|
Post by 2adionloy09 on Jul 20, 2008 6:04:37 GMT -5
Emily is a domineering wife that makes use of kheong's dependency on her to control him. Even when he is staying with diana, shecontinues to take care of his food but does not let him divorce her as he wishes, because she feels she has not done anything wrong and will not give him the satisfaction of a divorce. She also controls the children's lives : examples would be when she chose and took care of the schooling arrangements and another clear one is where she makes every single decision for her children. She does not give a choice and forces Richard to give up taking care of horses to study in a university which in the end results in him committing suicide. This can be seen as a sign of escape from his mother's scheming as she feeds him, clothes him and takes care of his every need in life.
|
|
|
Post by Sean Lee 2A16 on Jul 23, 2008 6:46:16 GMT -5
I feel that Emily is: - Someone who dominates over family members (eg. Richard, by 'somewhat forcing' him to agree with her decision to stay and complete university studies instead of letting Richard keep his job in the stable) - A caring person (eg. Wanted Richard to complete his university studies so to ensure the best future for him) - Unaware of her domination (eg. pg 45 - "I was a good mother", "I was a good wife", "Why did you both hate me then?", "I didn't do anything wrong!")
|
|
|
Post by 2btaytianwen28 on Jul 25, 2008 4:26:52 GMT -5
Hi all, ( Just to add on to my previous post)
Emily is a domineering mistress of the Gan household, and as stated by previous posts, caring to a certain extent.
Emily forces Richard to go overseas to continue his studies, instead of spending time aroound with horses. Going overseas to study was EMILY'S idea, and it shows that she had a hidden motive behind sending Richard overseas to study, and the fact that she did not consult richard on his opinion goes further to show that Emily did only what would benefit her.
Also, Emily and Kheong's relationship. In the opening moments of the story, Emily had a healthy relationship with Kheong. But as the stroy develops, Kheong shows signs of wanting to break away from Emily and to Diana, whom Emily labels as a "sleeper". Emily is oblivious to the fact that she had too tightly controlled kheong, and thus led to kheong wanting to break way from her, so much so that kheong refused to see her on his death bed, showing that kheong did not love emily whole-heartedly, but rather emily was his wife in name only.
Also at the end of the story, all other family members that once stayed in the estate moved out once HDB flats sprawled into existence, showing that the other family memebers hated emily like poison, since before the advent of HDB flats, they had no choice but to stick with her.
Do post any comments,
Tian Wen
|
|
|
Post by 2cjaredkoh13 on Jul 26, 2008 3:46:35 GMT -5
I feel that Emily is ignorant.
When she strives for power, she does not care that she hurts and offends others. For example, she asks Susie what Freddy's result was in front of their father-in-law.
I also feel that Emily is some one who has lots of self dignity. In fact, too much, till it becomes pride.
She takes Richard as a source of glory to show that Richard is better than Freddy. She wants Richard to do well in all subjects. But when Richard fails math, she asked how Freddy did, which proves that she is in constant check on Freddy.
|
|
|
Post by 2a21benjamin on Jul 26, 2008 6:09:53 GMT -5
I personally feel that Emily is a very caring mother and wife. She did so much for her children and husband. She took care many of their things personally when she could have just left it to the servants. She tried to stop Richard from working at a race course because it is generally agreed that such a job would fetch as much money or have a as good future as being a graduate from a university. She sees to the cleaning of her husband's clothes even though her husband left her for another woman. All of the above shows her care and concern for the family. because it is generally agreed that such a job would fetch as much money or have a as good future as being a graduate from a university-------it is generally agreed that a job at the race course would fetch as money or have as good a future as a graduate from a university going to law school? ? i don't get that point. is it a typo error?
|
|
|
Post by 2bwenkang04 on Jul 26, 2008 7:55:05 GMT -5
Hi all, ( Just to add on to my previous post) Emily is a domineering mistress of the Gan household, and as stated by previous posts, caring to a certain extent. Emily forces Richard to go overseas to continue his studies, instead of spending time aroound with horses. Going overseas to study was EMILY'S idea, and it shows that she had a hidden motive behind sending Richard overseas to study, and the fact that she did not consult richard on his opinion goes further to show that Emily did only what would benefit her. Also, Emily and Kheong's relationship. In the opening moments of the story, Emily had a healthy relationship with Kheong. But as the stroy develops, Kheong shows signs of wanting to break away from Emily and to Diana, whom Emily labels as a "sleeper". Emily is oblivious to the fact that she had too tightly controlled kheong, and thus led to kheong wanting to break way from her, so much so that kheong refused to see her on his death bed, showing that kheong did not love emily whole-heartedly, but rather emily was his wife in name only. Also at the end of the story, all other family members that once stayed in the estate moved out once HDB flats sprawled into existence, showing that the other family memebers hated emily like poison, since before the advent of HDB flats, they had no choice but to stick with her. Do post any comments, Tian Wen Tianwen, I agree with you to a large extent. However I kind of disagree with your point of the family members 'hating Emily like poison' because I think that although the family members had to tolerate her, they did not really really hate her because they still came back to visit her and call her and talk to her. So I think that although they tolerated her and possibly moved out because of her irritating behaviour, they did not hate her like poison. Regards, Wen Kang
|
|
|
Post by 2bterrechua29 on Jul 26, 2008 8:10:49 GMT -5
Also at the end of the story, all other family members that once stayed in the estate moved out once HDB flats sprawled into existence, showing that the other family members hated Emily like poison, since before the advent of HDB flats, they had no choice but to stick with her.
Tian Wen, I would have to disagree with your opinion that the other family members hated Emily like poison, to a certain extent. You said that they hated Emily and hence, they moved out of the house at Emerald Hill. However, what you said here may not be correct. The reason they moved out could also be because they did not want to be left behind the rapid development of technology and urbanization. Furthermore, it is stated in the play that Emily's family members still went to visit Emily frequently. If they really hated Emily like POISON, then they would not have gone back to visit her at all. Do consider these points. Cheers, Terre Chua
|
|
|
Post by 2chanhao09 on Jul 27, 2008 1:20:47 GMT -5
i feel that emily is a very cunning character. She sent lots of foods to her husband, even though he is staying in diana lee's house. This shows that maybe emily wanted to annoy Diana Lee and destroy the relationship between them because if keong ate it, it means that he still likes emily is a sense and emily still cared for kheong.
She is also cunning as she explain to Mr Fang that her daughter is coming back but in fact she wants to loan the house to Bee Choo. However she explain another story saying that mr Fang wanted to stop the loan.
All in all, emily is a very cunning person ^_^
Cheers HanHao
|
|
|
Post by 2cjiangshen14 on Jul 27, 2008 3:38:40 GMT -5
Hi All,
I will be posting about my comments.
Basically, I feel that Emily is a victim of the patriarchy (social system in which men dominate) system. Her father left her mother and her mother threw her away simply because Emily was a girl. Her mother considered girls as useless. When Emily first came into Emerald Hill, everybody hated her. So she used many tactics like to please her mother-in-law and to persuade her father-in-law to give his biggest share of his property to Richard. In the end, she succeeded but also suffered heavy losses – she lost her son Richard, her husband had another woman and he also refused to see her when he died. Her children also moved away from the Emily hill and she was left alone with only her old friend Bee Choo. She only had temporary happiness and now it was just emptiness.
Regards, Jiang Shen
|
|
|
Post by 2b23kevin on Jul 27, 2008 4:16:53 GMT -5
Hi all,
I will be posting on what i think Emily is.
To me, she is tyrant in the household. She thinks her what she does is always correct. She does not think much about how other people might fee. She does not think Richard would have a future in teaching horse riding and she expects Richard to see it her way. She did not think that by going to England and making him comeback, she crushed Richard's dreams and made him commit suicide. She also forced Kheong into becoming a counciller and poked her nose in his daily life, trying to exert as much control as she could over it. When Richard commits suicide and Kheong refusing to see her before he died, she still thought that she was right and says "Richard, I was a good mother to you! Kheong, I was a good wife! Why dif you both hate me then? I didn't do anything wrong!"
The reason that she wanted to control everything in the household might be seen in page 45. She learned when she was young that women were worthless. She wanted to control people as she wanted the world to know her worth.
However, later in the play, she does learn from her mistake and releases her control abit. She lets Doris choose her future husband in America after one year. If Emily had not released some control, her children would not have moved away as she would have objected and would give in.
Emily likes to use people. She uses Richard and his results to gain favour with the grandfather so that he would will the estate to him. She gained favour with her mother-in-law so that she could gain power in the household. She used Kheong to keep her power in the household and refused to let him divorce her.
In the end, she became a victim of her own quest of power. Her children moved out of the house probably to escape their mother's control over every single part of their lives. The death of Richard comes back and haunts her and she might have gone insane at the end of the book.
Cheers, Kevin
|
|
|
Post by 2amarcusgohsy12 on Aug 2, 2008 2:18:15 GMT -5
I think that even though Emily is the one to be held responsible for the deaths of Richard, Kheong and also her own sad plight at the end, I think that it can be possible that Emily was "plotting" her plans to usurp the Gan family's throne subconsciously. Here are a few examples that imply this, but also oppose to this idea. Firstly, before Emily gave birth to Richard, Emily was leading a very bad life. Her parents left her, with her mother claiming her to be useless as she is not a boy (thus implying sexism). After she was literally "thrown in to the gutter", she was passed from one relative's house to another like unwanted goods, and even her marriage was already decided for her. She could do nothing. She could only be controlled and succumb to fate. Thus. when she arrived in the Gan household, she needed a sense of security and power, so as to not suffer the same fate she had before. Only being the head of the Gan household gave her enough assurance over her past, and that she possibly could be blinded by the immense need for security and self-determination that she subconsciously plotted her way to the top of the household. However, the fact that Emily planned each of the plans so meticulously, just like her knitting patchwork quilts for the whole family, can possibly imply that she is in fact an usurper in disguise. Her steps, which include being her Mother-in-law's favourite , promoting Kheong to Councilor so she herself can have a better social profile, pulling good relations with the bishop of ACS and many more others all played an important part in her quest for gaining the Gan family "throne" Lol .. did not know how to conclude all this tough... -)B@CK~ST@B(- f33l th3 p@1n . t@st3 th3 1njust1c3. Wr1th3 1n @g0ny. I disagree with your second point that she could be an "usurper in disguise". You said she plotted her way to be her MIL's favourite, but I beg to differ. She didn't really plan to suck up to her MIL at first. She managed to become the favourite of her MIL because of Susie's laziness to acompany her MIL. If you had not noticed, Emily DID NOT fight for chances to acompany her MIL, in other words, it can clearly be seen that she do not have the intention to suck up. For promoting Kheong into the councillor, it may not be a plot on her part. Firstly, from one of the story's para(I forgot which), we can know that Emily thinks that woman have no value in her life, that woman's role is just to serve the man. With such an intention, it is not surprising that she may only want the best for her husband, with no hidden intention within. Thirdly, pulling good relations with the bishop of ACS may not be a plot too. As we all know, Emily wants the best for her son, probably because she doesn't want Richard to lose to Freddy. With such intention, it is again unsurprising for Emily to pull good relations with the bishop, since she wants the best for her son. Marcus Goh 2A12
|
|
|
Post by 2amarcusgohsy12 on Aug 2, 2008 2:26:49 GMT -5
I feel that Emily is: - Someone who dominates over family members (eg. Richard, by 'somewhat forcing' him to agree with her decision to stay and complete university studies instead of letting Richard keep his job in the stable) - A caring person (eg. Wanted Richard to complete his university studies so to ensure the best future for him) - Unaware of her domination (eg. pg 45 - "I was a good mother", "I was a good wife", "Why did you both hate me then?", "I didn't do anything wrong!") I totally disagree to your second point. Did I see wrongly or my computer is screwed? Emily is CARING? Emily did not want Richard to complete his term in the University to ensure the best future for him. She was just overdoing something she had succeeded, wanting Richard to beat Freddy. At first, she wants Richard to do better than Freddy so as to allow Richard to get the bigger portion of the property. She had suceeded. But I think she is just overdoing it, sending him overseas for law degree. This is edvident when Emily actually realised that she indeed did something ridiculous, which is to send Richard overseas for law degree since Richard "doesn't have to work for his living anymore" (page 26). So my conclusion is: Emily is not caring. Marcus Goh 2A12
|
|
|
Post by 2btaytianwen28 on Aug 8, 2008 21:49:22 GMT -5
Hi all,
here's to clarify to wen kang and terre on their comments on my previous post.
"Hate her like poison" is just an expressive phrase and yes, in my own opinion, a little overexpressive and conveys a somewhat wrong idea.
Thanks!
Tian Wen
|
|
|
Post by 2bongyuhao17 on Aug 11, 2008 5:42:31 GMT -5
I feel that Emily is an capable woman. This is evident from how she organises the annual dinner all by herself. Despite being a woman, she shows that she is also capable of calling the shots in the household. She does all the important jobs like interviewing a new servant and seeing to the expansion of the house. Emily also helps Kheong in his business. She forms a good relationship with G P Chee who was able to help the Gan family in their business. She also helps Kheong seeks his advvice on the shares to be bought.
|
|
2cryuto29
New Member
Zaraki Kentucky
Posts: 9
|
Post by 2cryuto29 on Aug 12, 2008 8:20:06 GMT -5
No one is born with power. Power can be granted and then used.
However, there is a natural power that is granted to many people. That is to be a parent. Like any ordinary parent, one would want his/her child to grow up to be someone great, knowledgeable etc. In Emily's POV, I think she wasn’t power greedy or a very dominant person who wants everything to go her way.
For the dominant part, you may argue, "She controls her sons" and etc. Yes, but think about this. In the play, she does not show significant signs of regretting for her actions. A basic mentality of all parents would be "This is for your own good." Yes, in every parent’s POV, their actions will always be for our own good. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Emily was doing exactly the same. In fact, I might even say it was the children's fault that Emily ended up like this. They "rebelled" against her wishes for them. But you might also want to blame it on Emily's character for not being understanding and stuff but still, basic respect. Don’t rebel against your parents. This is my opinion for Emily’s parenthood side.
For Emily’s love relationship, I wouldn’t totally blame her for being like that. Come on, she was married into the family at a young age. How would you feel if you are treated like that? Also, she is basically acting on “instinctâ€. I would say, you might need a little “education†to know how to act like a “good wifeâ€.
Also, I feel she is a victim of pressure. As a “new†person to the family, I am sure she would like to have some respect and to have a place in this family, after all, she is the oldest son’s wife. So therefore, under the name of “the oldest son’s wifeâ€, she is somehow granted power over the household. And slowly, she begins to further use this power and becomes so consumes by it that she becomes the cunning, tyrant etc character as everyone deems she is now as she is pushed by household pressure.
Meh. Jokerits FTW. Long Live Vegapunk FS
|
|