Oral stories as well as written fiction are conventionally told using the past tense.

Its common to readers and writers, and its been the prevalent format for storytelling since the antique. Defying the conventional practice of using past tense in a short story is therefore a huge decision to make by an author given there might be a potential that the reader might notice this. Suchen Lims decision in doing so within the Gloria story might be triggered by four particular reasons by the virtue of immediacy, believability, engagement to the stream of consciousness and novelty. Firstly, with respect to immediacy, due to the modicum amount of tension constituted within this story such as those transpiring between Gloria and her past or Gloria and her employer - the utilization of present tense attaches this short story with a deeper sense of urgency and immediacy; this would, in line, escalate the tension of the story even more. Thereby, the narration may switch from past to present - with or without explanation within the context of obsession to fulfill this end. Secondly, regarding the believability, the author seems to expect us, readers, to experience the story as it is happening along with the character. Believability would not stand as a barrier by this virtue, thanks to the story snatched away directly from the readers reality, chiefly the Singaporean readers. On the other camp, this would reinforce the believability, which is suited to the theme very well. Thirdly, Glorias stream of consciousness lends itself better to present tense. Each and every single time shes having an argument with herself, present tense would allow the reader to be engaged to it by ease. Fourthly, pertaining to novelty, the fact that present-tense narration is utilized in this short story is enticing indeed for us in our capacity as the readers, simply given theyre distinctive. We may also end up paying closer attention since the format is one unfamiliar to us, brimming with the unique feeling and sensation. As the end game, a deeper involvement in the story could be attained. In a nutshell, Suchen Lims decision of using present tense within this story is truly justified and justifiable due to four reasons outlined earlier. Augmented with the right flow she composed the story with, she has managed to capitalize the use of present tense for the storys advantage.

The ending whereby Gloria is caught shoplifting may convey three following messages that Suchen Lim is about to deliver to the readers. Firstly, as a Chinese decent, Suchen Lim must be extremely familiar with old Chinese saying that it is more difficult to guard against an inside thief instead of an outside thief. The wisdom behind this old adage which time and again comes up in the cases of maids stealing be it from other places or from the employers - is presented into the table on the end of the short story in a bid to reiterate the relevance of the ubiquitous wisdom. Secondly, Suchen Lim might attempt to convey a take away lesson on how to handle this problem in the right manner. There are three specific lessons we could reap by the means the family handles Glorias case. Number one, ensure that the stolen goods are really stolen. Glorias employers have tracked the proof that she has stolen in the store, thus they would not hesitate to deal with this. Number two, should we are sure that our maid is stealing from us or other place akin to what Gloria did, confront her about it. We should not scream at her and insist that she is a thief as we must bear in mind that it is still a suspicion and, as the iron law of the universal law suggests, anyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Number three, should we are completely sure that our maid is stealing but she denies it, gather some solid evidence to prove it. Glorias employers have employed this strategy, allowing them to fend off any of Glorias lies during the questioning. Thirdly, most importantly, the author might attempt to jolt the readers out of their complacency that devil is omnipresent, constantly seducing people to fall into his uncanny grasp. As in the case of Gloria, the devil could utilize a broad array of instruments to seduce her to steal such as, for instances, greed (always aiming for something more by any means), hatred (wanting the other to be miserable or revenge driven), or necessity (this is indeed possible given she could only hand miniscule amount of money from Singapore for her and her 10 children). This should mentally strike the readers that unless we protect ourselves from being the slave of devil, our life on earth and afterwards would be nothing less than miserable.

Born into a traditional Roman Catholic family and raised as a Catholic, the first thought that flashed into my mind after reading the title is the Gloria ancient hymn chanted during the weekly mass, occasionally in its original Latin version; that is, following the penitential act rite and prior to the opening prayer by the priest. As the lyric suggests, Gloria means no other than glory. Bearing this in mind, I initially thought that the story would pertain to either glory of God or glory of one of the characters. Bizarrely, after stumbling across the whole story, the thing that stroked my mind in the very first place is how ones pursuit of glory could turn out to a sudden loss of all glory one has within a split second due to one erroneous decision taken in the intersection of life road. In the pursuit of glory, Gloria seems to heed the perennial classic adage of One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the. Leaving the amenities of the familiarity of her home country, Philippines, she arrived in Singapore as a maid, aiming to reach the glory after being saturated with the throngs of affliction visited her whole life in the antique. In the majority chunk of the story, her aim for glory sets the context of her endeavor as a maid. That being said, she chose one wrong decision which caused her to lose her glory even more instead of gaining the glory he envisioned. Her decision to shoplift has handed her a status as criminal, caused her to stay in the prodeo hotel for a while, and required her to purchase new ticket to fly back home as she would miss the flight. Her pinch of glory has dissipated.

This section of the story sets the stage for the story to groom; it directly introduces the reader to the context surrounding this story. At least, following three points could be reaped from the first page of the story. Firstly, as a live-in maid in Singapore coming all the way from the sunshine land of Philippine, shes extremely close with Timmy, even to the extent that she could fill in the mothers shoes. Its a common experience that a child would develop a special bonding with ones live-in maid - at least I experienced it back then with my maids. Psychologically-speaking, this is perfectly normal; a human being would develop some kind of feelings towards someone they are with often. Albeit this has hinted that the closeness between Gloria and the children would later spark a tension, it has yet to pinpoint toward any hint that the tension would be more complex than it seems. The fact that she merely cuddles the younger children, Timmy and Sarah, would cause John, who is too old to be

hugged, to feel alienated. Partly this is precipitated by the fact that, unlike Timmy and Sarah, John is not the maams biological son. Secondly, the way she frequently hugs the children given Filipinos hug a lot and reference made to her children in Filipino pinpoints toward the fact that she has yet to forget her past. Despite it seems as theres no particular significance, its later revealed how her experience in Philippines shape her and the decisions she made in life. Henceforth, the story that would later develop should be put in perspective of her miserable past experience in Philippines. Thirdly, this indeed sheds the light on the fact that shes a typical live-in domestic worker in Singapore, with the social status within the house akin to those of other maids. Living under the same roof with the family and doing the entire household chores dont grant a maid the privilege to be an equal member of the family. Shes still regarded as just-another-employee, as indicated by the way she could not sit in the same living room with the family and watching the TV together. This is indeed a hint on how the story would progress, revolving around the life of a typical live-in maid in Singapore.

Albeit the major part of the story moves forward in a linear time line, there are several flashbacks scattered within the stories be it a huge or minor time jump to the past. During this flashback, theres no reason to use any tense other than past tense as its the only logical option. Doing the opposite would confuse the readers and transgress the elementary rule of tenses. Following are the instances. - Huge time jump Lets examine the section of Did Grabiel Jose leave the village too? Dis sheher pride. This is indisputably one of the biggest time jump within the story. The event when her children ran away took place years earlier, even before the story commences. Past tense is therefore the appropriate past tense to put in plice. - Minor time jump This is an excerpt from the section whereby the family drives Gloria home from the police station. Its almost two in the morning by time they are home again. They were silent throughout the ride home from the Tanglin Police Station. On the first sentence, present tense is used, per se. This is beyond doubt given their arrival at home is still in line with the storys general time line which takes place after they fetch her from the police station. Nonetheless, the second sentence utilized past tense given their reluctance to speak a single word during the drive from the police station to the home takes place prior to their arrival at home. This therefore deviates the linear time line and past tense should be utilized.