Monday, August 31, 2009

THE NECKLACE. Choose one male character that you like from one of the short stories that you have read


Based on the short story ‘ The Necklace ’ written by Guy de Maupassant , the male character that I like is Monsieur Loiser.

I like Monsieur Loiser because he is a resourceful man. When his wife asks for a piece of exclusive jewellery , he thinks of a solution to replace the dear jewellery with natural flowers. He is a quick-thinker in handling the problem.

Apart from that, Monsieur Loiser is also willing to sacrifice for the sake of his wife. He is willing to give up his own pleasure to satisfy his wife. He tolerates with his wife’s whims and wants. He gives the money which he had saved to buy himself a gun to his wife so that she could buy herself a gown for the ball.

Furthermore, the patient characteristic of Monsieur Loiser makes me admire him the most. He treats his wife patiently thought sometimes Mathilde asks for things that he could not afford. Besides, when Mathide is dancing gracefully and enjoying in the ball, Monsieur Loisel waits for his wife patiently in the anteroom with three other gentlemen.

In a nutshell, Monsieur Loisel is a resourceful, willing to sacrifice and patient person. His good characteristics attract my interest to read the short story til the end.

4C Low Zhi Liang/Chee Xin Ying/Evon Chin/Nur Liyana/Chong Xin jie

Thursday, August 27, 2009

THE DROVER’S WIFE.Love is important in a family. How is this shown in the story you have read?


Love is important in a family.This is shown in the short story I have read which is "The Drover's Wife".Tommy,the eldest son tries to hit the snake with a club bigger than himself.The snake darts into the woodshed and creeps under the house.

As the mother loves her son,she rushes out from the kitchen and stops Tommy.She makes the chidren stand together near the dog-house while she looks out for the snake.

At sunset and with the thunderstorm coming,she took the children into the kitchen instead of the house.She was afraid that the snake might come out through the cracks in the slab floor in the night.This shows how a mother's love for her children requires her to protect them.

She gives the chidren supper and tooks the pillow and bedcloths from the house.Then she makes a bed for them on the kitchen table.This is for her children's safety.The children are fast asleep while she sits in a chair by the bed with a club by her side,sewing and reading.She brings the dog into the kitchen.This shows that the mother is caring and being protective for her children.

When Tommy sees the tears in his mother's eyes,he hugs and promises her that he will never go droving as his father,the drover and leaves her behind.This shows that Tommy is a loving and sensitive son.

In this story,the mother's love and care is seen in how she deal with the snake.She is willing to face all kinds of difficulties and challenges in order to protect her children and family.This is because she loves her children and family very much.

THE NECKLACE From the short story you have read, describe the changes that a character faces.Use evidence from the text to support your answer


Changes, either for the better or for the worse, sure are inevitable in our lives. We all certainly have experienced them, and sometimes we glory at them, whilst other times we remain unfazed or devastated upon seeing the results. Now, based on the short story ‘The Necklace’ by Guy de Maupassant, I would like to describe the tormenting but teachable changes experienced by the character Mathide Loisel.
In the beginning of the story, Mathide was a very charming and young married woman, who insisted that with her attractive attributes, she could have been wedded to a man who had higher status and her husband, Loisel. She was a perfect victim of vanity and was never contented with her life, often thinking that she deserved fine gowns and delicacies of the lavish lifestyle. Nevertheless, Loisel, the all-too-caring husband tolerated her grumbles and did all his best to provide his wife the best of possibles. One day, Loisel came home after work, with an invitation to the ball held in the Ministry of Public Instruction. The guest invited were all strictly selected and Loisel, a mere clerk in the ministry had gone through loads of troubles in order to acquire the invitation. He showed the invitation to Mathide, thinking that she would be thrilled and delighted. Instead, Mathide started to cry and lamented that she did not have a nice-enough gown to be presentable and told Loisel to give the invitation card to somebody’s wife who was ‘better equipped’ than her. Knowing his own priority, Loisel gave four-hundred francs to his wife and thus allowing her to get herself a gown that she fancied. The money was actually saved up to buy a gun for a hunting trip.
After getting the gown that she desired, Mathilde was caught in happiness, but the delight did not last for even half a day. Mathilde began to complain that she did not have a nice necklace to go with her pretty gown. Now that Loisel’s money was quite used up, he came up with an idea- Mathide would wear natural flowers as a necklace, to fill her vain desire. Then Mathide began to lament again. She told Loisel that with the flower-necklace, with a look at her, people would know that she was poor. Amidst endless lamentations provided by his wife, Loisel came up with another idea- Mathilde would go to her former classmate, Madame Forestier who was filthy rich and had her house filled with jewelleries, so that Mathilde could borrow a necklace from her, which of course she did.
Mathilde’s first change in her life was when she became a great success at the ball. Being born in a poor community and married to a little clerk, that was probably the very first time she ever indulged in luxurious delicacies. She was sought to be introduced and invited to dance every dance whilst Loisel waited and fell asleep in another room along with another couple of gentlemen. That was the proudest and happiest moment of her life and she was described to be ‘intoxicated with pleasure’. Then at dawn, Mathilde finally went to the room where Loisel had fallen asleep and they prepare to leave the Ministry of Public Instructions. Loisel threw some wraps over his wife’s shoulder for fear that she would be too fragile to catch a cold, but instead of showing appropriate gratitude, Mathilde shook free of the wraps and ran down the stairs as fast as she could, being afraid that others might see this and then gossip. They took a cab at a place quite a distance from the ministry to get home, and when they got home, it was then Mathilde realized something bad had happened- she had lost the necklace. That was also when she experienced her second change, which arrived after her night of glory, or rather known as the classic ‘fall after pride’.
Having literally no choices left, Loisel had to retrace the path they took while returning home while Mathilde did nothing but cried amid maddening fear. Loisel did everything he could think of doing, including publishing an advertisement in the newspapers, mentioning the lost of the valuable necklace and offered a reward for whoever capable of bringing it back. Heeding Loisel’s advice, Mathilde told Madame Forestier that the clasp of the necklace was broken and she needed time to have it mended in order to stall the return of the jewellery she had borrowed. After time had passed, Loisel knew that they had to return the necklace immediately, he borrowed some money and used up the assets his father had left him in order to purchase another necklace, very similar to the one Mathilde had borrowed from Madame Forestier. This left the Loisel couple heavy debts to be cleared for the rest of their lives, which was the third and most torturing change in Mathilde’s life, which resulted in her sudden turn into a more-mature woman.
Loisel took up three jobs in order to clear the debts and the couple had sold their house and shifted into a garret. Mathilde was no longer curled up in her castles in the air, thinking that she would become rich and pretty one day. Instead, she had bore her responsibilities with ‘sudden heroism’. She worked and became old-looking and haggard and talked loud whilst doing her chores. One day, while taking a walk in the beautiful park which was also a tourist spot, Champs Elysees, Mathilde ran into her old friend, Madame Forestier. She greeted Madame Forestier almost gloomily, and the rich woman was taken aback upon being acknowledged in a way which sounded so friendly. When she learnt that the haggard-looking woman was actually Mathilde and the Loisel’s sufferings for a decade, she exclaimed in shock and we learnt that the necklace was actually paste. It was clad in thick irony and of course, this struck Mathilde like a bolt of lightning like it would have hit anyone.
The three major changes which resulted in the joys and tears of Mathilde was amongst the factors that added to the reason on why this story is rather interesting. Like the message which seemed to have been delivered by the topic, changes are inevitable, and so as we grow older and older, we should learn to accept them with open hearts and deal with the problems faced afterwards.

"THE NECKLACE""Honesty is the best policy". Which story teaches you this value? Explain by using evidence from text to support your answer.


The story that I have read is "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant. Honesty is the best policy. In this short story, I have learnt about the importance of honesty.

The main character, Mathilde was very materialistic and yearned for luxuries. In order to show her wealth, she had borrowed a superb diamond necklace from her former classmate, Madame Forestier to attend a ball. After the ball, Mathilde discovered that she had lost the diamond necklace. Her husband, Loisel went on foot to retrace the entire route to search for it. Unfortunately, he returned home without finding anything. In this condition, Mathilde did not inform Madame Forestier that she had lost the necklace. However, she lied to her friend explaining that she needed time to mend the clasp of the necklace. This really showed that Mathilde did not potray any honesty.

In the short story, Loisel was another character who displaced dishonesty. When he knew that Mathilde had lost the necklace, he did not even want to tell the truth to Madame Forestier. He asked her wife, Mathilde to write to Madame Forestier and tell her that Mathilde needed some time to mend the clasp of the necklace.

Futhermore, though Madame Forestier did not literally lie, she displaced dishonesty by trying to cover up the fact that the necklace was paste. She did not tell Mathilde that the diamond necklace was paste and it was only worth five hundred Francs. If Madame Forestier had told Mathilde the truth earlier, Mathilde and Loisel would not suffer such hardship to earn money for returning the "paste" diamond necklace.

In conclusion, the characters in this story, Mathilde, Loisel and Madame Forestier had delivered the message containing the importance of honesty through their dishonesty. The lesson to be learnt is always be honest, because lies are capable of leading to another and eventually - endless disasters.


By: 4D 2009 May Ling, Jiun Kai, Ser Min, Amirul, Lydia.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

'THE NECKLACE'What are the themes of the story you have read? Support your answer by giving evidence from the text.


Based on the short story 'The Necklace' which is written by Guy de Maupassant, the main theme is pride before fall.

Mathilde Loisel, the main character in 'The Necklace' starts off by being a very proud person who thinks she is 'pretty and charming' and born 'by a slip of fate into a family of clerks'. Thus, she is distressed by her poverty, feeling herself born to enjoy 'all delicacies and all luxuries' in life.
Besides, she has pretensions about her position in life. She wants an expensive dress and jewelleries to go to the ball. She throws a tantrum and laments to her husband. When choosing jewellery from Madame Forestier's collections, she must have the best. Her heart throbs with 'an immoderate desire' when she sees the 'superb diamond necklace'.

Moreover, she is a great success at the ball. She is prettier than any other woman present and everyone wants to dance with her. She is so pretentious that she refuses to wait for a cab outside the Ministry for fear others may see the ' cheap looking wraps' which her husband has thrown over her shoulders.

Furthermore, her fall comes when she loses the necklace and has to work very hard for ten years to pay the debt. She changes from a proud person to a humble one. She no longer looks beautiful. She has learnt her lesson and no longer desires materialistic things nor finds fault with her husband. She accepts the 'horrible existence of the needy' and she willing to do all the hard work and learns to be thrifty, defending her miserable money, sou by sou.

Next, she falls really hard when her friend , Madame Forestier, informs her that her necklace is 'paste'. Imagine her horror and great despair at having slogged all those years for nothing. It is too high a price to pay for one night of success.

Prepared by:
4D 2009 Group 4
Chang Jia Ke/Nurul Aisyah Bt Shukor/Pavitira /Amalin Sabiha Binti Ismail

Monday, August 17, 2009

LIERATURE COMPONENT : THE DROVER'S WIFE


THE DROVER’S WIFE


Write about the female character that you like.


Based on the short story ‘The Drover’s Wife’written by Henry Lawson,the female character that we admired the most was the drover’s wife.
One of the characteristics that could be found in this story was being independent.This was proven when she was able to live in the harsh bush land,taking care of her four children while waiting for her husband to come home.
Besides that,she was very protective towards her children.For example,she didi not allow her eldest son to help her to kill children.She rather syayed up all night waiting for the snake to appear so that she could kill it.
Apart from that,she quickly ‘dashes from the kitchen,snatches her baby from the ground’when Tommy informed her that there was a snake.This emphasized that she was quick in action.
In a nutshell,we learnt that a mother should always protect her children from any unexpected danger.

From group 1 (4C): Cabita/ Nur Awatif Fatini/ Nur Amira Amiza/ Anasuha/ Ong Ching Yao

Mengejar Raudhah

Teringat kembali kisah mencari Raudhah. Subhanallah-walhamdulillah-waalaailahailallahu-Allahu akbar, Allah SWT beri kami kemudahan untuk ke Raudhah karena begitu banyak orang menceritakan tentang peluang untuk dapat masuk ke Raudhah yang tipis. Ada yang mengatakan tidak dapat ke Raudhah langsung, tetapi ada juga yang memberi panduan supaya terus menunggu sehingga pintu ke Raudhah dibuka.

Raudhah adalah ruang diantara mimbar Rasulullah SAW dan Kamar/Makam Rasulullah SAW. Keutamaan Raudhah sebagaimana tersebut dalam sebuah hadits yang di riwayatkan oleh Abu Hurairah RA, bahwa Rasulullah SAW bersabda, “Diantara rumah dan mimbarku adalah taman dari taman-taman surga, dan mimbarku diatas telagaku”. Sehingga banyak orang yang rela berdesak-desakan untuk dapat masuk ke Raudhah terutama bagi wanita.

Raudhah ini terletak di tempat solat lelaki, manakala untuk wanita waktu ziarahnya sedikit terhad, biasanya untuk ke Raudhah waktu-waktu untuk wanita adalah setelah solat shubuh - sekitar pukul 08.00 pagi hingga pukul 11.00 dan setelah solat Zuhur iaitu pukul 13.00 hingga 14.00.

Antara perkara yang tidak diketahui tentang tips untuk menjadi istimewa di Raudhah ialah pakaian serba hitam. Istimewa di sini bermaksud mendapat peluang untuk solat di saf pertama di dalam Raudhah. Saf pertama ini istimewa kerana kedudukannya yang paling hampir dengan makam Rasulullah s.a.w, dan ia istimewa kerana kurang gangguan di segi pergerakan manusia yang pelbagai ragam. Jika di saf yang belakang, kemungkinan kepala dipijak ketika sujud mahupun ditolak ketika ruku'. Di saf pertama lebih tenang dan berfokus. "Berdoa ketika sujud", pesan Hajah Jamilah.

Pernah sekali saya ke Raudhah tanpa panduan sesiapa, sebagai ujian untuk diri sendiri.Mampukah aku berlumba dengan jemaah yang lain? Tekad hanya satu, Ya Allah, berilah peluang hambamu mendapat tempat paling istimewa di Raudhah Ya Allah. Setelah mempersiapkan diri yang berpakaian serba hitam, saya menunggu di salah satu daripada 3 pintu Raudhah. Pintu yang mana dibuka dahulu tidak dapat dipastikan, namun hati sentiasa berdoa, ".Ya Allah, berilah peluang hambamu beribadat di saf pertama Raudhah ini Ya Allah".