Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Singapore and Australia
Narrator and Point of View
Grace Tay is the narrator
Tone and Mood
Reminiscent, passionate, insightful, and confused
Protagonist and Antagonist
Grace Tay is the protagonist. Her complex crises are the antagonists.
Major Conflict
Grace Tay’s quest to overcome her existential, cultural, and identity crises is weathering simultaneously.
Climax
The unfortunate demise of Grace Tay’s mother
Foreshadowing
The violent riots of 1969 foreshadow Grace Tay’s family’s tumultuous future.
Understatement
N/A
Allusions
Allusions to the royal family; ‘ Charles and Diana’ spoons. Historical allusions to past political happenings in Malaysia, such as riots.
Imagery
Grace Tay is utterly lost and distracted during her mother’s wake that she cannot grief as expected.
Paradox
The patriarch’s Oedipal situation that makes him reject his son is paradoxical because the Chinese society is highly patriarchal; hence, it places more importance on the boy child than the girl child.
Parallelism
Grace Tay offers parallel accounts regarding her life in ‘Australia and Singapore’ to underscore her cultural crisis.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Coffee denotes a dark skin tone Milk denotes a white skin tone.
Personification
N/A
