comment/essay on -Insert title here-

(its alright....dont worry,and i didn't consider it a waste of time...)

The author of the story titled "-Insert title here-",Tan Xin Hui,tries to use a variety of methods in order to create a tense atmosphere and convey certain themes.In my comment,i will attempt to examine the different methods used to create the atmoshpere,as well as the themes conveyed.

First of all,she uses the superior to not only be the figure to inflict stress,but also to play as the oppressor.She creates a distance from the superior by choosing not to mention any personal connections to him;even leaving out the name of the superior so that the reader is unable to relate to him and feels more empathy to chu than to the superior.
The superior also appears to take the position of a "dictator"when he appears unreasonable to chu by rejecting her work.This "dictatorship"is further exagerated with the fact that Tan Xin Hui chooses to include the extreme amount of effort and complication faced by chu in order to submit the piece of work.

To the majority of modern youth,just to stay back in school itself is considered inconvenient,but when this inconvenience is combined with the exaggeration of staying back until 9pm,the sense of being extremely unreasonable is created.This also contributes to making the superior emotionally distant from the reader;and depicts the "employee and employer" relationship between chu and her superior.

Through the factors used to depict the distant relationship between chu and her superior,the author conveys the theme of the lacking relationship between the individuals of the modern society.

Tensity is created when Tan Xin Hui writes about the fustrations that chu experiences when writing her assignment.When chu is shown to be staring at the blank piece of paper,and when symbolism is used in the quote "cracking her brains but to no avail" to exaggerate her efforts in vain,a sense of fustration is created when the youth reader puts him/herself into the familiar position of being forced to write an assignment but not being in the correct mind-set to do so.This fustration is combined with the nine o'clock deadline to increase fustration as well as input a sense of fear into the reader.

The sense of loneliness is also being forged in the story.This happens when the story begins with chu being caught in her own thoughts and also hugging the pillow in a very savoured manner.This sense is further supported when chu wears a T-shirt with the text "Leave me alone!" imprinted on it.Tan Xin Hui also chose not to mention any other characters in the story other than the superior and chu's mother who only appears in a short portion of the story.These factors of loneliness also contribute to making the atmosphere of the story tense.


When chu wishes to be left alone yet felt lonely,a contradiction is made and the sense of irony is created.This sense of irony is further explored when there is a huge contrast between the amount of time that chu spends on her assignment,to the amount of time that the superior actually takes to skim through her work.This sense of irony is further inflicted upon the reader when the superior even scolds her and compares her to a primary school student even after the submission of her assignment.
These factors of irony also make the tense atmosphere or the story even more tense.

The high stress level experienced by chu is eventually revealed when she throws the paper into her superior's face and storms off.This portion of the story reveals an emotional breakdown being experienced by chu,which depicts a stress level of great intensity.The contrast between the sudden change of a long and dragging storyline,when chu is still trying to complete her assignment,to her conversation with her superior inflicts a shock into the reader.These factors also aid in forming the tense atmosphere.


The theme conveyed here is the irony of the labour to the meagre fruits of labour that modern Singaporeans face;conveyed by the results chu actually got for all her hard labour.