.
Sheshouted and slappedher daughter.
A purple bruise bloomed on the arm.

 MeiSimsgrand-auntyphysically

abusedSiewEng.
Besides,
she
alsomentally abusedSiewEng by
usingharsh
language,
such
asSundal. (pg 75)

Textual evidence:
what do you say? What do you say,
youprostitute? (pg 76)
Siew Eng hung her head. Her samfoo
was faded and worn at the trouser
bottoms, and the thin cotton print didnt
hide her strange absence of breasts.

Girls also have the right to pursue

education and not only do household
chores at home.
The form of inequality shows in Siew
Engs situation.

Textual evidence:
She was already sixteen, had never
been sent to school but had worked
at home washing, cleaning and
cooking since she was seven.

Siew Eng has being oppressed and

mistreated in her family. She does not
have any position in her family. She
has been treated as a slave.

She served the food, cleaned the

kitchen and ate standing out by the
wood stove when everyone had
finished.
You think you can be so proud in my
house.

 Grand-aunty had four sons, of whom

she loved only the youngest, and a
daughter whom she treated as a
bought slave. (pg. 73)
Both Chinese and Malay culture, they
put focus on male as they will
becomeheir of their family. Female is
not having important position and roles
in family, theirrights have been ignored.

GENDER CRITICISM
Socially constructed differences
between men and women which
operate in most societies and which
leads to forms of inequality,
oppression and exploitation between
sexes.

In the society, girls

duty is to serve the
meal for others. This
shows the differences
between
men
and
women.

Textual evidence:
Go serve the rice. We are coming to
the table right away. Make sure there
are no flies on the food.

Feminism
Sees on womens cultural
identification as a merely negative
object or other.
Examines the patterns of thought,
behaviour, values, freedom and
power in relations between the
sexes.

Womens value
Women aresubmissive in the society at that
time and they must accept their fate. History of
Chinese and Malay until now, male is always
dominant over female.

Evidence from text:

I used to think how to get male
children. (pg. 75)
This shows thatmen are more
preferablethan women. Man is
dominant while woman is submissive.

THE END