Yes, of course we do have a canon for Malaysian literary works. Their works are well-known and they are included as part of the school syllabus. Below are the list:
Malay literature
1. Dato' Shahnon Ahmad : "Gelungnya Terpokah" (short story) for SPM level
2. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh: "Anak Global" (poem) for SPM level
English literature
1. Kamaluddin Muhamad (Keris Mas): "Jungle of Hope" (novel) for SPM level (Form 5)
2. Datuk A. Samad Said: "The Dead Crow" (poem) for PMR level (Form 1)
3. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh: "Si tenggang’s homecoming" (poem) for SPM level (Form 4)
The poems by Erica Jong raises some feminist issues. What are they?
There are several feminist issues raised by Erica Jong in both of her poems: “For My Husbanad” and “ The Rose”. The issues are: gender difference, sex-positive issues, gender bias, patriarchy and oppression of women, male dominance in love and family relationship, gender equality for women and women's rights and interests.
Do you think they are suitable to teach at the secondary school level? Explain.
I think that they are not suitable to be taught at the secondary school level because her works are sexually explicit and it might corrupt the young minds. However, her works are suitable for adult audiences. Erica Jong is an American woman and she has been married four times. Her works reflects her thoughts and her community’s culture. Some issues discussed in her poems and other literary works are taboo in the eastern culture. Therefore, they are not suitable for our eastern culture and her literary works cannot be taught at the secondary school level.
Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?
Hilary Tham is a local Malaysian writer. Therefore, her poems are more suitable for our eastern culture and they can be taught at the secondary school level because the use of language in her poems are more moderate and her poems often deals with common female issues. Yes, because the elements in his poems are familiar to our Malaysian students. Being Malaysians, we share almost the same background schemata. For example the poem “When Lilacs Last…for Walt Whitman”. Students can relate to it as many of the ideas are around them.
The short tale from the Native American group is about a girl who is unsatisfied with her life. How is this a universal experience? Can it teach our students anything?
This is a universal experience because human beings are never satisfied with what they have regardless of race. Arrogance, jealousy, envious etc, fuels the urge to feel unsatisfied with many things. The story is a briliant choice to be taught to our students because it is full of moral values which they can use to reflect.
More about Langston Hughes.
Langston brave, intelligent, creative and wonderful. Son of James Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie (Caroline) Mercer Langston. Lover of poetry, jazz and equality Who feels upset with racism, hates slavery, despises marginalization. Who gives hope, inspiration and realisation. Who fears slavery, lynching and exploitation. Who would like to see justice, freedom and equality for all. Who lived in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., United States Hughes
From your findings about his background, tell me about the dilemma he conveys through the poem CROSS.
This poem explores the deepest emotions and troubles of a young man born into a world of confusion. He is confused by his heritage but arrogant in his pride. He is growing up in the whirl of a white society, and cannot decide whether he is white or black. Hughes, using a black mother and white father, completely makes it easy for the reader to understand and almost foreshadow where this poem is going. It is evident that there is an inner sense of not belonging in this child. In line three through eight, it is clear that the child is sorry for all the pain he has brought on to his parents, unknowingly. He shows remorse for all the curses and bad wishes he said to his parents, now that they are dead. But this is all because of a bigger problem. Now that his parents are both dead, he has no one to turn to, to help him figure out what his is. He can’t seem to figure out whether he is going to die in riches or rags. This is the great dilemma Hughes presents to the reader and leaving the audience in query to this unanswerable question. He cannot seem to find any truth in himself whatsoever, this child is and forever will be lost in his own identity. Hughes uses this boy’s struggles symbolically, not to show the pressures of a “crossed” child but rather to show how we as a society stereotype the races. The white father dying in a fine house whereas the mother dies in a shack, depicts the common view of the white race as being a more upscale and richer society and the black culture oppressed in poverty and forever bound to the slums of the world.
I find "Dinner Guest: Me" laden with irony and sarcasm. Briefly state if you feel the same.
Dinner Guest: Me" by Langston Hughes is full of irony and sarcasm because of the following lines:-
Stanza 1, Line 1 & 2
I know I am
The Negro Problem
Stanza 1, Line 9, 10 & 11
Of darkness U.S.A.--
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Stanza 1, Line 14
"I'm so ashamed of being white." I personally think that this poem is about Langston Hughes being invited to a fancy restaurant by a white person and the two of them were discussing race. You can tell by the way he says 'Asked the usual questions' and how the white person is embarrassed to be white. A black person in a fancy restaurant was a big deal back in those days. Not only do they have to wait for service in the restaurant but their discussion is about the answer to race relations and in the end of the poem he says; the answer to the problem is to wait.
The experience in the poem Harlem is one that is true for many people. Do you agree?
I agree that the experience in Harlem is true for many people, Racism has caused a lot of people frustration and anger. This could disrupt the harmony and peace in a community and subsequently would cause a country to collapse if no action is discussed and done fairly to all.
Langston Hughes fights for the voice of his people. What is the movement called?
New Negro Movement
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