Kak Yong writes: The Joy Luck Club assignment…done!

Alhamdulillah, finally, I’ve finished the essay set by Ms. Cat, on the novel by Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club. I must say I never thought it would be interesting at all. Dr. Saratha mentioned it a couple of times when I was in first year, but I admit I was not even interested, even though I knew Dr. Saratha was one of the experts in the literature field in Malaysia, and books recommended by her bound to be something. But I don’t know, the title itself doesn’t sound very creative and I thought it was a translation. Only now I discovered it was written by an American-born Chinese woman and it was written in English, and the title that I found was so unattractive is the whole essence of the story…talk about judging a book by its cover…but cover do matters, as the great Dr. Saratha said, and I couldn’t agree more.
Anyway, back to our novel, maybe I wouldn’t exactly add it my favourite books’ list, but to study it is quite interesting. I really enjoyed the class discussions that we had on that book, though watching the movie was not that fun, since we couldn’t finish it in one go, and had to continue the week after, and also I didn’t really enjoy it with everyone else being there. I have to admit, I prefer watching movies alone, and yes, I don’t think I will ever set foot in the cinema, so I’m not worried. I managed to download the movie anyway, though never had time to really watch it again. No matter, the assignment is done anyway, just a little editing here and there.
One of the reasons I wanted to start a blog like this is because I want to write about things that I like, and one of them is literature, English literature to be exact. But I admit, coming from an Islamic background, what I like and what I believe in doesn’t really fit in with each other. So, how to make them compatible? By looking at the literature from a Muslim point of view. What do you think? And since in literature there is no right or wrong as long as you can argue your way through it, and in Islam, what you should do and shouldn’t do has already be set down (doesn’t that make life much more easier?), my analysis of the literature will be from my view, as a student of literature and also a student of Islam. I may be born a Muslim, be there are still lots to learn about Islam. After all, Islam is the way of life, and how long will it take you to learn about life? Hmmm…a lifetime? Yeah, that’s what I’ve figured…
Back to the novel : For example, one of the main themes in The Joy Luck Club is mother-daughter relationship, so I’ll just talk about how I see it as a Muslim, that’s all. It may be imperfect in either way, but I’m still a student, so I should be forgiven. And I don’t think I’m going to produce a world-class opinion…maybe not yet anyway. Another interesting thing about The Joy Luck Club is that it has been labeled as a feminist literature. Hmmm, feminism huh? Another interesting topic to look at…

Kak Yong writes: It is called an Introduction…

Memang sudah lama berniat nak menulis dalam blog macam ni, cuma tak pernah kesampaian. Macam-macam alasan untuk diri sendiri; faktor masa, kos, kemampuan diri untuk menulis…tapi sekarang talian internet lebih mudah dan Kak Ngah dan Kak Chik pun setuju nak turut serta, jadi alasan pun dah tak berapa nak ada…

Tujuan blog? Dah masuk tahun ke 3 di universiti tercinta ni, rasa macam satu kerugian kalau pengalaman yang tak mungkin datang lagi ni berlalu macam tu saja…lagipun sebelum ni banyak manfaat yang dapat dari blog-blog yang pernah dikunjungi di laman web lain, jadi mungkin blog ini berpeluang berjasa macam tu…kalau tak ada pelawat sekali pun, paling kurang K.Ngah dengan K.Chik ada…(sebab tu ajak kongsi).

Mungkin nampak tak berapa bagus atau tidak teliti, tapi kemungkinan besar catatan-catatan dalam blog ini akan dibuat dalam dua bahasa, Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa Inggeris. Bukan kerana tidak mahu menjaga bahasa, tetapi bagi K.Yong, bahasa adalah bahasa, nilainya tinggi, tapi lebih tinggi nilainya bila dilihat kepada siapa yang menggunakannya. Jika bercakap dalam Bahasa Melayu yang sempurna, tetapi akhlak tidak lansung mencerminkan nilai Islam Melayu, sayang sekali…Menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris tidak salah, tapi jika ianya bermakna segala budaya dan yang berkaitan dengan Inggeris diterima pakai semua sekali, itu tak betul. Cara bergaul, cara berpakaian, cara hidup seharian, takkan semuanya nak tiru Inggeris?

Apa kata jika boleh menggunakan kedua-duanya dengan baik, Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa Inggeris? Bila perlu guna Bahasa Melayu, gunalah, kalau perlu bahasa yang lagi satu, silakan. Kan bagus dua-dua boleh. Yang penting jati diri, siapa kita. Bahasa adalah medium, walaupun peranannya penting, lebih penting lagi apa yang kita tuturkan dalam bahasa itu…kerana selepas meninggalkan dunia university K.Yong dan K.Ngah kemungkinan besar akan berada dalam dunia yang mana isu bahasa akan sentiasa disebut-sebut, jadi bagi K.Yong itulah pendirian yang K.Yong pegang, bahasa adalah medium, yang lebih plaing penting siapa kita…dan jangan lupa Bahasa Arab, bahasa paling mulia. Dan kepada K.Chik, kalau tak masuk dunia bahasa pun, harap-harap tak akan hadapi masalah nak guna mana-mana bahasa. Jangan ambil sikit-sikit, nanti kemudiannya semua tak sempurna…