short story mariah

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MARIAHBy: CHE HUSNA AZHARI

Prepared By : BONNIE MADUIN EDWINMAS FAIRIZIANA NORDIANA NUR SOLEHAHTAN YIING

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Analyse the short story through the Gender Perspective. Relate it to Malaysian context.

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PLOT

CLIMAX

RESOLUTIONEXPOSITIO

N• Introduction of Maria• Nasi seller

• Gos

sip b

y the v

illag

ers

(wom

en)

• Cik G

u Nab

• Flas

hback of

Tuk Im

am’s

past• h

is unfo

rget

table

love o

f

the S

heikh’s

dau

ghter

RISIN

G

ACTIONS

•Tuk Imam married Mariah

FALLING

ACTIONS

• Cik Yam approved the

Imam’s request to take

Mariah as his second wife

• Tuk Imam asked for his wife’s permission to marry Mariah

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THEME

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Discrimination

Male vs Female

Female vs Female

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Women are required to give full submission

to their husbands.

Cik Yam allows Tok Imam to have another

wifePg: 14

Widow is considered as under class which she would be socially

oppressed

Mariah accepts Tok

Imam’s proposal

Pg: 15

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ISSUES AND CONCERNS

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Gender Stereotyping

Men

Strong, courageous and rational.

Women

Weak & Irrational

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Ironic: • The women in Mariah stand out in triumph because

of the strength in their faith. They are selfless while men show their weaknesses.

• Both women are willing to sacrifice for love and religion.

Cik Yam – willing to share her husband because she loves him and because she believes that she will be sheltered under the Golden Umbrella of Siti Fatimah on the Day of Judgement.

Mariah – gives up independence (her love) to marry the Imam because he is a man of religion – she is not dependent on men for a living because it is shown at the start that she is capable of finding her own income.

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Relationship

Husband and wife

Among Neighbours

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Husband-wife relationship• Perfect marriage: Tuk Imam & Cik Yam• Problematic marriage: Cik Gu Leh & Cik Gu Nab

Ironic: Tuk Imam is the one who wants to take a second wife not Cik Gu LehPg 13 “Cik Yam jumped up as if struck by a bolt of lightning. Can that dreaded thing most feared by women be real, happening to her? Please God, let it not be true. Why couldn’t it have happened to that lazy Cik Gu Nab, who couldn’t even fry an egg properly? Why her? The loving devoted wife, the model housewife? Why? Why?

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Among Neighbours

•Cik Yam & Cik Nab

Cik Yam welcomes Cik Gu Nab despite the fact that Cik Gu Nab is a gossip.

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• Polygamy in Islam– To have more than one wife Up to 4 women: “Marry women of your choiceTwo, or three, or four;But if you fear that ye shall notBe able to deal justly (with them)Then only one (4:3)Other criteria: widows and orphans (who need male protection for survival)

• Imam does not practice the real concept of polygamy.Pg 12 “Forgive me, oh God, for men are weak”

Misuse of religion to justify personal desire (Tuk Imam)

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Ironic:

•Mariah marries Imam in the hope that he will guide her in spiritual matters. In actual fact, the Imam marries Mariah because she reminds him of his lost love of his youth. pg 15 “Imam was the man to marry, if she would ever wish to marry. A man of religion would be the only person worth marrying after all those years of self-imposed celibacy.”

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Relating things that happened to sorceries

• The women think that Mariah use sorceries to attract customers to her stall

pg 6 “Cik Yam,” continued Cik Gu Nab, “Mariah has been enticing our man to abandon their homes for her Kedai Merpati. You know her nasi cannot be that special. Why, I am sure for one she cannot beat your nasi belauk.” (Cik Yam readily agreed). “But why do all these men seem hell-bent on eating breakfat at her place? I reckon, I mean we reckon she has put ‘something’ (Cik Gu Nab put heavy emphasis on the word something) in her nasi.”

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Blaming women on the issue of infertility

• If a couple could not bear children, the woman is at fault not the man.Pg 7 & 8 “Why couldn’t his wife bear children like other women? Some women, it seemed, have the fecundity of rabbits, but not his wife. Like all men of his generation, it never occurred to him he could be the culprit in his wife’s supposed inability to bear children. As far as he was concerned, bearing children was a woman’s job, and if she didn’t there was something wrong with her.”

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CHARACTERS & CHARACTERISTICS

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Mariah

•A widow•Nasi Belauk seller•Beautiful and sexyPg 3 & 4

“Mariah was a nasi seller in Mulo, in fact the nasi nasi seller in Molo. Every morning at seven sharp she would walk past the market entrance into the village square and mesmerise the men with her swaying hips as well as her nasi….. Mariah also had another asset. She was without a husband…. Mariah had been married once, but her husband had passed away soon after. ”

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TUK IMAM

•Head of the mosque (Pg: 5)•Pious (Pg: 11)•Respectable (Pg: 5)•Referent to solve problem (Pg: 5)•Succumb to his lust (Pg: 14-15 )

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CIK YAM

•Perfect wife•Good cook

Pg 5 “Her (Cik Yam) culinary skills were not her only attribute; her housekeeping was also a model to be followed by other womenfolk in the village. One could always call at the Imam’s house at any time of the day, guaranteed to be greeted by a well-turned-out wife, hot tepung and fragrant surroundings.”

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CIKGU NAB

•Gossip (Pg:6)•Loves to find other’s fault (Pg: 6)•Hopeless cook (Pg:8)•Jealous wife

(pg 14)Cik Gu Nab sent threatening messages to Mariah

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CIKGU LEH

•Cik Gu Nab’s husband and Tuk Imam’s friend

•Represent Tuk Imam in asking Mariah’s hand for marriage

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SETTING

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PLACE•Mulo, Kelantan, Malaysia• (Pg: 3) “The main trunk road from

Pasir Puteh to Kota Bharu….”

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Morning stall in Mulong

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• PATTANI, SOUTHERN THAILAND (Flashback) Pg 8 “ the Imam became transported to another time, his youth….”

• The place where Tuk Imam studied be an ImamPg 9 “When the Imam was a young man of fifteen his father had voiced his wish for his son to be sent to Pattani in Southern Thailand to learn under a tutelage of a well known Sheikh.

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SOCIAL/POLITICAL

• Typical Malay (Muslim) community - Careers (Imam, Teachers, Nasi seller) - Clothing• The characters (Kelantanese) in this short

story are portrayed as religious.• Kelantan is the only state which is governed by

PAS a political party that aims to establish Malaysia as a country based on Islamic legal theory derived from the primary sources of Islam, the Quran, Sunnah as well as Hadiths.

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MALAYSIAN VOCAB

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•Imam/Tuk Imam: Head of the mosque•Cik Gu: Teacher•Subuh : 1st prayer of the day•Isya’ : 5th (last) prayer of the day•Tepung : flour•Kebaya : traditional clothes for women•Kain lepas : sarong

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•Kedai Merpati ( the name of Mariah’s stall)

•Abang : endearment for husbands•Local cuisine :nasi, nasi dagang, nasi

berlauk, nasi kerabu ,roti canai

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•Kulliyah : lecture•Fusus al- Hakam: Islamic famous book •Masyaallah (interjection): praise be to

Allah•Rizq (arabic word): sustenance•Sheikh (arabic word): Islamic scholar

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Tudung saji

•Use to cover the food on the table

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Jubah and kuffiyah

Jubah

Kuffiyah

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Serban: head cover SERBAN

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Safrah

•For functions; like a table cloth but to be put on the floor instead of table.