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MARIAH By: CHE HUSNA AZHARI

Prepared By : BONNIE MADUIN EDWIN MAS FAIRIZIANA NORDIANA NUR SOLEHAH TAN YIING

Analyse the short story through the Gender Perspective. Relate it to Malaysian context.

PLOT
Tuk Imam asked for his wifes permission to marry Mariah

CLIMAX

EXPOSITION Introduction of Maria Nasi seller

RESOLUTION Tuk Imam married Mariah

THEME

Discrimination

Male vs Female

Female vs Female

Women are required to give full submission to their husbands.

Widow is considered as under class which she would be socially oppressed

Cik Yam allows Tok Imam to have another wife

Pg: 14

Mariah accepts Tok Imams proposal

Pg: 15

ISSUES AND CONCERNS

Gender Stereotyping
Men Women

Strong, courageous and rational.

Weak & Irrational

Ironic:
The women in Mariah stand out in triumph because of the strength in their faith. They are selfless while men show their weaknesses. Both women are willing to sacrifice for love and religion. Cik Yam willing to share her husband because she loves him and because she believes that she will be sheltered under the Golden Umbrella of Siti Fatimah on the Day of Judgement. Mariah gives up independence (her love) to marry the Imam because he is a man of religion she is not dependent on men for a living because it is shown at the start that she is capable of finding her own income.

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Relationship

Husband and wife

Among Neighbours

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Husband-wife relationship
Perfect marriage: Tuk Imam & Cik Yam Problematic marriage: Cik Gu Leh & Cik Gu Nab Ironic: Tuk Imam is the one who wants to take a second wife not Cik Gu Leh Pg 13 Cik Yam jumped up as if struck by a bolt of lightning. Can that dreaded thing most feared by women be real, happening to her? Please God, let it not be true. Why couldnt it have happened to that lazy Cik Gu Nab, who couldnt even fry an egg properly? Why her? The loving devoted wife, the model housewife? Why? Why?

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Among Neighbours
Cik Yam & Cik Nab Cik Yam welcomes Cik Gu Nab despite the fact that Cik Gu Nab is a gossip.

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Misuse of religion to justify personal desire (Tuk Imam)

Polygamy in Islam To have more than one wife Up to 4 women: Marry women of your choice Two, or three, or four; But if you fear that ye shall not Be able to deal justly (with them) Then only one (4:3) Other criteria: widows and orphans (who need male protection for survival) Imam does not practice the real concept of polygamy. Pg 12 Forgive me, oh God, for men are weak

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Ironic:
Mariah marries Imam in the hope that he will guide her in spiritual matters. In actual fact, the Imam marries Mariah because she reminds him of his lost love of his youth. pg 15 Imam was the man to marry, if she would ever wish to marry. A man of religion would be the only person worth marrying after all those years of self-imposed celibacy.

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Relating things that happened to sorceries

The women think that Mariah use sorceries to attract customers to her stall
pg 6 Cik Yam, continued Cik Gu Nab, Mariah has been enticing our man to abandon their homes for her Kedai Merpati. You know her nasi cannot be that special. Why, I am sure for one she cannot beat your nasi belauk. (Cik Yam readily agreed). But why do all these men seem hell-bent on eating breakfat at her place? I reckon, I mean we reckon she has put something (Cik Gu Nab put heavy emphasis on the word something) in her nasi.

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Blaming women on the issue of infertility

If a couple could not bear children, the woman is at fault not the man. Pg 7 & 8 Why couldnt his wife bear children like other women? Some women, it seemed, have the fecundity of rabbits, but not his wife. Like all men of his generation, it never occurred to him he could be the culprit in his wifes supposed inability to bear children. As far as he was concerned, bearing children was a womans job, and if she didnt there was something wrong with her.

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CHARACTERS & CHARACTERISTICS

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Mariah
A widow Nasi Belauk seller Beautiful and sexy
Pg 3 & 4 Mariah was a nasi seller in Mulo, in fact the nasi nasi seller in Molo. Every morning at seven sharp she would walk past the market entrance into the village square and mesmerise the men with her swaying hips as well as her nasi.. Mariah also had another asset. She was without a husband. Mariah had been married once, but her husband had passed away soon after.

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TUK IMAM
Head of the mosque (Pg: 5) Pious (Pg: 11) Respectable (Pg: 5) Referent to solve problem (Pg: 5) Succumb to his lust (Pg: 14-15 )

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CIK YAM
Perfect wife Good cook
Pg 5 Her (Cik Yam) culinary skills were not her only attribute; her housekeeping was also a model to be followed by other womenfolk in the village. One could always call at the Imams house at any time of the day, guaranteed to be greeted by a well-turned-out wife, hot tepung and fragrant surroundings.

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CIKGU NAB
Gossip (Pg:6) Loves to find others fault (Pg: 6) Hopeless cook (Pg:8) Jealous wife (pg 14) Cik Gu Nab sent threatening messages to Mariah

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CIKGU LEH
Cik Gu Nabs husband and Tuk Imams friend Represent Tuk Imam in asking Mariahs hand for marriage

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SETTING

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PLACE
Mulo, Kelantan, Malaysia (Pg: 3) The main trunk road from Pasir Puteh to Kota Bharu.

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Morning stall in Mulong

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PATTANI, SOUTHERN THAILAND (Flashback) Pg 8 the Imam became transported to another time, his youth. The place where Tuk Imam studied be an Imam Pg 9 When the Imam was a young man of fifteen his father had voiced his wish for his son to be sent to Pattani in Southern Thailand to learn under a tutelage of a well known Sheikh.

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SOCIAL/POLITICAL
Typical Malay (Muslim) community - Careers (Imam, Teachers, Nasi seller) - Clothing The characters (Kelantanese) in this short story are portrayed as religious. Kelantan is the only state which is governed by PAS a political party that aims to establish Malaysia as a country based on Islamic legal theory derived from the primary sources of Islam, the Quran, Sunnah as well as Hadiths.

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MALAYSIAN VOCAB

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Imam/Tuk Imam: Head of the mosque Cik Gu: Teacher Subuh : 1st prayer of the day Isya : 5th (last) prayer of the day Tepung : flour Kebaya : traditional clothes for women Kain lepas : sarong

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Kedai Merpati ( the name of Mariahs stall) Abang : endearment for husbands Local cuisine :nasi, nasi dagang, nasi berlauk, nasi kerabu ,roti canai

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Kulliyah : lecture Fusus al- Hakam: Islamic famous book Masyaallah (interjection): praise be to Allah Rizq (arabic word): sustenance Sheikh (arabic word): Islamic scholar

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Tudung saji
Use to cover the food on the table

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Jubah and kuffiyah

Kuffiyah

Jubah

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Serban: head cover

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Safrah
For functions; like a table cloth but to be put on the floor instead of table.