This term, my class was given a text to study. And it was the Emerald of Emily Hill. The photo above shows the an image of the Emerald Hill.
This text is in line with the Peranakan as they characters in the text are Peranakan. They practice the culture of the Perankan. Thus understanding of the Perankan tradition, culture will help us more in understanding the text. For example, understanding that they will have to kneel down to the elders, being a Matriarch of the family and etc. This will help us understand Emily more, especially on the reasons, the motive behind on what she did. For example, kneeling down to her parents during Chinese New Year. Despite the fact that her father-in-law said that they did not need to kneel down in front of him, but Emily kneel down to her so as t manipulate the rest of the family members because if she kneel, the rest of the family members have to kneel, thus showing that she is gaining her power in the Gan family.
To understand the Peranakan more, our Literature teacher brought us to the Peranakan museum in Singapore, somewhere near the City. But unfortunately,I have competition and could not go for it. But after hearing from what my classmates shared in class, I had a better understanding of their practices, such as marriages and their dinner practices .
Emily of Emerald Hill is a text worth reading. It's also an interesting book to read as the plot of the story gets out attention. In the play, Emily is a Chinese Peranakan, who by dint of her native wit and cunning, emerges as the matriarch of a large and distinguished household, but only at the expense of her son’s suicide and her estrangement from her husband. The end of the play sees her alone in a much reduced mansion. She is old, and wistful, and the remnants of her family have moved to the suburbs while she is surrounded by the urgent hammering and pounding of an expanding inner-city construction. Well, and i will recommend to you all to read.
If you are interested to know more about the Peranakan, you can go to the website @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peranakan or http://www.peranakanmuseum.sg/home/home.asp
