ONLINE TASK 2

1. Do we have a canon for Malaysian literary works? Let's say we do, who do you think are in it? Consider the fact that their works are well-known and most importantly included as part of the school syllabus- (both in BM and English)

Yes we have canons for Malaysian literary works.

1. Dato' Shahnon Ahmad
2. Kamaluddin Muhamad for Keris Mas
3. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh
4. Datuk Abdullah Hussain
5. Datuk Dr. Usman Awang
6. Datuk A. Samad Said


English Literature

• Novel (SPM) - Jungle of Hope - Kamaluddin Muhamad
• Poem (PMR) - The Dead Crow - Datuk A. Samad Said
  

Malay Literature

• Short Story - SPM - Dato' Shahnon Ahmad
• Poem - SPM - Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh

2. The poems by Erica Jong raises some feminist issues. What are they?

In Erica Jong's poems she raised some feminist issues and those are gender bias, women's rights and interest, family relationship, sex-positive issues and male dominance in love.
3. Do you think they are suitable to teach at the secondary school level? Explain.

The poems are not suitable to teach at the secondary school level because it touches on sexuality and the explicit meaning that will spoil the teenagers way of thinking and behaviours.
4. Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?

Hillary Tham's poems are more appropriate and suitable because she is used to Malaysian style of living and she is a local writer. I think the poems are suitable to teach because the issues used in the poems are mostly from Malaysia and it can attract students previous knowledge and more feminine to the students. the uses of the language are simple and easy for the students understand the messages.

5. 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?

'Humans' are toward the world of materialistic and possessive and they are not satisfied with what they have. They keep on searching for more until the end. It become universal when ones experience this situation in reality. For example, this girl who isbsearching for someone who is perfect enough to get marry but end up showing his true colour to her. Nowadays, people are not satisfied and cannot tolerate with their family relationship and end up their relationship by finding someone better (they say so) then before.  This experience can be a good teacher for the students and we as teacher should teach them on how to be grateful with what they have and dont be greedy to search for better than nothing at all.

6. From your findings about his background, tell me about the dilemma he conveys through the poem CROSS.

Langston Hughesis a mix blood. He is an African American. His mother is black and his father is white. He steps in the world of confusion after his parents demise. He felt helpless when he thought of how he will die, whether as a black or as white and unfulfilled hopes of this African American who live in a dominant white society. So, here all of his writings will be based on how he felt and foreshadow how the readers perseption and indirect meaning on his writing. Moreover, in his poem CROSS he used sarcastic words and curses for their parents because his father died in a fine house whereas his mother died in a shack. He felt that the white are being more upscale and the blacks live in poverty and bound down to earth. He realised his fault and felt sorry for what he has written.

7. I find "Dinner Guest: Me" laden with irony and sarcasm. Briefly state if you feel the same.

I think "Dinner Guest: Me" is laden with irony and sarcasm because a white invited him to a restaurant and discussed about race with him. At the same time he felt ashamed to be there and the white felt that he hold the throne to be white. At the last line he answer that the solution for this problem is to wait.

The lines in the poem which represents irony and sarcasm are:

Line 1& 2
I know I am
The Negro Problem

Line 9,10,11
Of darkness U.S.A.--
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night

Line 14
"I'm so ashamed of being white."

8. The experience in the poem Harlem is one that is true for many people. Do you agree?

Yes, of course I agree. It is because of the unequal treatment within the blacks and the whites. When the whites take dominant, blacks assume that the dominance will jeopardise their rights. So, here the marginalized group faced a lot of frustration. During the Civil War, the blacks fight for their equal rights but the whites continue prejudice against blacks. In order to segregate these blacks upon everything they do, they are forced not to use the infrastructure as the whites by indirectly show that blacks are marginalized .

9. Langston Hughes fights for the voice of his people. What is the movement called?
The New Negro Movement.