There are many instances where the theme of change is brought out in the play, encompassing factors that involved the characters, setting and plot devices – change in Emily’s character, change in the social status of Emily and the change in the physical surroundings of Emerald Hill.
The most obvious, which is highlighted in this passage is Emily’s change of character. We see Emily transform from the sweet and innocent “little lady” when she first married into the household knowing nothing of the ways in the world of Emerald Hill, to the manipulative despotic matriarch that drive her son to his grave and estranged her husband. After that, here the metamorphosis goes through another cycle and she becomes a caring, nurturing old lady who is weary from her daily battles and resolved to treat people around her with respect.
Urbanization is another way in which the theme of change is brought out. The once glorious sprawling estate that was Emerald Hill is slowly whittled away by urban renewal and by the end; Emily finds her house cornered on all sides by “block of flats” and “traffic rattling and rapping”. The encroachment of flats and roads symbolizes the wearing down of tradition, both of Emerald Hill and Perenakan culture and is starkly juxtaposed with the grand old matriarch sitting all alone in her mansion with her memories.
The process of modernization is often mentioned in the text as well. At her first Chinese New Year at the Emerald Hill, Emily played the game of tradition and modernity in order to get her sisters-in-law and her husband’s siblings to kneel down to her. Though she claimed to be “so old-fashioned”, she was ahead of her time as a young woman who has ambition and wants to have influence over more than just the kitchen. She also has plans for her Richard to be ahead of his time, taking up horse-riding and polo, enrolling him in the most prestigious local school and sending him for an overseas education in
These are some of the ways that the theme of change is emphasized in the text, making it one of the crucial foci of this fluid and multi-faceted play.
Emily is a woman bulit up by the circumstance she faces. When she is young, her mother abandoned her. This leaves a great impact on Emily's life. She knows how it feels to be thrown into the gutter. Thus,she changes. She can adapt to her environment very well. In Gan family, she is persistent and soon learns how to deal with other Nonyas. She is scheming as the environment forces her.
ReplyDeleteLater on, she changes again from controlling to a more friendly and caring mother. She realises that it is no use to be domineering. She can't decide everything for others. She can only advise. When she grows older, she recalls all the memories and she doesn't have energy to be controlling anymore. She is just a old woman living in Emerald Hill alone.
Huang Zhang Shengxi