Answers to 2009 Paper

1a.
In this passage, how does Catherine Lim make Karen such an unlikable character?


Candidates are expected to support the idea that Karen is an unlikable character for a passing grade. If students misread the question to read ‘likeable’ or any other similar adjective, they should not be given marks higher than 12. Candidates are expected to explain the various ways that Karen is unlikable and provide supporting evidence.

Candidates are expected to be able to argue in a cohesive and cogent manner with appropriate examples from the text itself. Candidates should not be given marks for using repeated egs in their answer.

Suggested answer:

§ Cruel:
§ Uses unkind words when referring the old woman
- Now the place is a pigsty; filth, (when referring to her room)
- Refers to her mother-in-law ‘Monster’ to her friends and talks about her unkindly behind her back.
- Makes fun of her mother-in-law - “Not to mention the continual irritation of having one’s name distorted to ‘Kay-Lan’ and hearing one’s children called ‘Ka-Ro’ and ‘Li-Ki’.”
- Enjoys the attention she gets from her friends when she gossips about her mother-in-law “They all laughed, they liked Karen’s sense of humour.”
- “In a confidential tone” – shows that she likes the attention.
- Encourages her husband to put his mother in the hospital, even though she knows how attached she is to her belongings.

§ Self-centered/Selfish:
§ Wants mother-in-law to give up her furniture for new, matching furniture.
- She did not want to give up her rooms in her “new, lovely house” to accommodate the “ stupid, sickly, stubborn old woman of seventy who kept all sorts of filth in it… was a most horrifying one”
- “Make it a study and music room for the children.”

§ Complaining:
§ Complains to husband about bugs and the smell of the mother-in-law’s room.

§ Sly:
- Manipulates her husband into thinking that she was concerned for his mother’s welfare – “glad to show her husband that it was really concern for his mother that she was making so much noise about the old rickety, bug-infested bed.”
- Pretends to be concerned when husband decides to put his mother in the hospital “Darling, is everything okay? Is mother comfortable? Which doctors are in charge of her?”
- Decides to wait for an opportune moment to tell her husband about her wish to sell the bed for a fortune
- Already planned how she was going to persuade her husband into selling his mother’s bed “ She was going to add, in as casual a tone as she could: “By the way, darling, that old bed in her room – someone tells me that I may be able to get a good price for it. A collector’s item, sort of,” but she decided that that could come later” as though she just heard about it.

§ Unloving:
§ Refers to mother-in-law as “the thorn in her side”
§ Manipulates her husband into putting his mother in a hospital so that the house would be immaculate and she would not be inconvenienced.

§ Greedy:
§ Cannot wait to sell the bed for money, even though it does not belong to her.
- That Monster, as you call it, is worth a little fortune!
- collect these old beds, do them up, and sell them as antiques to tourists. Those
Americans and Europeans tourists love these old carved things, and will open
their fat wallets for them!”

§ Vain:
§ Her perfectly manicured nails and perfectly colour-co-ordinated house.

§ Materialistic:
§ Only cares about the bed when she finds out it has monetary value.


1b.
How does Catherine Lim build up your sympathy for the old woman? Support your opinions with close reference to this passage.

Candidates may state that the old woman may feel persecuted or any other similar terms, and alone as she has no one to talk to. Candidates cannot use the word “paranoid” as there is evidence for the fact that Karen is actually trying to get her out of her house and her son seems too ‘hen-pecked’ and ineffective to help her.

§ Creates suspense and leads us to the picture of a seemingly frail woman on the bed. She seemed afraid of the family but why? This question looms big in our minds.
- Old grandmother lay on her bed, stiffening a little, suspicious of noises but seemed relieved that “the whole family had gone out for the afternoon, and there would be nobody to disturb her.”
§ She leads us to figure out the mystery by playing on our natural sympathies for the poor and aged.
§ The old woman seems defenseless
§ Lives in fear of her daughter-in-law
- Why must that daughter-in-law of hers force her to get rid of the things in her room – her table, her cupboard, her bed!
- They even want to take my things away from me and throw them away.
- overwhelming sadness so that old grandmother moaned and rocked from side to side in misery.
§ Abandoned by her sons and daughters
- My sons and daughters do not care for me
- They argue with one another about whose turn it is to take me in.
- They think I cannot understand the foreign language they speak, but I know all that they are saying
§ Sons and daughters appear to be selfish and make use of the old woman
- They do not want me because I am old and sick and cannot take care of their children anymore
- They have forgotten that I am their mother.
§ Terrified of her daughter –in-law and thinks she is killing her
- had nightmare
- she had a dream in which she saw Karen coming in with an axe and chopping the bed into pieces
- The dream was so vivid that she started crying: “Don’t do that!”
§ Knows that her son and daughter-in-law are plotting against her and she is powerless to help herself. It is pitiful as they were discussing her fate in front of her and did not consider her as a human being but as a possession they can move about at their own convenience. More than this, the old woman knows what they are talking about which makes the scene even more pitiful.
- They were talking in low whispers. They were talking in their foreign language as usual thinking she could not understand, but she could always get at the essential meaning.
- The old woman has to go to the hospital and not to “die” at home.
- She tried to say, “No, let me die here. Let me die on this bed,” but of course nobody could hear her.
§ Fought for her treasured bed and possessions, even though she was not able to say it aloud, she wanted to shout. Shows the extent of her helplessness.
- Old grandmother wanted to shout at her: “You’re going to get rid of me at last! You’re going to throw my things, my treasured bed!”
§ Catherine Lim builds up the tension of on one hand, the son and daughter-in-law disposing of the old woman and on the other, her complete helplessness at fighting for herself. In this way, she was very successful in building our sympathies for the old woman; we feel for her and emphasize with her situation.



1c
Who or what do you think is the real “Monster” in this story? Provide reasons to support your answer from this passage.

Candidates are expected to know what irony is in order to answer this question. Personal response question.

From Karen’s point of view, the Monster is the old woman’s bed. However, in retrospect, the Monster is Karen herself, as she was cruel and exploited the old woman and to a lesser extent, her husband.

The candidate can also conclude that the Monster can be something intangible, like greed as Karen saw the money that she could get from the sale of the old woman’s bed.

Accept all reasonable and well-supported answers.



Unseen Poetry [25 marks]
2a.
How would you describe the relationship between the father and son in the first half of the poem (lines 1 – 19) and the second half (lines 25 – 45)? Use evidence from the poem to support your answer.

Candidates are expected to point out the various things that the father is not able to do with his son and the two important events in his son’s life that the father misses – the son’s childhood and the ball playing lessons. Candidates are also expected to point out that the father’s preoccupation with his own life and work has resulted in this heartbreaking state of affairs. Similarly candidates are expected to point out the same for his son. It would also be useful if candidates realise the irony of the situation, especially the refrain of finding time to be together later in their lives that did not materilase.

§ Relationship is dysfunctional and emotionally separated from each other. Father is always absent even for his son’s important years – when he learns to play ball and when he was born.
§ Father is too busy/obsessed with
- But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
- And the son “ learned to walk while (he) was awayAnd he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, “
- Father has “got a lot to do” and is not able to enjoy his son’s childhood, nor teach him to “play ball”.
- Playing ball is what fathers and sons do together to bond and to enjoy being together but unfortunately the father is too busy trying to earn a living for the family (assumption) and forgot to appreciate his son who is part of the family that he is trying to support. This is ironical.
- The father thinks there will always be a time where they “ get together” although he does not “know when “ and he promised his son that they will “have a good time then”.





Second half – It is sad when we learn that the son had “grown up just like (his father); The poignant refrain “My boy was just like me” is quite heartrending.
Some of the most memorable and sad lines are the following :
- Well, he came home from college just the other daySo much like a man I just had to say”.
- “So much like a man “–the son is already a man without the father noticing that he is surprised.
- What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keysSee you later, can I have them please?"
- I'd love to, Dad, if I can find the timeYou see my new job's a hassle and kids have the fluBut it's sure nice talking to you, DadIt's been sure nice talking to you"
- The bold words are echoes of what his father had told him before.
- And as I hung up the phone it occurred to meHe'd grown up just like meMy boy was just like me
2b.
What is the significance of the repeated line “you’ll know we’ll have a good time then”?

Emphasizes the empty promises that the father makes to the sun, it strengthens the pathos in the poem, and it also reminds the reader that these promises will never come true.

2c.
The childhood nursery rhymes ‘and the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon/Little boy blue and the man on the moon’ (lines 8 – 9) seem to connect the various memories together. Why do you think the poet uses them as part of the chorus?

Possibly to tell the reader about the fleeting time of childhood/ to remind the reader that childhood is a precarious time when all things seem to be possible.
Juxtaposes the world of the adult.
To remind the father/audience that childhood is a short period in a person’s life and when it passes, there is nothing that can be done to retrieve it. Father and therefore the audience needs to treasure this period in his/our children’s lives.

2d.
What do you think is the theme or message in this poem? Why do you say so?

Personal response. Accept any reasonable answer.