NEW LITERATURES IN ENGLISH Universiti Putra 新文学在英语博特拉大学.pptVIP

BBL 3211 EXPLICATION OF ‘AH MAH’ INSTRUCTOR: DR WAN ROSELEZAM BT. WAN YAHYA Assoc. Professor EXPLICATION OF ‘AH MAH’ Grandmother was smaller than me at eight. Had she been child forever? Helpless, hopeless, chin sharp as a knuckle, fan face hardly half-opened, not a scrap of fat anywhere, she tottered in black silk, leaning on handmaids, on two tortured fins. At sixty, his sons all married, grandfather bought her, Soochow flower song girl. Every bone in her feet had been broken, bound tighter than any neighbor’s sweet daughter’s. Ten toes and instep curled inwards, yellow petals of chrysanthemum, wrapped in gold cloth. He bought the young face, small knobby breasts he swore he’d not dress in sarong of maternity. Each night he held her feet in his palms, like lotus in the tight hollows of celestial lakes. In his calloused flesh, her weightless soles, cool and slack, clenched in his stranger’s fever. EXPLICATION OF ‘AH MAH’ Describe the theme of the poem above. Provide evidence from the text to support your answer. The theme of this poem is about female oppression in Chinese culture in terms of its cultural practice of foot binding. It is mentioned in the phrases “Every bone in her feet had been broken”, “she tottered in black silk” in stanza 3 and “Ten toes and instep curled inwards” in stanza 6. Grandma has to totter when she is walking because her feet become smaller than normal feet. Her feet bones are broken and become deform because they have been “bound tighter than any neighbor’s sweet daughter”. EXPLICATION OF ‘AH MAH’ Who is the speaker in this poem? What is the speaker’s attitude in the poem? Provide evidence from the text to support your answer. The speaker of the poem may be a young girl who is observing her grandma and describing her physical appearance. The speaker’s attitude is one of sympathy and curiosity towards her grandma. She describes her grandma as “smaller than me at eight. Had she/ been child forever”. This suggests th