Sec+4+-+Singaporean+Literature+(Mr+Adrian+Chan)





**Background Reading Resources**

Check out the critical reading resources above

**__ Websites for Singapore Literature __**

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**//Supplementary reading- No Other City - An Anthology of Singapore Urban Poetry//** **//Please attempt the following poem and discuss your responses to the questions in the discussion Forum//**

** POSTCARDS FROM CHINATOWN **

Racks of clothes along racks of clocks, as if ticking away the fashion of the eras. Fortune telling weight machine, I never stepped on one before. Durian sign sale, bicycle underneath no-bicycle sign. Rusty trishaw parked outside renovated lifts. And an old dental surgery somewhere next to an older barber in the HDB. Urn, three joss sticks burnt out sometime ago. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">That was in the background where I walked, <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">background of the closed down emporium, <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">background of the foreign worker outside <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">an unopened shophouse. Background wet market, <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">background unanswered responses to the cajoling <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">from the hawkers in the background hawker centre. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Background, backstage. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Our performance dictates a different set of scripts. Souvenir shops <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">selling Chinese hats and fake <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">pigtails stapled to the end. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Umbrellas for holding water. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Postcards of nothing that we really do. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I'll sell this as distinctly local. Our whole stage of <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">rojak culture and the embracement of strolling <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">down the street back into the tour bus. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Shiny shiny trishaws and fluorescent T-shirts peddle you around <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the incorporated country. This is Singapore, <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">ladies and gentlemen, although you don't see <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the locals anywhere. <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Terence Heng**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">(a) What impressions do you have of Chinatown after reading this poem? Refer closely to the poet’s use of language to support your answer.

(b) What is the poet’s tone and attitude in this poem? Remember to refer closely to the poem to support your answer.

(25 Marks)