Using details from the novel you have studied, write
about a theme that you can relate to in your daily life. Give examples of the
theme that you have chosen. Support your answer with close reference to the
text.
sample (1)
The novel I have read is ‘The Curse’ by Lee Su Ann. A theme from ‘The
Curse’ is about the negative effects or rumours and hearsay. Gossip is basically
idle talk that goes bad if one is not careful enough but malicious gossip is
even more dangerous because it does the most damage.
For example, in the past, the villagers’ constant
gossiping had caused the Old Lady to move to the jungle because they thought
that she was a crazy woman who killed her husband in cold blood. They failed to
understand and consider the reason behind the act and it caused the Old Lady to
live alone for the rest of her life in the jungle. The villagers continued to
spread wrong information about the Old Lady by saying that she will cast a
spell or kill those who trespass on her property.
Puan Normala warned that a curse will befall the village by claiming
that the incessant rain was caused by the Old Lady coming into the village even
though she came only to cure Nek, Mohd Asraf’s grandmother. She gathered some
of her neighbours and convinced them to drive the Old Lady out of the village.
Sadly, not long after the Old Lady had cured Nek, Nek passed away and the neighbours
convinced Mohd Asraf that the Old Lady was to be blamed. The confrontation
between them and the Old Lady ended tragically with her house being burnt down
and her untimely death.
Throughout the novel, we are constantly reminded of how rumours can turn
bad and how they can lead to destruction or a tragic conclusion. As stated by
the Old Lady, “Rumours can be damaging even if they are untrue, especially if
they are untrue. All a person can do is to ignore them and the rumours will die
off as soon as another juicier one comes along.”
I have learnt from the theme in this novel that I should not believe or
be influenced by rumours in our daily lives. More importantly, I should also
not create and spread rumours about another person. These, we must apply in our
daily lives.sample (2)
‘The Curse’ written by Lee Su Ann touches on many
aspects of life. Basically, all the aspects revolve around our own community
and can be used as guidance in our life.
The theme of ‘love’ which is actually the main conflict in this whole
novel. Firstly, we can see this aspect between mother and child when we read
how loving was Azreen towards her mother when she came back from London. She
realized her mother still does not know about the death of her sister, Madhuri.
Azreen took over the duty to take care of her mother who was suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease which was getting worse. Azreen cooked porridge for her
mother like Madhuri used to do and fed her. This shows that Azreen loves her mother very much
and feels responsible to take care of her after her sister’s death.
The concept of ‘love’ can also be seen through Encik
Saleh who loves his daughters very much but does not know how to show it. He
kept his love within him and was always looking fierce and angry towards his
daughters and wife. He loved his family very much and that is why he worked
hard on the farm.He also repairs chicken
coop, repairs fencse and roofs and
chops wood in order to earn a
living for his family. As a hard-working man, he wanted to give his family the
best out of him due to his love towards them which he does not show openly.
Here, I admit that I admire Encik Saleh as a loving father towards his family
but he should have shown his love in a more appropriate way.
Lastly, the concept of love can be seen in the
characters of the Old Lady and Azreen. Azreen was very lucky to find a
meaningful and comfortable relationship with the Old Lady of the forest. She
was very close to the Old Lady until she told her all her secrets. She always
goes and visits the Old Lady whenever she felt bored, angry or happy. This
shows that Azreen really loves the Old Lady and does not give a single thought
to what the villagers say about the Old Lady. Azreen’s love towards the Old
Lady was very strong until she was willing to go into the burning house in
order to save the Old Lady. But, faith wins. The Old Lady died in the fire
while Azreen was saved by her father due to his love towards his daughter.
As we can see, the concept of ‘love’ is very strong
throughout the novel. Each and every character in this novel has the desire to
love and to be loved.sample (3)
Lee Su Ann, the writer of the novel ‘The Curse’ had
brought up many themes in her writing. One of the themes that I liked very much
in this novel is ‘forgiveness’ which was clearly portrayed in Azreen’s
character.
As we know
from the beginning, Azreen is a very outspoken, aggressive and stubborn character
but towards the ending of the story she had learnt to forgive others. Azreen
was very much influenced by the Old Lady who begged Azreen to learn to forgive
others at the time of her death. We can see very much that Azreen kept her
promise when she forgave Mohd Asraf who had deliberately played with her
emotions. All the while Azreen thought Asraf liked her but, Asraf was actually
falling for Madhuri and when he admitted that to Azreen, she was speechless at
first. Azreen hid herself from Asraf by
running away until she reached the cliff of the hills when Asraf confessed his
love towards Madhuri. But as time passed, her anger melted away slowly and she forgave Asraf as
the Old Lady had told to her just before
she died.
Azreen too
learnt to forgive her father who murdered Madhuri. Even though she felt sad at
first but she did not feel angry or resentment at him but she realized that she
had lost her only father that she used to know as a very hot-tempered man.
Slowly Azreen forgave her father but she could not see him eye to eye so she
left him alone and that was the time when Encik Saleh had a heart attack and
collapsed. But if at all Azreen had not promised the Old Lady to forgive
others, I do not think that she would forgive her father for murdering Madhuri.
Azreen too
forgave Madhuri for all the hurt and resentment she caused in Azreen’s life. Azreen
was jealous of Madhuri’s beauty and genteel behavior. She
was the favorite daughter. She also resented Madhuri as Madhuri was able to
captivate Asraf who eventually fell in love with her. But, when Azreen
discovers that Madhuri was adopted and
the truth about Madhuri’s murder at the hands of her own father, she feels nothing but pity
for poor Madhuri . Finally she forgives her sister, Madhuri.
Last but not least, Azreen also forgave Asraf and
wished him luck from the bottom of her heart when he left Langkawi to take a
teaching course in KL. When she read a note from him, she did not feel angry
but she smiled after reading the note and also questioned herself whether she
had learnt to forgive others. From Azreen’s character, I too learnt to forgive
others in my life if they hurt my feelings. Being revengeful will not give us
anything in life except the negative value.
From the evidence above, the theme of ‘forgiveness’
had been portrayed very well in this novel through the protagonist, Azreen. I
hope each and every human will learn to forgive others in their life.
sample (4)
The novel ‘The Curse’ by Lee Su Ann touches on many
values that are useful in our daily
lives. As for me, I am touched with the
value of mother’s love in this novel.
Azreen’s mother is forever seen talking nonsense
since her Alzheimer’s disease was becoming worse. She was not given a name in
this novel but always referred to as ‘Mak’. Azreen felt guilty because she was
the one who was responsible for her mother to loose one of her leg. Even
though, we know that Azreen admitted leaving
the gate of the farm open but actually she was only helping Mohd Asraf
from being blamed. Due to her act, her parents met with an accident when her
father’s motorcycle hit the bull. Azreen’s mother never hated Azreen for what
had happened and she always loved
Azreen. She even told Azreen that it was not her fault that she lost her leg in
the accident. This proves that ‘Mak’ was never angry towards Azreen and she
accepts what happened to her as faith. This shows the true love that a mother
has for her child even though she is in pain.
Another incident that showed how true a mother’s
love is when Madhuri’s mother, the mad lady who strolled in the village and always watched over her daughter. Even though Madhuri was raised
by Encik Saleh and his wife from a baby,
the mad lady always kept herself close to Madhuri. She used to watch Madhuri
and Azreen when they come back from school. This shows that she still loved her
daughter even though she gave in when her baby was lost. She knew she could not
raise Madhuri in a proper way so she just kept quite when Encik Saleh took the
baby and decided to raise the child. But as a mother, she still loved Madhuri
and always sees how her daughter is living with her foster parents from far.
This is what we call mother’s love. Even if the child is not with the real
mother but she always pray for her child to lead a happy life and that is why
she took revenge against Encik Saleh who killed Madhuri.
From these two mothers, the readers are shown the
value of love that a mother has for a child. Both mothers in this novel are not
normal in certain ways but their love for their children did not fade but they
loved their daughters very much in their own
different ways.
sample (5)
sample (5)
The novel that I
choose is The Curse by Lee Su Ann. The story is about the mysterious death of
Azreen’s adopted sister, Madhuri, and how Azreen goes through everything to
find out the truth behind the death. The theme that I would like to discuss
here is gender stereotyping .
In the novel, gender
stereotyping is presented through how females should behave. This can be seen
especially through Azreen. For example, Azreen’s school friends start to give
suspicious eyes towards her when she behaves unlady-like or tomboyish.
She plays hockey with the boys and even “laughs like a bunch of hyenas”
with them. To them, as a woman, Azreen is not expected to be tomboyish and
hangs too closely with boys.
In conclusion,
Azreen’s unlady-like behaviors have created sense of discomfort among the
people around her. This is an example of how gender stereotyping is presented
in the novel.
