Tanjong Rhu

(1)

Mr T.W. LI



Also called `Ah-Wah’ by his mother and `Edward’ by his wife



A 63 years old Singaporean businessman



Successful and wealthy



Has humble beginnings – grew up in a little wooden hut in Tanjong

Rhu

Character traits

Examples of textual

evidence

Ashamed of background  Wants to look like `a man who had inherited his money ,not earned it’ (p.19)

Organised and logical  Likes to count ships and find stability and security in numbers. (p.19)

Prefers the simple life  Thinks the rooms in his house are too big and too many. (p.20)

 Dislikes his wife’s gatherings with her friends where they eat cakes made with expensive foreign fruit. (p.20)

A filial and loving son  Bought binoculars for his mother too see better. (p.20)

 Makes sure that his mother’s burial is done the right way. (p.19)

 Decides to take care of the family altar as his mother would want him to. (p.35)

Split between traditional and

modern values and beliefs  Proud of the modern life he has _{built but tries to keep tradition}

alive in his home. (p.35)

 His children have Chinese names. (p.20)

 He addresses his mother as `Ah-Ma’. (p.20)

(2)

Ah-Ma

 Mr T.W. Li’s mother

 Ying’s grandmother, `Popo’ (Cantonese for grandmother)

 Mother of nine children, grandmother of thirty-four and great-grandmother of seventeen

 Small, thin ,with grey hair and a bent back

Character traits

Examples of textual

evidence

Treasures family  Remembers the time when she was poor but happy, when she was close to her son (p.28)

Stubborn  Refuse to go for an eye

operation to remove her eye cataracts (P.19)

 Insisted on using real candles for years (p.26)

Traditional  Takes care of the family altar (p.25)

 Makes sure that the ancestral worship customs are followed properly (p.25)

Kind and understanding  Understands her son who is trying to distance himself from his past and keep quiet (p.23) Ying

 Mr Li’s daughter

 Going to further her studies in New York

Character traits

Examples of textual

evidence

Loving and caring  Takes care of her ill

grandmother in the hospital (p.31)

 Donate blood to her grandmother (p.31)

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(p.25)

 Argues with her Second Aunt over the burial clothes for her grandmother (p.31)

 Argues with her father in the hospital (p.32)

Split between traditional and

modern values and beliefs  She call her father and grandmother by their traditional Chinese address , `Baba’ and `Popo’ and she speaks in Cantonese (p.25-26)

 Does not see the importance of following traditions properly and keeps telling her

grandmother that ` it doesn’t metter ’ (p.26)

Helen

 Mr Li’s wife

 She does not seem to have much respect for Mr Li.

 Loves socialising with her friends Mr Li’s father

 Used to be a boat builder in Tanjong Rhu

Tanjong Rhu used to be a small shipyard for small fishing boats. The protagonist’s father used to be a boat builder there. The story unfolds eighty years down the road. Tanjong Rhu is filled with multi-stories office building. The

protagonist Mr Li has his office in the one of the buildings.

The ancestral altar is an important location for the story. With a photograph of his late father installed in the altar, Li’s mother Ah-Ma talks to her late husband after

(4)

formally lighting joss sticks and bowing ritually while telling him of the events in her life.

Physical setting

Place Key events Mr Li’s office overlooking the

Singapore harbour  Ah-Ma visits the office to try and see Tanjong Rhu where her children grew up

A big and modern house with a

swimming pool in the garden  Mr Li presents the new binoculars to his mother in the garden

The altar room  Ying argues with her

grandmother because she will not let Ying help with the joss sticks.

 After Ah-Ma death, Mr Li tries to take care of the altar and continue the tradition of ancestral worship.

The hospital room  Mr Li visits his dying mother and tries to ask her about his childhood in Tanjog Rhu

 Ying looks after her grandmother

 Mr Li scolds Ying for threating Ah-Ma with disrespect

Tanjong Rhu  Mr Li’s father worked in the shipyard building fishing boats

 Ah-Wah played on the beach, went for walks with mother and dug for crabs

Social setting

Modern day Singapore

 Success and keeping up appearance are important.

 People have little time and patience for one another

 People distance themselves from old tradition – they adopt foreign names, have a taste for fine imported fare such as foreign fruit cake

 Modern and traditional lifestyles and values clash Early 20th_{century Singapore}

 Life was hard

 People enjoyed simple pleasures

 People had time for family

(5)

 The conflict between traditional and modern values and beliefs

 Importance of adhering to customs and cultural traditions

 The importance of remembering one’s root

 Change is inevitable

 We must not forget our root

 Family is more important than wealth and success

 We must always be dutiful sons and daughters

 We must learn, understand and continue our culture and customs

 We must respect the elders

Theme

(6)

• Mr Li is a

successful

businessm

an who has

conducted

his

mother's

funeral to

the best of

his ability.

Exposition

• He has a

distinct

feeling

that he

has

forgotten

somethin

g

importan

t. The

binocular

s evoke

many

memorie

s.

Rising

action

• looking at

the horizon

philosopjica

lly, Mr Li

realises

what he

has

forgotten.

Climax

• Mr Li

places

his late

mother's

photogra

ph on the

ancestral

altar

Falling

action

• Mr Li

talks to

his

mother

at the

altar. He

continue

s the

tradition

of

ancestral

worship

and his

mother's

habit of

talking to

ancestor

s who

have

passed

away.

Resolution

Plot

(7)

Mr T.W. Li is a wealthy businessman who lives in Singapore. The day after his mother’s burial, Mr Li is in his modern office, feeling tired and worried. As he looks out of the window through a pair of binoculars to count the ships in the harbour, he recall some recent events. The first is his mother’s visit to his office.

Ah ma wants to visit his office and use the binoculars to see Tanjong Rhu where they used to live a long time ago. On the day of the visit, Mr Li’s daughter is impatient with Ah Ma for taking her time over a ritual at the family altar. Mr Li dutifully scolds his daughter for being rude to her grandmother. At the office, Ah Ma cannot see the harbour properly. However, she remembers the happy days at

Tnjong Rhu when her son was a child. Mr Li then recalls visiting Ah Ma in the hospital and how he scolded Ying whom he thought was not threating her grandmother with proper respect. Mr Li realises that he ought to take care of the

altar now that his mother is gone. He hurries home to the altar room to perform his duty as a filial son.