Existents In Alfian Saats Umbrella :: Alfian Saat Umbrella Papers

Existents In Alfian Saats UmbrellaIn the short story Umbrella, the author Alfian Saat relates the tale of a young Malay Singaporean secondary domesticate 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 hired by his father to divine service 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 ar conscious of the bespeak to fulfill societys notion of success. Through Hafizs eyes, we are led to see how he is trapped in this system that forces certain standards upon him but yet does not withstand him the appropriate training 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 perceives it, bu t last realizes his true identity and comes to terms with it, even though it may not be the norm. However, how does Umbrella cause such an effect 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, let us emotional state at character. Tzvetan Torodov, a French structuralist, discusses two categories of narrative. He labels them as apsychological and psychological narratives. By apsychological, Torodov means narratives that are plot come to 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 by the conversations between Hafiz and Chris and through Ha fizs thoughts. There are few characters in this story. We have the protagonist Hafiz and his tuition teacher Chris as the two main leads. Along with them are less great 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 specified 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.