GROUP REPORT ON SHORT STORY

LITERARY CRITICISM BIS3023

GROUP B

LECTURER MR SEVA BALA SUNDARAM S/O A.M MARIAPPAN

GROUP MEMBERS

CHAN SIANG JACK LOO MEE YEE REMESH DAYANANDAN SHARON CHIN JO YEE SOO SHENG YUAN

D20111050119 D20111047726 D20111047724 D20111047700 D20111047742

Formalist criticism is also used in explaining the short stories of Scattered Bones. The story began with the author explaining the police life in a police academy, where the young constables are bound with rules and regulations all the time. Then, the author explains how the character feels about their lives in the police academy, continued by explaining what they have to do in the academy. The author tries to tell the readers about what a police have to do in the police academy by using the characters in the story to explain what is their duty and what they have to do while in the police academy. The point of view used in the story was omniscient where the author brings us to every mind of the characters in the story itself. The character are slowly introduce as the story progresses with what the daily routine that the constables have to go through.

The major characters in this story are Leman, Mahmud, and Majid. Leman can be seen as the protagonist in the story. He portrays a different personality and characteristic compared to the other characters. He has his own self-awareness and own thinking about the police life and his superior. For example, he felt strange about raising his hand to salute the officers with the rank of inspector and above. This is a common rule for constable where they have to salute their superiors whenever they see them, but for Leman, his awareness of himself was deeply etched in his heart that he felt inferior when he had to salute. This shows that Leman is a character who thinks rather than just following the rules and regulations. In addition, Leman portrays his sympathy towards the illegal hawkers by arguing with Mahmud on why he did not arrest them. He sympathize those illegal hawkers as he sees them only wanted to find some income to support their family. Here, it is clearly seen that Leman is a kind character and sympathize for the others.

Symbolism can be seen during the story where the young constable are often required to clean their gears especially uniforms and guns, keep their dorm clean and salute their superiors. This show that disciplinary is an important aspect of being a police. Everything must be in order and clean as mention in this story, for a mistake that a constable do will be dealt with severely.

As for the narrator of the story, it is definitely the author himself, Usman Awang. Usman Awang was once a policeman. This story is wrote through his experiences as a Jungle Squad policeman. It tells the hardships and struggles of a nation already torn apart by war and faced with a power struggle between the British Colonial powers and the Communists of Malaya. This story shows the way he had lived back when he was a policeman. He tries to put every detail about his experiences to show the readers how difficult life was back then. The setting of this story depicts the Emergency Period of Malaya after the Second World War. It was between year 1946 and 1949 whereby the conflict was between the British administration and the Communist of Malaya. The story took place in Malacca, which can be read by readers in the story itself and it is taken place at a police academy in Malacca. The theme for this story is discipline, which can be seen clearly throughout the story and as mention by the author, Usman Awang. Police life is all about discipline and that is why the constable sometimes struggle in their daily life as punishment were given to those who did not follow orders.

As a conclusion, the story Scattered Bones, are mainly about the life of policeman in the Emergency Period of Malaya after the Second World War. The plot that were used by the author explains what the constable have to do at that era and how they fill their complex life with joy and sadness, anger and disappointment.

Marxist theory basically addresses the social problems from economic aspects, in which deals with the struggle of socioeconomic classes. It is concerned with physical or material reality of man in life, excluding the realities of truth, values and of God religion. Literature is seen as the product of economic forces of the period. A major concern of Marxist theory is that of the condition of the classes within a society. As stated, the society has its base on the economic system, whereby any changes occur within the system or material may affect any respective classes. It is usual to see this criticism in addressing the oppression of classes especially the middle class or bourgeoisie over the working class. Issues of monopoly, undermining the contributions of the working class and the coercion of ideologies upon the citizens can be part of the Marxisms concern. In referring to the short story Scattered Bones, the oppression of the middle class upon the working class can be seen. It is to be noted that it was during the British colonialism that this story takes place. Colonialism, in that sense, give rise to the higher authority of the British administration over the colonized countries and of the influence of middle-class businessmen involved in contributing both the local economy and the colonizers interest. An example is seen on how the working policemen Majid and friends had to give way to the rich people, especially on the traffic issues. Small hawkers, in that context, are mostly illegal hawkers that dont have license to carry their business, and hawkers are common jobs found in the society in order to earn a living. However, the flocking of hawkers would obstruct the traffic, barring the big cars of businessmen or important people to pass by or park aside. Laws are enacted in order to steer these hawkers out of the cars way. Sadly, this incident shows that laws, in some respect, only favours the rich or well-fed middle class people while the working class, though desperate they may seem in trying to sustain their economy, are forced to submit to the laws of the society. This even serve a problem for the policemen to whether obey the laws or not because they themselves knew the hardships of the hawkers, yet disobeying the law would cost their accountability of their jobs. As a conclusion, Scattered Bones also depicts the economic oppression of the middle-classed colonialist upon the working-class locals.

Post Colonial criticism can be used to decipher and explain the short story Scattered Bones by Usmang Awang because it is considered to be a text related to colonialism. The story is written by a local author which fulfils the criteria for it to be criticized using Postcolonial Criticism. Malaya was Colonised by the British and got it independence in 1957. This criticism deals with the effects of colonization on culture and societies. The viewpoint is written by the colonized writer usually after the colonizer have left the country or it has gained independence.

The story scattered bones is strongly influenced by Colonial values which changes the natives own culture and language. The story takes place during the emergency time where the British were still Malaya. The ideology brought by the colonizer are implanted into the locals as many think their values are more superior and civilized. The Malays (natives) have totally different culture compared to the British.

The character, OCPD in the story might be a colonizer himself as he uses Malay language with a thick and guttural English accent. This shows their influence in the local society. They hold high positions in the society compared to local that will be their subordinates. The police force in the story itself was created by the British. The police force is a British concept to control and maintain peace. There were no precolonial police forces in Malaya. To salute a higher authority is also an example of British values that were brought to Malaya to be used especially in the Military and Police Force. The languages spoken also are influenced by the Colonizers language. This creates a mixture of the language of the Malayan people and the Britishs language used together. This assimilation can be seen in few example in the story. The term such as mem is used to refer to female in a higher position possibly of the colonizers own kind. OCPD is another example of the term used by the police force.

It was the years between 1946 and 1949- The Emergency Period and of the Malayan Union whereby there was conflict between the British administration and the Communist of Malaya. The story took place in Malacca, where, in the story, 40 posttraining police from Johor Bahru came and work within the offices of Central Malacca Police Station, carrying out their given duties. The story revolves around the full-fledged police: Majid, Leman, Mahmud, Ujang, Mamat and others. They had their time of joy, sadness and bitterness, both in securing the peace of Malacca and in their own youthful lives. They met their ends during the confrontation with the Communist in the forest.

One suitable literary theory in analyzing and criticizing this short story (the fragment of the actual novel) is the biographical/biographical-historical criticism, employed extensively by Samuel Johnson. This theory emphasizes the knowledge of the context, historically and biographically, in which the text is produced. Influence of the setting and events on the author is one of the highlighted issues in this criticism.

The setting in the text has to be noted in order to find relations with the author himself. The time is between the year 1946 till 1949 whereby it was the Malayan Union Period and the Emergency Period. The Johor Bahru train station, Balai Polis Central Malacca police station and the Malacca Police Headquarters are a few among the places in the story, all were comprised of the Malayan Peninsular States. The author Usman Awang was born in 12 Julai 1929 in Kampung Tanjung Lembu, Kuala Sedili, Kota Tinggi, Johor Darul Takzim. He got his early education in 1936, 1937 and 1940 in three different schools until he reach standard 6. He was a farmer during the Japanese invasion and he became a forced labourer for six months. Though limited in formal education, he got his inspiration and learning from the nature. He worked as an office helper and later underwent a training program as a Japanese Police. It is after the World War II that he worked as a police officer and a Jungle Squad in Melaka (1946-1951) whereby it was the Emergence Period in Malaya Peninsular. He later migrated to Singapore and start off his writing career, preferring to hold a pen than getting involved into violence. He worked for Utusan KanakKanak, Utusan Zaman dan Mastika (1952-1961) before moving to Kuala Lumpur in following the Utusan Melayu newspaper. He was unemployed due his involvement in

a demonstration to defend the Malay Language but later got a job offered by Federal Publication dan Fajar Bakti. He was later offered to work for Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) where he contributed a lot in the literature. He later retired in the 1980s. By comparing the two the setting and the authors background, we can see that due to the authors experience as a policeman, the description of the policemens life can act as a mirror in reflecting how life must be when the author was a policeman. Though it was not to meant that the incidents in the novel is actually the authors personal life, the experience or scenario can be said to be derived from the authors perspective. This goes the same with the storyline about the Emergence and the confrontation with the Malayan Communist. The scenario and experience in the novel can be related or derived from the authors own experience, since he himself also lived during that era. The political complications, the lives of the people and the issues raised are not only close to the author, but, in some parts, historically relevant since the periods themselves are part of the Malaysian history. In relating to the text given (part of the novel, page 33-41), a typical policemen life like inspections and duties, the hypocrisy of inspectors of wanting fame and recognition from the society, the controversies in carrying out duties in balancing law-abiding and the peoples desperation in life are revealed. Much of the postcolonial perspective, the government, which was in the control of the Europeans, is viewed to be against the locals and in discrimination towards the people in the country. Known to be colonials for several hundred years, the Europeans are in monopolizing the economy and controlling the civilians lives. Anti-colonialism is seen in respect of the harsh realities in the locals lives, as depicted in the novel in favour of the rich and powerful. An example is the treatment of OCPD (p34-36) and the allowance of laws and regulations for the rich in big cars as compared to the desperate hawkers like Wak Siraj and the unlicensed Chinese hawker (p38-39). As a conclusion, Scattered Bones is seen to reveal the condition of the people, society and the country during the Emergency Period and the confrontation with Malayan Communist, in which the author was also once lived and involved in it.