This short story "No Visitors Allowed" by John Machado is listed under the theme of 'The perceptions of children in the multi-cultural environment'. In John Machado's stories, the part played by memory is all- important. There is a wish to retrace one's steps to look back at the child one was, to assess without sentimentality where the meaning lay.

This story recounts emotionally the stages in the dying of the father of a household. The 17-year old narrator's scrupulous attention to the wild cat outside his house which he wants to shoot, and to life in the rubber estate where he briefly worked, serve as a mask for the confusing emotions regarding his father's impending death. Machado here, letting the details of actions totally unconnected with the father's dying become the vehicle of emotion. But as death approaches like the night, Machado skilfully allows his narrator nostalgic memories of past incidents in which father and son enjoyed each other's company. 

THEMES

Filial Piety

Sub themes

 ü  Love between father and child

 ü  Responsibility of a son

SETTINGS

·         Place

1.      government quarters (pg180)

2.      hospital ward

3.      estate (the monkey died)

4.      school (mother’s working place)

·         Time

1.      Day and night weekly

2.      During pre-independence era

·         Community

1.      Educated community

2.      Loving community

3.      Responsible community

4.      Community where family is the priority

MAIN EVENTS

        i.            Machado visits his parents in the hospital. Father tells him that he has a slight pain in his chest and also feels a little dizzy.

      ii.            Back home, he read “Bonjour Tristesse”. He thought that he would get the tom cat that night. He thought of the greenhouse first, then the green eyes. He also thought about the old man who owns an estate, countless rocks and an oversized bull frog in his museum.

    iii.            The next morning, Mother calls and tells that Father is unconscious. Machado didn’t believe it. Father was just asleep.

    iv.            Machado shot a monkey at midnight then asked his mother if she heard anything last night. He was also looking forward to spend some time with his dad.

      v.            Machado finds out his father has aortic stenosis from his father’s old friend.

    vi.            Later after Christmas, Machado’s dad passes away.

CHARACTERISATION

CHARACTER	CHARACTERISTICS AND TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
Narrator	·         Loves his father. He is always caring for his dad like how he rushed to the hospital when he found out his dad is sent there ·         Never gives up on his father. He visits his father every day without fail ·         Responsible. He helps his father in the hospital like aiding him to pee ·         Brave. ·         Observant. ·         Impulsive. He shot the monkey at midnight for no particular reason ·         Optimistic. ·         Smart.
Father (in the hospital, has aortic stenosis)	·         Sickly. He is diagnosed with aortic stenosis, needs a breathing machine to helps him breathe.   ·         Secretive. ·         Optimistic. He is always convincing his son that he feels better and he tries to be at his best even though it is hard. (pg 192)
Mother	·         Always worried. She refused to go back and wants to stay by her husband’s side. She finally give in and went back after being cajoled by narrator. ·         Caring. She stops teaching to aid and accompany her husband and gives calls to her son to update him about the Father’s condition ·         Religious. She wants to call the priest to pray for her husband’s health.

At Tea - Thomas Hardy

The kettle descants in a cosy drone,
And the young wife looks in her husband's face,
And then at her guest's, and shows in her own
Her sense that she fills an envied place;
And the visiting lady is all abloom,
And says there was never so sweet a room.

And the happy young housewife does not know
That the woman beside her was first his choice,
Till the fates ordained it could not be so....
Betraying nothing in look or voice
The guest sits smiling and sips her tea,
And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.

MEANING OF DIFFICULT WORDS

1.      Descants – a melody or counterpoint accompanying a simple musical theme and usually written above it / a song or melody.

2.      Drone – to make a dull, continued, low, monotonous sound; hum; buzz.

3.      Ordained – to destine or predestine / to enact or establish by law, edict / to decree; give orders for

POETIC/LITERARY DEVICES

This poem, in fact, is the equivalent of “flash fiction.” The poet quickly sets the scene, identifies the players and wastes no time in telling the observer what exactly is going on. Like each little poem in his “Satires” series, the rhyming scheme is ABABCC (alternate lines in the first four rhyme; last two of lines five and six rhyme).

Diciton: –

“And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.” Using the verb “throws” figuratively, the poet shows the desperation of the husband and just how fates have wrecked the husband’s true happiness as he yearns for another. The husband obviously would prefer to throw himself at the guest. 

Figures of speech

1.      Metaphors –

·         “The kettle descants in a cosy drone” The kettle is a metaphor for a musical instrument that plays above the main melody.

2.      Personification –

·         “Till the fates ordained it could not be so…”  An example of personification, the “fates” treated the poor guy badly and he was destined to marry another and doomed to pretend nothing was amiss.

3.      Hyperbole –

·         “And the visiting lady is all abloom” She is as a flower. The poem clearly conveys the idea of her being animated and beautiful from the single word “abloom.”

STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS

Stanza 1:

The poet starts the poem by describing the background/atmosphere of the surrounding. The kettle as if a musical instrument, gives out a melodic tune. The host, the young wife, looks at her husband and her guest’s face, to make sure she had done a good job by serving tea. She is satisfied with her work. The guest, a lady, is said to be “abloom” which could meant that the visiting lady is joyful or content and she gives out a comment saying the room is well furnished and it is very sweet.

Stanza 2:

As the poem unravels, Hardy tells us that there is a secret between the trios. The young wife is oblivious to the fact that her husband used to want the lady guest. Or still wants her, we are not sure about it. The woman is said to be his first choice until there is a twist of fate. The guest pretends that nothing had happened between herself and the husband by controlling her look and voice around the lady of the house. The last line, “And he throws her a stray glance yearningly”, tells us that maybe the husband still wants the lady guest after all by giving her looks.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

This is an interesting story describing a situation that might happen to anyone at anywhere. The poem started with a warm and cosy setting with the kettle as a musical instrument at the background. The young housewife is said to be serving her visiting guest with tea with her husband present as well. The housewife is contented with her effort and feels like she just brightened up the place or lifted the atmosphere. The housewife also feels that people will envy her because people would want to be in her place. There is no hint of sadness or secretive motives by any of the character in the story. We are led by the thought of the peace during tea among the characters.

The visiting lady guest was all bubbly and joyful, exclaims that she has never seen such a room so sweet, or well furnished. We can say that she is full of praise or thanking the couple for inviting her for tea. Then the secret lurks in between the peaceful tea time. The poet tells us that the young wife does not know that the visiting lady was her husband first choice. The first choice here can be referred to first love or the first lady that catches the husband’s eyes and he wants to marry her. An uneventful turnout that fate isn’t on their side and the husband marries the current wife. The enjambment at line 9, “till the fates ordained it could not be so…” hints that the husband still has the feelings for the visiting lady that could not be his or there is a sense of regret in him.

The visiting lady who knows about the husband’s feeling towards her, acts as if she didn’t know about it and hides her emotions well. She pretends that they never had any history and this I think angers the man. He throws her a yearning glance. The diction used here shows the desperation of the husband and just how fates have wrecked the husband’s true happiness as he yearns for another. The husband obviously would prefer to throw himself at the guest. 

READING MATERIAL

“At Tea,” by Thomas Hardy is the first in his Fifteen Glimpses” where the author has a bit of fun by poking fun at human nature. In two 6-line stanzas,  Hardy sets the scene of a sad, but secret, love triangle wrapped around a happy young wife, her female guest for tea, and her husband.

The scene is set as a tea kettle “descants in a cosy drone.” The tea kettle is somewhat of “background music” in what will become a dialog-free peroration of not so much “if looks could kill,” but rather “if they could but read each other’s mind.” For example, in line two, “…the young wife looks in her husband’s face/…and shows in her own/her sense that she fills an envied place.” In a sort of cameo close-up, the reader knows right away that the hostess has done well.

The guest (a visiting lady friend) “is all abloom,” and in the only reference to conversation in the poem, “…says there was never so sweet a room.”  So the young wife thinks that all is well, but “…does not know/That the woman beside her was his (hubby’s) first choice.” Poor guy, “…the fates ordained it could not be so…”  But the guest, the woman the husband covets, “sits smiling and sips her tea,/And he throws her a stray glance yearningly.”

If “At Tea” were a modern soap opera, a good point to “flash back” might be number four in Hardy’s satires, “In the Room of the Bride-Elect.” The short poem in the same sad and satirical style of “At Tea” could well be about the guest, who was the subject of the husband’s sad yearning.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.helium.com/items/2121552-poetry-analysis-at-tea-by-thomas-hardy

http://www.bachlund.org/At_Tea.htm

920/1 Poetry and Short Stories STPM 2013

This question paper is set by MALAYSIAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL (also known as MPM). Comments are much appreciated. 

SECTION A : Critical Appreciation

(25 marks)

Answer only one question from this section.

 1     

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

 Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,

Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.

They do not fear the men beneath the tree;

They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.

Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool

Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.

The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band

Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.

When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie

Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.

The tigers in the panel that she made

Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

Adrienne Rich

With close reference to the poem above, discuss how the poet uses symbolism and imagery to depict women and their position in society.

As I have posted before http://literatureforstpm.blogspot.com/search/label/Aunt%20Jennifer%27s%20Tiger contains notes and references you can relate to when you answer this question. 

Or

2                

SHORT STORIES: Malaysian Short Stories

"I'm thinking of stopping my son", she shouted above the noise of the tap. [page 142]

...

It was midday when she hung to dry the last handkerchief. The newly surfaced road that had looked so cool an hour before now scorched her bare feet. She regretted her vow to walk barefoot for the rest of her life. She remembered how she had thrown herself on the coffin and shrieked, "I'll wear no slippers! No other man will wear me! No other man!" [page 143]

K.S. Maniam: The Dream of Vasantha

With close reference to the passage, discuss the emotions felt by Vasantha and what these emotions reveal of her personality? 

Version of book used is Malaysian Short Story, edited by Llyod Fernando, publised 2005 by Maya Press Sdn. Bhd.

SECTION B : Poems

(25 marks)

(For this section you must base your answer on the prescribed poems in the syllabus)
Answer the question below.

3 With close reference to any two poems, illustrate how irony is used to comment on life and relationships.

There are numerous ageing themed poems that can be used to answer this question such as When You Are Old, On Growing Old and Sonnet 73. Link for When You Are Old; http://literatureforstpm.blogspot.com/2013/05/on-growing-old-john-masefield.html

SECTION C : Short Stories: Malaysian Short Stories

(25 marks)

(For this section you must base your answer on the prescribed short stories in the syllabus)
Answer the question below.

3 With close reference to any two short stories in Malaysian Short Stories, discuss issues relating to the themes of multiculturalism. 

Most popular choice of two short stories are Pasang by Pretam Kaur [ http://literatureforstpm.blogspot.com/search/label/Pasang ] and Through The Wall also by Pretam Kaur.

© Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia 2012