Existents In Alfian Saats Umbrella :: Alfian Saat Umbrella Papers

Existents In Alfian Saats umbrellaIn the short tarradiddle Umbrella, the author Alfian Saat relates the tale of a young Malay Singaporean siemensary school student, Hafiz. Alfian uses an older Hafiz as the narrator who recounts his experiences retaking his O levels for the second time. Hafiz tells us about his relationship with Chris, a tuition teacher employ by his father to help him pass his examinations.I feel that Umbrella is essentially a story about the imposition of certain norms and standards on members of society. It tells us how students atomic number 18 conscious of the need to fulfill societys notion of success. finished Hafizs eyes, we are led to take to how he is trapped in this constitution that forces certain standards upon him but yet does not give him the appropriate develop and skills to reach the standards. Thus, Hafiz is unable to fit into the identity that he is pressured to accept. We also see how Hafiz himself desires to achieve success as society perc eives it, but finally realizes his consecutive identity and comes to terms with it, even though it may not be the norm. However, how does Umbrella cause such(prenominal) an consummation on the reader? What tools are being utilized in the narrative that can invoke such feelings? I believe that the author uses what Seymour Chatman calls existents to bring out such an effect on readers. Thus, in this essay we will seek to discover how existents, namely character and setting, are employed to draw out such an effect.Firstly, permit us look at character. Tzvetan Torodov, a French structuralist, discusses 2 categories of narrative. He labels them as apsychological and psychological narratives. By apsychological, Torodov means narratives that are secret plan center on and by psychological, character centered (Chatman 113). Readers can discern that Umbrella is essentially psychological in nature. Most of the story takes place in Hafizs room and is generally presented through the conver sations between Hafiz and Chris and through Hafizs thoughts. There are some characters in this story. We have the protagonist Hafiz and his tuition teacher Chris as the two main leads. Along with them are less important characters such as Hafizs parents and a certain maths relief teacher. Chatman emphasizes that characters are important to a narrative and they should not be treated as mere plot functions (119). As such, these characters must play a crucial role in bringing out the effect of the narrative, and we will seek to decipher how this is done.