The relationship between Emily and other character

[2chuyongda10]

As a follow-up to what Miss Ngo asked us to do, we should discuss about the relationship between Emily and the other characters and how it developed through the whole play. Eg: Emily and Richard, Emily and Kheong, etc. In this way, we can better understand the play and also shed more light on Emily's character. Thus, we can interpret the play more expertly.

[2balcanderseah01]

I feel that Emily's and Kheong's relationship deteriorated throughout the whole play, probably due to Emily's dominnering behavior.

This can be seen on page 12 where Kehong asked Emily " Emily you're all right ah?". This shows that Kheong still cares about Emily at this stage of the play and show signs of concern for her. However, as the play went on, their relationship seemed to worsened.

Probably due to Emily's dominnering character, it pratically made Kheong unable to tolerate her behavior any longer and thus took in a mistress. In the end, Kheong then refused to even see her at his death bed, probably because he really disliked Emily to the extreme.

All in all, I feel that the relationship between Emily and Kheong worsened stage by stage throughout the play, most probably due to Emily's dominnering behavior she displayed throughout the whole play.

Thank You

[Sean Lee 2A16]

In the beginning of the play, Emily shared a rather close relationship with her son, Richard.
When she calls her 20-year-old son "big, strong, sonny", he responds with "strong son, beautiful mother"; thus showing the close relationship between Emily and Richard as they flatter each other.

However, towards the later part of the play, the relationship between Emily and Richard gets worse as Emily tries to make Richard comply with her decision to continue his university education and give up his career in the stable. In the end, Richard commits suicide.

[2cjaredkoh13]

Emily and Kheong is living on a very strained relationship. I think the reason that they do not file for divorce is the fact that Richard is Emily's source of hope.

If not for Richard, Emily and Kheong might have divorced. There is simply no love in the relationship. It cannot go on.

So, Kheong goes out in search of other sources of 'love', such as Diana Lee and the playing of mahjong.

The Mansion is not a place where Kheong finds love from Emily. All he finds is a hardcore ruling tyrant.

[2bterrechua29]

Hi all,

I will be talking about the relationship between Emily and Kheong.

At first, their relationship yhad been quite pleasant and peaceful, but as time past, their relationship worsen and Kheong had most probably felt that Emily was an irritating person, or rather, interfering. What made their relationship worsen may have been because:

-The things Emily did to control Kheong.

From this play, it is known that Emily had done quite a number of things to control Kheong and made her seem bossy.
For example, she wanted Kheong to be the councillor. Furthermore, she carried out Emerald Hill's expansion without even consulting Kheong. Other scenarios incluide GP Chee's business and social and economic life.

As a result, Kheong had an affair with Diana and when Emily put a stop to the affair, he went into gambling. All these were done by Kheong because he hated Emily.

Hence, the relationship between Emily and Kheong had worsened as time past.

Cheers,
Terre Chua

[2bwenkang04]

I feel that Emily and Bee Choo's relationship was of real warmth and sincerity. Emily treats Bee Choo as a good and real friend. This is evident in the passage where Emily said," Give my regards to your mother, eh, hope she'll be better soon..." and her voice was "warm, friendly and relaxed". This shows that Emily treats Bee Choo as a real friend and not a facade like Susie's or even Diana Lee.
Emily also regards Bee Choo as a real friend as shown in the book where Emily got rid of the tennant and 'got' Bee Choo a house (her house actually) by rather cunning ways. This shows that Emily regards Bee Choo as a good friend as she understands that Bee Choo does not like to take things from people and insisted that Bee Choo pays her a 'nominal fee'.
Furthermore, Bee Choo was the only one who listened to Emily.

Regards,
Chow Wen Kang (4) 2B

[2bterrechua29]

Hi all,

I will be talking about the relationship between Emily and Richard.

In this play, especially the part when Richard went to work as a horse riding instructor, it is known that Richard avoids his mother and seeks independence.

At first, their relationship was very good, pleasant and close. However, as time past, their relationship worsened and Richard comes to dislike her.

In the beginning, their relationship is close. This is clearly brought across in the play, at pg 5, when Richard flatters his mother as a "beautiful mother". At this point of time, when their relationship is so close, Richard may have agreed to Emily's view that C.S.B, who was the guy that Emily had refused to invite to Richard's party, was an ill-mannered person.

However, when Richard went to England to study, he did not want to be dependent on his mother anymore, but Emily was still so domineering and bossy that Richard chose suicide since his passion was crushed by the mother he once loved.

All in all, the relationship between Emily and Richard was similar to the relationship between Emily and Kheong. Both these relationships were pleasant at first but worsened when Emily's ambitious nature gets stronger and stronger.

Cheers,
Terre Chua

[2cjiangshen14]

Hi All,

Just to add on to your comments, I have found that Emily only had a good and firm relationship with her old school friend Bee Choo. Comparing with other characters in the play that Emily did not have a good relationship, I saw that only Bee Choo had known Emily before, was about the same age as her and was her school friend. So it may seem that only Bee Choo can understand Emily as they are from the same school. Therefore, Emily may not have a good relationship with the people of the Emerald Hill because they were unfamiliar to her. For her children, as they are not living in the save times as her mother, they may not be able to understand their mothers’ expectations and hopes. It is just like nowadays children often complain that their parents do not understand them.

Cheers,
Jiang Shen

[2bterrechua29]

Hi all,

I will be talking about the relationship between Emily and Doris.

Unlike The relationships of Emily and Richard and Emily and Kheong, the relationship between Emily and Doris is not as bad. This is because Emily does not want to repeat the same mistake. Emily's relationships with Kheong and Richard had been very bad. Hence, she did not want to repeat the same mistake and she did not want to let her relationship with Doris worsen. This shows that Emily had known her mistake and probably had her introspection. Therefore, she understood the seriousness of her mistakes and wanted to make some amendments.

Even so, Emily had also been domineering towards Doris since Doris is young. For example, she stops Doris from reading when she saw Doris doing so. This also suggests that to Emily, a girl has no future.

Other examples include Emily making decisions for Doris. For dancing, Doris was not allowed to learn ballet. Instead, she had to learn folk dance. After so many years of Emily making decisions for her daughter, Doris, like Richard, wants to be independent. Therefore, she tries to avoid Emily.

All in all, although the relationship between Emily and Doris had not been that bad, Emily had also been domineering towards Doris.

Cheers,
Terre Chua

[2amarcusgohsy12]

Jul 27, 2008 4:11:57 GMT -5 2cjiangshen14 said:

Hi All,

Just to add on to your comments, I have found that Emily only had a good and firm relationship with her old school friend Bee Choo. Comparing with other characters in the play that Emily did not have a good relationship, I saw that only Bee Choo had known Emily before, was about the same age as her and was her school friend. So it may seem that only Bee Choo can understand Emily as they are from the same school. Therefore, Emily may not have a good relationship with the people of the Emerald Hill because they were unfamiliar to her. For her children, as they are not living in the save times as her mother, they may not be able to understand their mothers? expectations and hopes. It is just like nowadays children often complain that their parents do not understand them.

Cheers,
Jiang Shen

I disagree with you. You cannot conclude that only Bee Choo understand Emily. They could be friends throughout could be because of the positions they are in. Probably if Bee Choo is Emily's sister-in-law, she would hate Emily just like the rest. Bee Choo didn't hate Emily could be because since Bee Choo is Emily's friend, Emily is not as bossy towards her.

Marcus Goh
2A12

[2bongyuhao17]

I feel that Richard feeling towards Emily is that of a respect to a mother. After being manipulated by Emily in every aspects of his life, Richard is beginning to hate his mother. Her overbearing ways have led to Richard's death. From Richard's death, we can observe something. If Richard had truly cared for her mother and he loved his mother, he would not have ended his life. This shows that Richards passion for horses was stronger than his love towards his mother so much so that he is willing to die if he is not able to work with horses.

Emily's relationship with BeeChoo was a very close one. Emily could talk and confide in BeeChoo. She even related to BeeChoo how Kheong had cheated on her. This showed her trust towards Emily. On the other hand, Emily was able to give up a source of income to allow BeeChoo to stay in one of her properties. This shows how much she trusts BeeCHoo.

[2btaytianwen28]

Hi all,

i'll be working on the relationship between Richard and Emily.

Richard's on-the-surface relationship with Emily is mother and son (everybody knows that). However, Richard will to break away from his mother's dictatorial way of controlling his life is binded by the fact that Emily is his mother, a senior. He wants to play the role of a filial and hard-working son, but yet wishes to gain freedom and go against his mother's wish. He is caught in a somewhat "lose-lose" dilemma- either way he goes, he loses out. If he chooses to go with Emily, he'd have to live under the dictatorial style of his mother till the very day she lies on her deathbed, while if he chooses the latter, his mother will hear no word of it.

His chance to do so was when he furthered his studies in England. Since his mother was not around, he could have did so, unlike when he was back at Emerald Hill. From here, he writes a letter expressing his feelings and opinion to his mother, which enrages her so much that she flew to England to chide Richard and persuade him to go back to University.

This shows that Emily cares a lot for her son, in a "deceptive" way though . Since her son has already expressed his feelings, why does she still wish to force him into doing what he does not like? This shows that Emily sent Richard to England to continue his studies, not for the best interests of Richard, but for herself. She wanted Richard to prove himself worthy of inheriting Emerald Hill, and to beat her sister-in-law's son, Freddy.

Do post any comments.

Tian Wen

[2btaytianwen28]

Hi all,

i'll be working on the relationship between Kheong and Emily.

Kheong's on-the-surface relationship with Emily is husband and Wife. In the opening moments of the story, their relationship seems strong and healthy, but as the story progresses, it worsens, due to Kheong's many visits (brazenly) to Diana, whom Emily dislikes.

Likewise for Kheong, Emily tightens her control over her husband like she did to her son , and she does not consult Kheong on important decisions such as the renovation of Emerald Hill, Kheong being a councillor etc.

It seems as though Kheong is a hen-pecked husband who lives under the tight reins of his domineering wife, so in order to escape this, he seeks the companionship of Diana, a secretary, who is perhaps more liberal and understanding than Emily. Emily continues to send food and fresh clothes to him, on the grounds that Kheong was still her husband, and she should still shower him with her care.

In the end, Kheong refused to see Emily even in his final moments. This suggests that Kheong never treated Emily as a "true wife", or never loved her truly, which shows that Emily was just a wife-in-name only.

Emily, who has such a domineering character (to a certain extent) , feels that she has done no wrong at the end (as in , after the deaths of both Kheong and Richard), which is not quite true, since her tight control over the lives of her son and husband inevitably led to their deaths.

Do post any comments

Tian Wen

[2adionloy09]

relationship between bee choo and emily

this was probably the only one that worked out well for emily, as she was truly sincere towards bee choo, as can be seen when she offered to let bee choo stay at her sennet estate house despite losing income by doing so, and lied to bee choo in order to hide this fact.

[2bongyuhao17]

Emily's relationship with Kheong was close initially. When Emily first arrived into the Gan family, Kheong in few scenarios had showed his concern towards Emily. Besides, Emily even had FOUR children with Kheong. This goes to show how good their relationship was. However, after a few years, it just seemed to Kheong that it was his responsibility to look after Emily and his l0ve towards Emily was gradually disappearing. Later on, the relationship between them was so bad that Kheong even stayed away from home. He even had a mistress and despite knowing that Emily knew about his affair, he didnt bother to stop. Instead, he got even bolder. Until, Emily made use of the public scrutiny to make sure Kheong behaved himself. However, this didnt stop Kheong from avoiding Emily. He vented his fustration through gambling and didnt care even if he gambled away the family fortunes. He was trying to show Emily how much he hated her. Even before his deathbed, he didnt even want to see her.