Factors leading to the change of the way Emily deals with her children.

The main factors that prompted this change would be the deaths of Richard and her husband, Kheong.

Richard’s death was “the worst shock of [Emily’s] whole life”. In fact, she never quite recovered from it as seen from her delirious recollections of Richard’s childhood days in her old age. She never openly admits it but she is fully aware of the part that she played in his death, implicitly acknowledging that her good intentions were not conveyed in the appropriate manner.

When Kheong died, he made it very clear that he did not want to see Emily at his deathbed. It is apparent that he has had enough of her cold, matriarchal presence. When she sough comfort in “that whore”, Diana Lee, rather than fight for her man, she is more concerned with keeping up appearances and establishing her competence as his wife and mistress of Emerald Hill.

However, this compounds the case against Emily as a monstrous figure who drives people to their graves while bearing hatred against her misplaced love. These two events made her assess her and the way she deals with those closest to her. Through them, she realizes that only a change could bring warmth and her family back into her life.

In addition, the fact that Doris broke down and cried over the phone was the catalyst that made Emily pause and think before she launched into her usual manipulative diatribe against her distraught daughter, curbing herself and turns nurturing instead.