Presented by: Ling Yee Kiong, Nixon Lasa King and Tan Jiao Qi

The Good Old Daysby Shirley Lim Geok Lin

Greed The author’s grandfather left them with two hardware stores, ten houses,

one hundred and fifty acres of rubber estate and three farms. (pg 84, lines 3)

All the family members such as brothers, aunties and uncles were fighting for each other’s share of the wealth and in the end they ended up with nothing but a debt of $10,000. (page 87, line 2)

Family Conflict The fight for the properties between the family members were began even before the funeral. (page 85, line 19)

Traditional Chinese cultureThe division of property. The four brothers want to divide the properties according to their aged: the eldest take the most and the youngest take the least. (page 86, line 19)

Themes

Plot

Exposition:Ho was reminiscing her childhood days after her grandfather died.

Rising Action:All of his five sons were fighting for each other's share of the wealth.

Climax:All the uncle, aunties, even the author’s father were looking for a lawyer to represent them.

Falling Action:Mother felt sad as her family members fight for the share of the wealth.

Resolution:In the end all of the five brothers received nothing but a debt of $10,000.

Foreshadowing: Grandfather, who spoke no English, had gone to an Indian lawyer who drew up a brief will leaving all Grandfather’s possessions equally to his children. The lawyer, of course, had no way of knowing that nothing could be equal in our family.

Suspense: …according to Father, the meeting broke up into shouting matches…

Plot• Exposition : Ho remember her grandfather’s funeral was very grand where roads were

closed, there were 50 men were blowing oomp-pahs and hundreds of banner-bearers. It was like a parade, but a sad one.

• Rising Action : As grandfather had mentioned in his will, all the five sons were supposed to

have an equal number of shares but they were in greed. They did not want the wealth to be divided equally.

• Climax : Each one of them hired their own lawyer to fight back their right : Fifth

Auntie : Mr. DeSouza, Second brother: Mr. Deel, Third Brother ( Author’s father) : C.S Tan, Eldest brother: Mr. Dass (page 88, 89,90 and 92)

• Falling Action : Mother could not tolerate the family’s bad feelings towards her, and neither

can her husband. Her husband has been suffering from insomnia and his health is weak.

• Resolution : The bidders only paid a fraction of what the property was worth. After the

payment for the lawyers, clerk and assistants, they left with a debt of $ 10,000.

SettingsThe story begin with what the author remember of grandfather's funeral.

The writting method of the beginning of the story is memoir. Ho

remember her grandfather's funeral when her mother talks about the good

days. (pg 84, lines 1) The sons and their wives find theirs own ways to get more

advantages from their grandfather's property. They started to fight with each

other after their grandfather was died.

The most common PLACE in the story is author's house.

As the first aunt and second aunt also went to visit author's mother,

who was the third aunt and discussed about the plan they used to claim their

share. Author's father also discussed the ways to use the property wisely in the

house. Besides, the second place is grandfather's house. The sons started to

think of a best solution to divide the property evenly after the funerals. (pg 85,

lines 24)

Atmosphere

• The atmosphere of the story is sorrow and solemn. In the story, during the

funeral, the women screamed and wailed while the men paced solemnly

behind. (pg 85, lines 11)

• The second atmosphere is family conflict. The sons were not satisfied with

each other's solution to divide the property, so they had hired their own

lawyer to fight for them to gain the biggest advantages. (pg 85, lines 24)

Characters

• The first son is selfish and greedy. He always wanted to get the biggest

advantage. (pg 85, lines 26)

• The second son is the cleverest in the family but he is also a cunning man

and cannot be trusted. (pg 86, lines 24)

• The third son is a dreamy man that always dream about his business plan

and a sensitive man. (pg 86, lines 10)

• The first aunt is hypocrisy and greedy. She admonished the third aunt not

to hired a lawyer. Instead, she did hired a lawyer too. (pg 92, lines 27)

• The second aunt is generous. She will bring present when she visit the

third aunt's house. (pg 93, lines 33). She is also the first one who wanted to

stop the fight. (pg 94, lines 3)

Characters • The third aunt is sentimental. Throughout the story, when the aunts visit

her and told her story, she will get angry, sad or even cried. However, she

will always support her husband. when her husband wanted to open a

grocery shop, she supported her husbands' idea. (pg 91, lines 8)

• The fourth aunt is very thin. She suspects the other and she is a stingy

woman as she will not bring any gift when she visit the other aunt's house.

(pg 89, lines 33)

• The fifth aunt is a widow. She is the one who started to hire a lawyer. (pg

88, lines 9) But, at last, she can't withstand the bad feeling from the other

family member. So, she decided to commit suicide. (pg 94, lines 4)

Characters• The main character in the story is author's mother. The story always

related to the aunts who told her the plans that were carried out by the other

aunts. She also supported her husband's ideas which decided to open a

grocery shop with the share from their grandfather. (pg 91, lines 8)

• The protogonist of the story is the second aunt. She is the only one who

wanted to stop the fight after she had heard the fourth aunt had plan to

commit suicide. (pg 94, lines 3)

Characters

• Minor character is the first aunt as the first aunt is greedy and hypocrisy.

She went to scold the third aunt for hiring a lawyer. Instead, she herself

and her husband also had hired a lawyer. (pg 92, lines 27)

• The round character is the fifth aunt as she is the first one to start the

fight with hiring a lawyer but lastly she can't tolerate with the family's bad

feeling toward her and she choose to kill herself. However, she didn't

succes as the rope she used is too long. (pg 94, lines 4)