Food for thought

Babies’ Grammar Development

Baby Talk

The grammar development of infants is best referred to as “Baby Talk”. Baby talk, according to Steinberg (2006), is a form of Parentese but with its own characteristics. Ii is also best decribed as something that parents learn from other adults and involves standard vocabulary. Insofar Baby talk is concerned, it involves the use of vocabulary and syntax that is overly simplified and reduced. In comparison with Parentese, syntax plays a less vital role in Baby Talk. It is proven that parents at times use standard syntax in Baby Talk. The comparison between the syntactically correct sentence in Parentese and syntactically incorrect sentence in Baby Talk is shown below so as to compare and contrast the lexical items used and thus highlighting the unique traits of both Parentese and Baby Talk.

Mommy give Jimmy apple VS I will give you an apple

Based on the two examples of sentences given above, it can be deduced that neither the modal “will” nor the indefinite article “an” has been included. Aside from that, substituting proper names such ( “Mommy” and “Tony” ) for personal pronouns (“I” and “You”) is very common in Baby Talk considering that the baby must have difficulty understanding the speaker-listener relationship. Prior to using suitable personal pronouns in their daily discourse, in other words, ones must learn and master the usage of personal pronouns. The substitution proper names for personal pronouns are not solely a trait for Baby Talk, but Parentense also shares this similar feature.

Parentese

Parentese is a sort of speech that children receive when they are young. Parentese, according to Reich (1986), is also best known as “Motherese”, “caregiver speech”, “Adult-to-Child Language”. All the above terms takes into account the fact that children gain knowledge and receive input from many immediate sources and the input received ha unique linguistic characteristics. As far as speech is concerned, it is highly grammatical and simplified. However, ungrammatical sentences are found to occur but rarely. On the other hand, speech directed to children mainly comprises of short sentences with simple structure rather than complex structure. For instance, this short sentence with simple structure as in “Julia is Karim’s spouse” is commonly uttered by parents to their children as compared to this complex sentence as in “ Julia who is sitting on the bench is Karim’s spouse”

Children’s Grammar Development

Holophrastic function: one-word utterances

Not only children use single words to refer to objects, but they also use single words to express complex thoughts that involve those objects. A three-year-old girl, for instance, who has lost her mother in a shopping complex, may cry out “mama”, meaning “I want mama”. Based on this example, it has shown to us that the use of single words by children can express a variety of semantic functions and complex ideas. Bear in mind that the strings of words produced by children at this stage are not yet sentences since the child pauses slightly and uses a falling intonation of the sort at the end of each word that is commonly used by mature speakers to indicate the completion of a sentence.

Telegraphic speech: two-and three-word utterances

Children generally begin to produce two-and-three-word utterances at the age of two. Below is a table that lists a number of common two-word utterances along with the grammatically correct sentence that might be produced by mature speakers in the same situations. The possible purpose of each utterance and several semantic relations involved are also indicated in the table below.

Table 1: Two-word child utterances and their semantic analysis

Child utterance	Mature-speaker utterance	Purpose	Semantic relations (expresses or implied)
Want cookie	I want a cookie	Request	(Experiencer)-State-Object
More milk	I want some more milk.	Request	(Experiencer)-State-Object; Quantification
My cup	This is my cup	Warning	Possession
Mommy chair	Mommy is sitting in the chair	Answer to question	Location
Big boy	I am a big boy	Bragging	Attribution
Not tired	I am not tired	Refusal	Experiencer-State-Negation
Where doll?	Where is the doll?	Question	Location
Dady run	Daddy is running	Informing	Agent-Action
Joe push	I (Joe) pushed the cat	Informing	Agent-Action-(Object)
Give candy	Give me the candy	Request	(Agent)-Action-Receiver-Object

(Adapted from An Introduction to Psycholinguistics)

The acquisition of morpheme

Morpheme acquisition begins once two-and three-word utterances have been acquired. As far as morpheme acquisition is concerned, the children start to add function words and inflections to their utterances. In other words, function words like the prepositions, the articles and the modals as well as the auxiliaries start to appear in children’s utterances along with inflections and tense marking.

Explanation of the order of acquisition

The order of acquisition, according to Steinberg (2006), is based on three variables which are (1) Ease of observability of referent (2) Meaningfulness of referent, and (3) Distinctiveness of the sound signal that indicates the referent.

Variable 1: Ease of observability of referent

The more easily a child can see, hear or experience the referent, the more likely are such referents to be stored in memory.

Variable 2 : Meaningfulness of referent

Referents objects, situations, and events that interest children will be learned faster than those lack such interest.

Variable 3 : Distinctiveness of the sound signal that indicates the referent

The greater the sound distinction involved, the easier it will be for a morpheme signal to be learned.

The Brown morpheme acquisition research

According to Roger Brown’s research on morpheme acquisition, the children are said to acquire the morphemes in a relatively similar order. The list of morphemes and the general order in which they were acquired are shown in the following table.

Morpheme name and concept	Examples	Observability of referent	Meaningfulness of referent	Sound signal for referent
(Present) Progressive	Mary playing	High	High	High
Prepositions	in,on	High	High	High
Plural	/s/, /z/, /iz/	High	High	Low
Past Irregular	came,went,sold	Low/ Medium	High	High
Possessive	/s/, /z/, /iz/	High	High	Low
Copula ‘be’ Uncontractible	What is it?	Low	Low	High
Articles	a, an, the	Low	Medium	High
Past Regular	/t/, /d/, /id/	Low/ Medium	Medium	Low
Third Person Regular	/s/, /z/, /iz/	Low	Low	Low
Third Person Irregular	does, has	Low	Low	High
Auxiliary ‘be’ Uncontractible	Is Mary happy?	Low	Low	High
Copula ‘be’ Contractible	Mary’s hungry	Low	Low	Low
Auxiliary ‘be'	Mary’s playing	Low	Low	Low

(Adapted from An Introduction to Psycholinguistics)

Later speech stages: rule formation for negatives and other complex structures

It is undeniable that one of the earliest sentence structure rules acquired by children is negation. There are three main periods, according to the classic research of Klima and Bellugi (1966) and others who later replicated their work, that account for the negative and other complex structures.

Period 1

No money, No play that, No fall

A negation marker (NEG) is placed or inserted at the front of an affirmative sentence. Therefore, we see the utterances commonly of the form, Neg t U (‘No fall’). It is also said that children all over the globe seem to use the same pattern in their early acquisition of negation.

I don’t want it, We can’t talk

Period 2

The negative marker, in this second period, tends to appear within the utterance as compared to the earliest period and the negation marker “Not” is preceded by the auxiliaries ‘do’ and ‘can’.

This can’t sick, I didn’t did it, Donna won’t let go, I am not a doctor, This not ice cream, Don’t touch the fish

Period 3

Insofar the third period is concerned, the copula ‘be’ (am not) and the modal ‘will’ (won’t) appear with negation. On the other hand, imperative negatives are formed with do instead of the simple negative. The children have a good idea of when ‘do’ must be included in the sentences (Don’t touch the fish,etc) and when ‘do’ must not be included in the sentences ( I am not a doctor). Even if the children’s mastery of negation at this period is almost complete, there are a number of minor problems such as the reassignment of tense from Verb to AUX remain to be resolved.

Language developments with advanced age including young adults

Elders have also been reported to produce more disfluencies, such as stuttering, word repetitions, and sentence fragments in speech, but they are able to repair speech errors as well as younger adults. Kemper and her colleagues found that syntactic complexity (e.g., the number of propositions or clauses in a sentence, types of syntactic structure used) declines gradually across the lifespan. Based on his research, he presented young participants aged between 18 to 24 years and older participants with 2,3,4 words and asked them to produce sentences that included the presented words. The result shows that the older participants performed as accurately as the young participants when 2 and three words were presented but less accurately when 4 words were presented. Apart from that, it also reveals that older participants produced correct, shorter, grammatically less complex sentence in comparison with young participants. In addition to that, older participants performed as accurately as the young participants when they produced sentences that included a verb with simple argument structure but less accurately when they used a verb with a more complex argument structure.

In another research, Kemper, Herman, and Liu (2004) gave both young and older participants sentence fragments to memorize that varied in syntactic complexity. Participants then had to produce a complete sentence using the fragment. The length, complexity, and propositional content of the young participants' responses were all affected by the complexity manipulation, whereas this was not the case for the older participants’ responses. One explanation of this finding is that the difficulty for older adults lies in the comprehension of the material to be retained for elaboration. Also, young adults produce more syntactically complex sentences than older adults when the verb provided takes a complement (Kemper, Herman,& Lian, 2003). Thus, this line of research provides evidence that working memory limitations constrain language production in older adults.

The Dead Crow

This paper aims at analyzing the poem entitled “The Dead Crow” written by one of prominent Malaysian poets, A. Samad Said by using stylistic approach. The analysis of this poem includes the study of language used by the poet to bring out the message, tone and mood, style and structure, speaker and persona as well as the literary devices. The study of this poem will definitely enhance and deepen one’s understanding of the poem.

Message

The very first aspect that should be taken into consideration when analyzing the poem is the study of language used by the poet to bring out the important messages to the readers. For example, the very first line of this poem suggests the vital message that should become the central attention of the readers. The readers may interpret that the poet is terribly upset to see a dead crow in the drain next to the post office and therefore, the readers may interpret that the polluted environment has adversely affected the survival of the animals. It is very apparent when the crow, which feeds on rubbish, is found dead and it clearly indicates that the quality of the environment is at risk. This interpretation is probably based on the choice of word “crow” used by the poet with the intention of showing how polluted environment can become a serious threat to animals.

The polluted environment does not negatively affect the survival of animals only but also the survival of human beings. This message is clearly illustrated when the poet mentions about “seeing an old man gasping for air and a baby barely able to breathe”. The readers will also notice that the poet intelligently uses the words like “gasping” and “barely” in describing the difficulty faced by the elderly generations represented by “old man” and young generations represented by “baby”. The noun phrases like “old man” and “baby” suggests that these two generations are mostly vulnerable to the negative effects of polluted environment. This is because they most probably have a very weak immune system and therefore potentially afflicted with diseases.

The prepositional phrase like “in a crowded morning clinic” also conveys particular message that will make the study of this poem become more meaningful. This phrase actually describes the scene in clinic which is heavily congested with people seeking for immediate health treatment on account of the polluted environment that is happening at that time. This is definitely not a good sign to discover many people suffering from pollution related ailments. If there are no actions taken to reduce or minimize the polluted environment, the number of people suffering from diseases will be rapidly increasing in the foreseeable future. This phrase does not only suggest people seeking for immediate health treatment but also suggests the mentality of Malaysian people which are difficult to be changed although they have become much more civilized and well-educated individuals. This interpretation is solely based on the existence of “morning clinic” which indicates the development that has been achieved by their beloved country, Malaysia, yet it still cannot change the mentality of Malaysian people about keeping the environment clean all the times. Indirectly, it also means that the people are by nature irresponsible due to the fact that the main contributor of air pollution is none other than the people themselves.

The last two lines in the first stanza as in “This land is so rich, why should we suffer like this” contain meaningful message that the readers should take note when analyzing this poem. “The rich land” actually symbolizes the wealthy country, Malaysia, that we are now living in. In this context, the richness of Malaysia can not only be gauged through the massive development and rapid advancement of technology but it can also be measured through the richness of the natural resources like clean air and clean water. However, these natural resources that play a very significant role in ensuring the good quality of environment as well as people’s health are now increasingly depleting. This makes the poet wonder why the people are still suffering when they have a country that is abundant with natural resource. In another interpretation, these two lines imply that wealth cannot buy health if nothing is done to prevent the pollution. Implicitly, it means that happiness is all gone when we are sick or suffering from diseases. Then, the readers will also realize that the real happiness when ones feel healthy and able to do their daily routines. In order to experience the real happiness, the perseveration of the environment must come into operation as soon as possible. All in all, human beings and the environment are by nature interdependent as we mutually support each other.

Moving on to second stanza the readers make several interpretations to these few lines “I want clean air for my grandchildren”, “I want the damned fools to leave the forest alone”, and “I want the trees to grow”. By studying these lines at a very surface level, the readers may conclude that the poet wants clean air for his grandchildren, and wants the forest to be left alone. This literal meaning of these few lines actually has some implications that should be paid careful attention when analyzing the poem. The first implication of this literal meaning is the indication of poet’s deep concern towards the health of the next generation which can be seriously affected by unchecked air pollution. This implication is made based on the word “want” used by the poet. Interestingly, the word “want” is repeated many times and it seems to emphasize the poet’s demand for clean air and greener environment and indirectly, it establishes a sense of urgency towards providing his next generation with a safe and sound environment. The second implication underlines the repercussions of excessive logging in which it can cause soil erosion as well as land slides by referring to these two phrases which are “damned fools” and “leave the forest alone”. The “damned fools” is probably referred to those who cut down the trees excessively until disrupt the ecology system as well as the imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The excessive logging, which has been perpetually carried out, definitely brings the disastrous effects upon the public which can be clearly seen in the first stanza in which “an old man gasping for air and a baby barely able to breathe”. These few lines also suggests that human beings are naturally materialistic in which they are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of massive development devoid considering the impacts of their obsession on the public. This obsession can be seen from the people’s idea of building skyscraper although they have built so many tall buildings before. There is actually nothing wrong with the idea of building the skyscraper but the implementation of building the skyscraper must be regularly monitored and must be ensured that the implementation must go hand in hand with the perseveration of environment. Otherwise, this will put many people in jeopardy.

The last two lines of the second stanza “let the politicians plan how we may live with dignity” seems to make the politicians responsible for finding solutions or remedy to pollution so that people can live healthier and decent lives. This message is clearly illustrated through the word “let” which means allowing the politicians to carefully plan the development and the poet undeniably reiterates the roles and responsibilities of the politicians with sarcasm. This is probably because the politicians themselves are not aware of the seriousness of the polluted environment and tend to take this matter for granted.

Tone and Mood

The second aspect of the analysis of the poem is how the poet uses the language to convey the particular tone and mood. In this poem, the tone is one of anger and indignation. This can be clearly seen in the first stanza of this poem with reference to these two lines “This land is so rich” and “Why we should we suffer like this”. The poet seems to be very indignant at the country that is abundant with natural resources and yet we are still suffering and afflicted with the diseases. The interrogative question like “why” suggests the anger in the poet. The use of the interrogative question “why” can also suggest that the poet actually laments the destruction of the natural resources aside from the poet’s anger towards the inability of the natural resources to prevent ones from getting sick. Apart from anger and indignation, there is also a didactic tone in which the poet suggests several ways of what must be done to preserve the environment. This tone is strongly expressed when the poet wants the irresponsible individuals or so-called “damned fools” to stop destroying the forest and he also wants the politicians to plan any development carefully so that a clean and healthy environment may be preserved for the next posterity.

Speaker and persona

In this poem, there are two personas. In the first stanza, the persona is the third person narrator whereas in the second stanza, the persona is the first person narrator. This can be identified through the use of pronoun in each stanza. For example, the pronoun “he” is used in the first stanza and thereby indicating the third person narrator. Therefore, it also suggests to the readers that the persona is actually looking from the outside and talks about the dire consequences of polluted environment due to Man’s negligence of the environment. As for the second stanza, the pronouns used are like “I” and “we” and thus signifying the first person narrator. The pronoun “I” is used to refer to the persona’s own feeling of despair, sadness and disappointment with the situation that is occurring at that time. Then, he is also demanding a better environment for everyone. Everyone in this context accounts for the reason why the pronoun “we” is used in the second last line of the second stanza. By looking at different angle, the purpose of using the pronoun “we” is to remind that pollution is everyone’s concern. All of the human beings including the politicians and the people in authoritative, in other words, are responsible for preserving the environment as well as the natural heritage for the next generation.

Literary/Poetic Devices

The literary or poetic devices that are used in this poem are meant to make the poem intriguing and worth reading. The very obvious poetic device that can be easily identified is the repetition of particular words. This is very evident when the poet use the word “saw” twice as in “ he saw a dead crow” and “he saw an old man gasping for air and a baby barely able to breathe” The repetition of word “saw” is intended to show the importance of a certain concept. So, in this context, the word “saw” is repeated to show the horror of the effects of pollution with reference to the difficulty in breathing faced by the old man and the baby. Another example is the repetitions of the word “want” as in “I want clean air for my grandchildren”, “I want the damned fools to leave the forest alone” and “I want the trees to grow, the rivers run free, and the earth covered with grass”. The repetition of the word “want” in those lines is to show the poet’s demand for his right to have a clean and green environment to live in.

Aside from the repetition, there is also a significant symbol found in the poem. The function of the symbol is to represent an idea intended by the poet. A crow, for example, represent death, bad luck or premonition, an old man symbolizes the older generation whereas a baby symbolizes the young or new generation, the politician implies the people in power, the crowded clinic is a bad sign that many people are affected by the polluted environment and finally grass represents a green environment that becomes one of the poet’s wishes.

Apart from the symbol, the personification can also be ascertained and found in this poem. For instance, the word “run” used as in “the rivers run free” is indeed a perfect example of personification in which the human quality or action of running is given to the non-living thing, river. This line simply means that the rivers are able to flow freely and untainted by pollution. Besides that, this poem also contains the element of alliteration and assonance. Alliteration generally means the repetition of similar consonants at the beginning of words put close to each other. As for the alliteration, the readers can easily notice the repetition of consonant /b/ as in “baby barely able to breathe” in the first stanza of this poem. Other examples of alliteration are the repetition of consonant /r/ as in “rivers run”, the repetition of consonant /p/ as in “politicians plan”, the repetition of consonant /c/ as in “crowded…..clinic”, and lastly the repetition of consonant /d/ as in “dead….drain”. The assonance, on the other hand, basically refers to the repetition of vowel sounds in words put close to each other. The instances of assonance in this poem include the repetition of vowel sound /o/ as in “post office”, the repetition of vowel sounds /a/, and /i/ as “in gasping….air”, the repetition of vowel sound /a/ as in “baby barely able”, and the repetition of vowel sound /e/ as in “earth covered”.

Style and structure

The style of writing that is used by the poet is pretty simple, direct and straightforward. This is proven when the poem is presented in two stanzas of nine line each and the choice of words used by the poet is quite easy to understand as well as the message of this poem can be easily deduced and interpreted by the readers. Another uniqueness of this poem is that it is written in blank verse and there is no definite or fixed rhyming pattern. This style of writing is in line with the poet’s demand or wish for a pollution-free environment.

On the whole, ones will definitely benefit from the study of this poem by using stylistic approach as it helps them develop their creative and critical thinking skill when interpreting words used by the poet to convey the tone and mood, style and structure, literary devices used, the identity of speaker and persona as well as important messages in the poem to the readers. This is certainly in line with the aims of stylistic approach to produce the individuals who are able to analyze the words as well as the sentence structure in a critical way and able to come up with meaningful interpretation. As a result, this will deepen ones’ minds and broaden their horizons.

What do you think?

The issue of complexities of human beings is very apparent in “Inem” and “The Hajji”. These two beautifully written short stories expose the readers to the intricacies of life faced by human beings and thus bringing the issue of complexities of human beings to the reader’s attention. In detail, the complexities of human beings can be analysed through the decisions made that change one’s life, the ambivalent feelings, their personalities and the society’s expectations of them as well as one’s misconception on society’s expectations of them.

One of the complexities of human beings can be seen through the decisions made that adversely change one’s life. In Inem, for example, the readers might realize that Inem’s mother still wants to marry off Inem to Markaban although she has been told about the risks of getting married at an early age by Inem’s employer as in “not only will they be stunted, but their health will be affected too”. At the end of the story, it is proven that Inem has terribly suffered from her marriage and become a nine-year-old divorcee. Instead of feeling sympathetic towards Inem’s circumstances, she is seen as “a burden to her family-could be beaten by anyone who wanted to: her mother, her brothers, her uncles, her neighbours, her aunts”. In this case, Inem is actually a victim of situation and depressingly, she has no one to turn for emotional and physical support. Meanwhile, “The Hajji” reveals that the main character of the story, Hassan, adamantly refuses to forgive his brother’s sin even if being advised by the priest, Mr. Mia that “Karim is still a Muslim” as “he has never rejected the religion and espoused Christianity”. Hassan eventually changes his mind to forgive and forget all his brother’s sins. Unfortunately, his last desire to forgive and “to embrace his brother in a final act of love” is unfulfilled and he, as a result, is left with a sense of guilt. With reference to these two scenarios, it signifies that human beings are truly complex in which the decision made might result in something that they do not expect or the other way around. It is also important to note that the state of the decision problem changes over time, either autonomously (because of the system), or as a consequence of decision makers’ actions.

The ambivalent feelings do greatly contribute to the complexities of human beings. It is clearly manifested in these two short stories in which the main character of The Hajji, Hassen and the supporting character of Inem, Inem’s employer feel some ambivalence towards the other people around them. In The Hajji, for instance, although Hassen seems to loathe his very own brother, Karim still has a special place in Hassen’s heart. This is very evident as “a fervent longing to embrace his brother comes over him, to touch dear form before the soil claims him” despite at the beginning of the story, he, keeps declining Hassan’s wife’s last wish to pay Karim a final visit. In addition to that, Inem’s employer also displays these ambivalent feelings in which she, in the middle of the story, expresses her sympathy towards Inem and promises that she would of course take Inem back if she does not have a husband. Paradoxically, at the end of the story, she breaks her promise and she seems indifferent to Inem. This can be seen when she continues “to uphold the respectability of her home” even though “Inem’s screams of pain are often heard”. Based on these two circumstances, the readers might have come to a conclusion that the emotions of human beings are changeable instead of remaining unchangeable at all times. These changeable emotions of human beings, as far as these two short stories are concerned, might be due to Hassan’s massive ego that accounts for his unwillingness to forgive his brother’s sin in the first place and the society’s perception that causes Inem’s employer to completely ignore the unbearable sufferings faced by Inem.

Apart from that, the personalities of the characters in these two short stories are pretty different and thus making human beings by nature even more complex. The short story of The Hajji highlights different personalities possessed by Hassan and Inem’s employer. Insofar the story of The Hajji is concerned, Hassan has an inflexible attitude towards his brother or the white people but ironically, his inflexibility at times can be compromised. His inflexible attitude is apparent when he continues rejecting and refusing Mr. Mia’s wish to visit his brother who is on the verge of the death. This constant rejection can be seen when Mr. Mia’s first attempt and second attempt to persuade Hassan are proven to be fruitless and frustrating endeavours. Nonetheless, his inflexibility is shaken when he lastly succumbs to Catherine’s request to see his brother. This can be seen when “ Hassen softened. He is overcome by the argument that she has been responsible for taking Karim away. He could hardly look on her responsibility as being in any way culpable”. As for the story of Inem, Inem’s employer is said to have dual personalities at different times. At first, she is seen as someone who cares and expresses her concern about Inem’s marriage with Markaban. However, this caring disposition turns into indifferent disposition when she knows that Inem has been divorced by her seventeen-year-old husband. By referring to these two different personalities of Hassen and Inem’s employer, it clearly signifies to the readers that personalities of human beings are complicated and incomprehensible. According to the research on the consistency of various personality traits, it signals that what people do, think, and feel may depend very much on the specific conditions in which their behaviour occurs. In other words, people may be honest in one situation and dishonest in another or they may be passive in some situations but aggressive in other situations or with different people. This really explains why there is a change in Hassen and Inem’s employer personalities.

The final factor that justifies the complexity of human beings is the society‘s expectations and one’s misconception about society’s expectations of them. As far as the story of Inem is concerned, the expectations of the society make Gus Muk feel that this world is really meant for adults only. It can be seen when Gus Muk’s mother scolds him for going to Inem’s house. The reason why Inem’s employer gets angry with her son is due to the fact that it is considered inappropriate and indecent to mingle with someone’s wife in the eyes of the society at that time. That is the reason why she is “almost certain to repeat the sentences that she utters so often: What’s the point to your playing with her? Aren’t there lots of other children you can ask to play with you? What’s more, she’s a woman who’s going to be married soon’’. However, the complexity of society or adult’s expectations of children adversely affects the freedom of children and indirectly robs the happiness of children’s lives as evidenced by “the prohibitions and restrictions that are heaped on their heads”. On the other hand, the story of The Hajji underlines how one’s misconception on society’s expectations attributes to the complexity of human beings. For instance, Hassen thinks too much of how society will see or perceive him if he pays his brother a visit. In his opinion, his friends and relatives are going to accuse him of “his softness, weakness” considering the fact that the blacks should not give in to the whites’ wishes or demands. Nevertheless, his notion of society’s expectations proves to be wrong when Mr. Mia willingly helps Catherine persuade Hassen to go and visit his dying brother. His misconception on society’s expectations continues as he is unsure of how to “face the congregation, the people in the streets, his neighbours” and he thinks that “everyone would soon know of Karim and smile at him half sadly, half ironically for having placed himself in such a ridiculous position”. Ironically, his unrealistic expectation again proves to be wrong when several people led by Mr. Mia still continue trying their best to ask him to come and see his brother for the last time, but to no avail. With close reference to the situations above, it has proven that misconception on society’s expectations somehow complicates Hassen’s life since his expectations are not in line with what society expects from him. To conclude, it is undeniable to note that society’s expectations plays a significant role in creating the complexities of lives as some people find it difficult to fulfil the society’s expectations of them.

On the whole, the fact that human beings are by nature complex is unarguable and unquestionable. The complexities of human beings as portrayed by the characters in these two short stories can be seen in terms of the decision made that change one’s life, their changeable emotions, their different personalities and the society’s expectations of them as well as one’s misconception about society’s expectations of them. These complexities in turn make human beings interestingly unique on their own ways and the subject on this matter can be viewed as an indispensable tool for broadening our minds and deepening our horizons about the world, generally, or the human beings, specifically that revolves around us.

The fragility of Butterfly (Part 1)

I would like to take this chance to apologise to all my dear readers for not updating this one and only blog. This is due to the fact that some unknown changes have adversely affected my life,my love and my trust, thus killing my keen interest to share the secrets of my life with all my beloved readers. I truly hope that you will deeply understand the circumstance that i have gone through. Seriously, i do prioritize my academic performance and unbelievably, my result for last semester was a total disaster .Perhaps, i put high expectation on it and consequently, i suffer from it. Anyway, i do believe that every cloud has a silver lining and thus motivating,inspiring me to work hard and make my dream a reality. Nonetheless, this ultimate failure all of a sudden pop into my mind and i will cry over it. Some people might say there is no point of crying over the spilt milk. However, in my viewpoint, it does help me to alleviate or lessen the unbearable sorrow that i am having at this very moment.

With all my love,
Saiful

The ugly truth of love

First and foremost, i would like to apologize for not updating my blog. This is primarily due to my hectic schedule. I am so sorry. Regarding the title above, i would like to share my experiences with others. Many people do think that to love and to be loved is amazingly wonderful. I do agree with that statement but to the certain extent, it is not really true. I did put a high expectation on someone so that xxxx will realize it. I have endeavoured many avenues to show my love towards xxx, but to no avail. It is futile and it really makes me depressed. I did vow to myself that i don't want to have any intimate feeling/relationship with xxxx. Whenever i see xxxx, however, i succumb to it. In other words, i can't resist it and it is such an insurmountable problem. Thereby, i do hope someone will help me deal with this cirrcumstance that i am going through right now.