Other short stories which link to the cultural practices are ‘The Necklace’. From this story, I learn about French life and people in nineteenth-century Paris. The way they lived was determined by their social class. In those days, women from a lower class had no opportunities even if they were talented. However, women were sometimes judged by their beauty and intelligence rather than by their class alone. Personally, I am female and undeniably, women’s today are really changed. Nowadays, women and men’s are the same level. We can see that women are more succeed than men in this life. Everywhere and anywhere like university where I’m studying now, men are extinction. It’s like a tradition whereby women are always getting to a university and men are working or maybe in jail. As a Muslims,we knows that men must be the leader..so,where are they? .as a female and women..i'm so proud to say that women are so damn good!!!

I agree with this statement that short stories offered in the literature component does provide us with insights into cultural practices of others. Even though I didn’t have a chance to learn the short stories, 'of Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes' in school, but after I read it by myself, I was discovered that 'bunga telur' plays an important role in Malay wedding ceremony especially in Kelantan.

I would like to point out that the story actually is rich in culture but tackle the subject of Malay's pettiness, small-mindedness and too caught up with the tradition. This is where the needs of culture and religion clashes where the religion asks us to be modest but the culture insisted on the presence of Bunga Telur, which has its own symbolism of a wedding ceremony. Hence, in the end of the story, causing the bridegroom sitting on the 'Pelamin', barefoot. A cynical short story that really point fingers at every Malays because the tradition had been always a waste.

'of Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes' also shows the richness of Malay culture as many custom ceremony is included here. If we look back some of the reason why we teach literature, doesn’t it comes to us that we instills some cultural knowledge to the students? The life about marriage, is only the literal text is focused on the ceremony that instills the cultural value. So, it is up to the teacher, what kind of values that they drawn out from this story to deliver to the students.

This will not only enrich the students' knowledge on Malaysian culture but also imparting unity and respect to people of other cultures and believes other than their own.

ok, see you then

After reading the story, Of Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes by Che Husna Azhari, it really arouses my curiosity on Kelantanese Malay’s culture. The story tells us lots about the preparation on the wedding and the roles of some of the items in a wedding such as bunga telur. Before reading this story, I didn’t know that bunga telur is so important in a Malay wedding. All this while, I thought it is souvenir for the guests who attend the wedding. Although we are living in the same country for years, it didn’t evoke me to know more about the bunga telur. Until I have come across this story, I want to know more about the bunga telur. In order to drill more information on the bunga telur, I took the initiative to ask my Malay peers. The cultural practices in this story give me plenty of impacts. I can clearly see the uniqueness of our culture in Malaysia. Now, I realize that we can actually be so sophisticated in performing our cultural practices. Besides that, the co-operation among the villagers of Kelantan in a wedding also tells us how co-operation immerse in their culture. For instance, the villagers gather together to help Jamal prepare for his big day such as cooking and doing house chores. This is definitely is a good ritual for all of us to follow. Lastly, as a reader of this story, I believe that we learn to respect others culture more after a better understanding of their culture.

The rivalry between two brothers in becoming the next chief is generally what the Story of How Dalat Got Its Name is all about. After the death of the chief, Galau and Umat start to dispute for the replacement of their father’s position as the chief of the village. Most of the people agree that Umat is the eldest son so he deserves to be the chief because it is a tradition in their culture that the eldest son in the family is given the priority to take over the father’s position and responsibility. This tradition does not only carry out by the Melanau but some of us in Malaysia are living with this tradition until today. Other than that, the other issue in this story that we can relate with cultural aspect is betray ness Betrays your own people and land is a shameful crime for the Melanau as we can see in the story. Umat is discriminated by the villagers even after he died, he does not deserve a memorial pole. His death body doesn’t get their respect too. From this, we can know how particular we are in being loyal to our land and people. There is no mercy for betrayals in our culture. Therefore we can notice that the Melanau’s cultures somehow signify the tradition cultures of our nation.

The Necklace is about a woman by the name of Mathilde, who constantly longs for the life of the rich and elegance. She never satisfies with what she has in the present and doesn’t seem to appreciate them. The setting of this short story is in Paris, France and this city is divided by social class. This story actually shows us the way people lived in Paris during the nineteenth-century. People were determined by their social class. We can see that going to ball and showing off prosperity are some of the culture of the higher class people in Paris. For those who are not from the high class society, they still try very hard to fit into the society just to get more admiration from society. Mathilde is definitely one of them who struggle to squeeze into the society. Like Mathilde, some Malaysians think that if they get to mingle with the people who have high profile and status in the society, they will be respected and admired. They have the wrong values in life because human should not be judged by their appearance and status but the morals that live within them. I believe that hierarchy still exists in any society around the world. We can’t deny that until today, people are still measured by their social status. This is a culture for the whole world from the very beginning. We might not realize it now because it’s not so obvious compare to those days. People need to know that a person’s value does not depend on how rich or poor he or she is. Besides, moral qualities are more important than riches or talent. Most of us know about this theory but do not seem to practice it. The act of clearing debts by Mathilde and Loisel is very creditable and of course in our culture, we have been advised not to owe anyone money or things. Debts need to be clear once we are affordable no matter how difficult. This story definitely helps me to understand the similarities between the old Western culture and our very own Malaysian culture.

In each of short story, we can respond to the lives and emotions of human characters and the human situation. So from that, we can understand more about our experiences and those of others. Of Bunga Telor and Bally shoes, it tells us how the Kelantanese behave in the wedding process. The title itself ‘bunga telor’ is the significant or symbol of Malay wedding. Personally, I think that the wedding is not complete without bunga telor. However, nowadays bunga telor also can be changed into sweets, handkerchief and many more. What I can say is I still think that bunga telor has its own sentimental value than anything else. According to the story, when Jamal ask for changing bunga telor to hacks, it seems ridiculous to her . It’s true! I never heard that anyone give hacks to the wedding guest. It will give a shame for the whole family. Genders thinking also influence the story. It’s a common thing for women in our culture to set up everything in someone’s marriage. The woman has an authority to do whatever they plan rather than man. In this story, gender thinking refers to Jamal’s mother and sister who are busy preparing for the wedding. Looking for the rain god shows us the insight of Non Malaysian culture. This story is about the murder of two young girls, Neo and Boseyong for the sake of rain making ceremony. They are so desperate and believe the spiritual rituals until they are willing to sacrifice their own daughter without any hesitation. What cruel person they are! However, in Malaysia there are still shamans or bomoh that still believe that such thing.

I totally agree with the statement above. It is true that we can learn the culture practices of others through short stories. Let me discuss this by using ‘Looking for a Rain God’ (LFR) as a reference. This short story is written by Bessie Head who was born in South Africa. And from what I learned in school, this short story is set in Botswana (correct me if I’m wrong). So, here we can make assumption that the writer wrote the reality of their people at that particular time. Throughout this short story, I found quite a number of practices of the people in Botswana in 1958. The first one would be the committing of suicide. It was written in the story that a number of men hung themselves to death from trees due to the drought. The suicide was the best way for them to escape the heat and the tragedy. In my culture, suicide is something that is strictly forbidden. Logically, people who commit suicide are just torturing themselves. I can’t even think how unreasonable they are. The second practice that I found is that the people in LFR were said to seek the ‘charlatans, incanters and witch-doctors’ because they were ‘in desperation for little talismans and herbs to rub on the plough for the crops to grow and the rain to fall’. For this one, it can’t be denied that sometimes this practice is also practiced in my culture but still, it’s not a reasonable thing to do (even in my culture). The last practice that I notice mentioned in LFR is the ritual of rain-making ceremony. It really does not make sense. They sacrifice the kids for the ceremony but the rain did not even fall after what they had done. They, in turn, were sentenced to death for ritual murder (killing the children).
Conclusion: these three practices seem to be normal in the culture of the people set in the short story LFR. I mean, these will normally happen at that time during the drought. The writer has exposed us, somehow, to the people. On the other hand, we (in my culture) do not believe in all these.

yeah, LiyanaRusli.i agree with what you've said (i'm referring to 'bunga telur'). 'bunga telur' is important in Malay culture yet nowadays things change, including this practice of 'bunga telur'. and for me this indicates that the new generation takes culture for granted. so, there must be someone who must do something to preserve our beautiful culture and let that someone be any of us who is in the culture!
to be honest, although i'm Malay i dont really realize what does 'bunga telur' means in my culture. i dont even question why people always give 'bunga telur' at the wedding ceremony. what an ignorant person i am! but the discussion on this matter during a lecture a few days ago helps me to understand this practice better. my colleagues said that 'bunga telur' symbolize fertility (but dont ask me 'in what way?' coz i'd just learned about this and i'm learning ). giving 'bunga telur' also means that the person who is giving it passes the happiness to the person who receives the 'bunga telur'. hmmm...i dont know.. it's interesting to learn more about this actually.
in this case, what i'm trying to point out is that even though you are in the culture and have lived long enough in that culture to make you think you really understand a particular practice in your culture, you might be wrong! you may know the practice but you may not be able to answer why is that so and so?
thus, learn about your culture and understand it!
gud luck!

short stories in the literature component which offered in Malaysia indeed give us different perspectives of one's culture. whether we have the chance to experienced it ourselves or not, still it give impacts to the moment we read it. as for the 'looking for a rain god' by Bessie Head, its pretty much differ from malaysian culture which majority of the people are Islam. in Islam, it is forbid to believe in others' power except Allah. differ from the story, mokgobja and his people seek help from a rain god-a tribal custom belief, by sacrificing two children in order to make rain fall due to seven years of drought. maybe it because of the desparation but still man didn't have the right to take other man's life..

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I agree with Haneitha's statement saying that the cultural practices and beliefs in the story “Looking For A Rain God” are indeed very cruel and mean. However, after attending the tutorial class, I actually realized that what the characters have done to the children is understandable. By saying this does not mean that I agree with their actions. By really analyzing and reading the story thoroughly, I began to put myself in their shoes. The level of desperation of not being able to plough thus could not survive can really drive someone to be out of his/her mind. Sometimes when someone is so desperate, he/she will do something which has never been expected to be done by a normal human being, in this case killing two children. The need of being rational and right is totally not taken into account anymore. So, having said this, I think we should try to be more emphatic when we read a text as this will enable us be emotionally-involved in the story and this will definitely lead us to have a better understanding of it.