Written assignment (30%)

(2) A theme is abroad idea, message or moral of a story. The message

maybe about life, society or human nature. Themes often exlore timeless
and uni!ersal ideas and are almost al"ays imlied rather than stated
exlicitly. Therefore you must figure out the theme yourself. #hoose one
short story and "rite on one theme "hich you can extract from the
characters, action and setting that ma$e u the story.
%
&hort story' (ugis by Alfian &aat.
)eferring to the *xfort Ad!anced +earner ,ictionary, rentious means trying to
aear imortant, intelligent, etc. in order to imress other eole- trying to be
something that you are not, in order to imress. This story is mainly about retending
issue in each character. The main character is &almah. &he is "earing a tudung after
she sa" a guy named &a.alie at one lace. /n this story "e $ne" that &almah only
"earing tudung anytime as her "ish and she assumed it as her toy. 0er best friend, the
narrator also retends for being a good friend to her. &he doesn1t li$e most of
&almah1s beha!ior. The narrator also feels 2ealous because she also fall in lo!e "ith
salmah1s boyfriend, &a.alie. The narrator also feels that &almah is only retending to
be a good girl by "earing a tudung. /n fact, before this, she only "ears it once in a
"hile. (ut no", in order to get &a.alie1s intension, she "ears a tudung and ne!er too$
it off until no" but, she is still holding hands "ith a man "ho is not a muhrim "hich
is not allo"ed in /slam and !ery not roer for the girl in hi2ab.
This story too$ lace in (ugis street some"here in &ingaore. This is a oular lace
among tourists and also the locals. /t is the best lace to hang out and shoing.. The
"riter de!elos each character "ith their o"n style and ma$es this story more
interesting and easy to understand.
2
As "e $no", the theme of the story is mainly about retending. All the characters in
this story illustrate the retentious of their o"n. 3irst of all, let us loo$ at &almah1s
character. (efore she met &a.alie, he ne!er used to "ear tudung. &he only tied her
hair at the bac$ "ith the scrungee or sometimes she 2ust ta$e it off and "ear it at her
"rist as a bracelet. &he only "ears tudung to loo$ li$e a good girl or religious one. /n
fact, she is still holding her boyfriend1s hand. &almah also retend to be a girl "ho is
"ell mannered and shy. (ut the exact nature of &alamah is he actually a fierce and
rough. We can see this in this 4uote 5...but I have seen them fight before. Salmah is
terrible when they fight. She will make her blackest face, and turn it away from
Sazalie. Her lips will poutI have tried talking to Salmah about it, but she will
always ask me back, why you so kaypoh If I want to have a boyfriend, or ten
boyfriends, it!s my own business.! "his coming from a girl who wears a tudung to
school.
&almah also retend to be a best friend to the narrator. &ince the narrator assumed her
as her bestfriend and rotected her from the boys "ho laying the s$ateboard at the
!oid dec$ 56i had princess to safe#uard. I also left my house behind me, to walked
Salmah al the way to her home.$ (ut &almah sabotage her "hen the narrator as$ed
her a fa!our for not telling anyone about the trans!estites "ho claimed that her face
assembled to 7alaysian singer, 8iana 8ain. This is the climax of this story "hen
3
&almah "as about to tell sa.alie about the story. &almah should not re!eal the story
"hen her friend had as$ed her for not telling anyone. &almah also retend to be li$e
good child to her mother in her hi2ab. /n fact, she only "ants to gain trust from her
mother. /n addition, &almah 2ust "anted to sho" her innocent to her arents and
eole because in 7uslims, girls "ith hi2ab should ha!e a nice attitudes and don1t do
anything rohibited by the religion. We can see this in 56they %ust care about looking
like good girl and kissing their mother!s hand at the front door and winning their
mother trustI!ve seen Salmah do it,...$
/n this issue, "e $no" that &almah is not sincere in "earing hi2ab. she "as 2ust
ma$ing fun of the tenets of religion. &he should follo" surah Annur ayat 31 And
tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things),
and protect their private parts (from illegal seual acts, etc!) and not to show off
their adornment ecept only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one
eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head"
cover, apron, etc!), and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i!e! their bodies,
faces, necks and bosoms, etc!) and not to reveal their adornment ecept to their
husbands, their fathers, their husband#s fathers, their sons, their husband#s sons,
their brothers or their brother#s sons, or their sister#s sons, or their ($uslim)
women (i!e! their sisters in %slam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands
possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no
sense of the shame of se! And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what
9
they hide of their adornment! And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, &
believers, that you may be successful!'
The narrator itself also sho"s many retentious actions. When the narrator and
&almah "ere in the 7)T, the narrator retends to fan herself "ith the ne"s aer but
actually she "anted to sho" &almah that it is !ery hot "earing a tudung in this
afternoon.:6I do it not because it is hot, but because I want to ask Salmah if she is
not hot wearing her tudung in the afternoon like this...$
The narrator also retends to be a fierce erson "hen she and &almah met the boy at
the !oid dec$. &he retends to be li$e that 2ust to ma$e the boys afraid of them.
Although no" they are friends "ith the boys, but she is still maintains her fierce
image. &he e!en more fiercely than before but in fact she is not li$e that. &he 2ust acts
li$e that to conceal his fear. 56sometimes I think, that wasn!t even the real me& when
I spoke loudly on that day, my heart was actually beating very fast. I was trembling
but words still came out...$
'(o lah, kak,! I tell the lady. "his is crazy. I think. I!m actually calling her kakI
wouldn!t want a sister like that...$ this 4uote sho"s that the narrator retend to be nice
and resect to the trans!estites. (ut dee inside her, she ne!er "anted a sister li$e
5her:. 3urthermore, the narrator retends that she didn1t $no" the lady in front her is
actually a man. 56I take a look at her )dam!s apple. "he *alay lady is a man...$
;
The narrator itself $ee tal$ing about her best friend is retending to be a nice girl but
she didn1t reali.e that she is also retending. &he is a best friend of &almah but against
of that, she doesn1t li$e &almah and she is also fallen in lo!e "ith &almah1s boyfriend
e!er since the first day they met in the !oid dec$. 56I want to tell him that ever since
that first day I saw him in the void deck I could never stop thinking about him$
/n terms of retending issue, the trans!estite1s character "as the most significant in
this story. The lady in 7)T is ob!iously a man. 56I take a look at her )dam!s apple.
"he *alay lady is a man...$ but he dresses and act li$e a "oman. <!en he is "earing
"oman1s accessory and also uts breast imlants, but "ith the rough s$in and broad
face, ho" can he ma$e eole belie!e that he is a gorgeous lady=
/n 7)T, the (angladeshi men also retend to be a good erson. They retend that
they did not see the trans!estite and if they "ere in their o"n country, they surely "ill
ma$e "olf>"histle to"ards the trans!estite or teasing her "ith some dirty 2o$es.
The (ugis &treet itself also did not sho" the real lace li$e before. /t means that, the
retentious is not only related "ith the characters but also in setting of this story.
?o"adays (ugis street is $no"n as a lace for the eole to hang out and shoing.
There are hundreds of small stores and sells all $inds of goods. The goods are of
a!erage 4uality at !ery good rices. &o no "onder many eole called it as a young
erson1s aradise.
@
(ugis street before is full of trans!estites. They dressed li$e a sexy "omen and
flirting around "ith the #aucasian sailors. They also do the stritease sho". The
situation "as cro"ded and full of "olf A"histle sound.
3rom this story "e $ne" that retentious means "hen someone in acting or
retending. 7aybe the erson is doing it on a urose to get something. <!erybody
sure "ill retend once in "hile due to the situation. The "riter has being sarcastic as it
can be seen throughout most of the aragrah. 0e "rote about "hat 7alay didn1t
notice all these retentious action to"ards our en!ironment. 3or examle, &almah1s
character "ho is retend to be li$es a good girl behind her hi2ab. As for me, the girl
"ho "earing a tudung or hi2ab doesn1t mean that she is a good erson. (ut, the good
erson should "ear a tudung in the contextual of /slam.
B
)eferences'
htt'CCtheonly4uran.com
htt'CCboo$s.google.com.myCboo$sCaboutC#orridor.html
Wan )oselee.am Wan Dahya (200E) ?e" +iterature in <nglish. FG7 &erdang
&elangor.
htt'CCen."i$iedia.orgC"i$iC(ugisH&treet
htt'CCms."i$iedia.orgC"i$iCGondan
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