READERS RESPONSE FOR NOVEL THE CURSE BY LEE SU ANN

The novel consists of 12 chapters that represent and picture the life of Malaysian people as a whole especially in the rural areas. In this remote areas, even of different races living together, their belief and lifestyles are related closely to each other. In the novel The curse, the main character, Azreen represents the modern thinking of people whereby she receives her education until the university level and furthermore in foreign country, London. Azreen is one of few person who are educated oversea and therefore her way of solving and settling problem influence her actions. This can be seen how she takes actions in her own hands when problem arises at her home. Meanwhile, mostly the other villagers especially the elders prefer to take things for granted and like to spread untrue story without even try to investigate the truth. This can be seen, upon Madhuris death, Azreens only sibling, the people especially the ladies believe that Madhuris death has caused a curse to their village. Not until Azreens efforts to find the truth about her sisters death, then the villagers find out the true story of what had happened in their village. There are some relation to the real world found in the novel and the themes are the heart of story of how we understand the story we have read. By understanding themes, we can put into words our view towards the story. As for The Curse, the theme love play an important part. There are few types of love, they are parental love, sibling love, forbidden love and unrequited love. For the parental love, this can be seen in Azreen and his parents, Saleh and her mother. Azreen is always trying to please her father although her father doesnt favor her much. Azreen looks after her mother who is not health. Saleh loves his daughter but he doesnt show it while

her mother does not blame her for causing the accident that made her paraplegic. Other example is when Mohd Azraf looks after his aged and sickly grandmother and loves her so much. Madhuri and Azreen are perfect example of sibling love. Although Madhuri is always the familys choice of daughter, she always defends Azreen and looks after her. She stands up for her when their father accuses Azreen of stealing mangosteens. Although sometimes Azreen thinks about Madhuri and different they were, Madhuri was attractive, pleasant and obedient while she was bespectacled and opinionated, upon Madhuris death has left her many unanswered questions that she tends to find them herself. The next type of love is forbidden love. This love is the main cause of Madhuris death at her fathers hand. Mohd Asraf and Madhuri were in love with each other even though she was married to the village headman, Haji Ghani. The last type of love is when Azreen has had a crush on Mohd Asraf from their schooldays. The second theme and has connetion to the real world is the belief in supernatural. This belief can still be seen in todays society. Bomoh or shaman are to be consulted if anyone is sick in the village. In this novel, Puan Normala convinces the villagers that theyve all been cursed since Madhuri bled in white blood when she died. Another example is many people call upon Awang the village shaman to avert disasters. In the real world too, there are many cases of violence against women and the theme violence against women fit this scenario. Some men believe the women to be the weaker sex and they are violence towards them. For instance, in this novel, the Old Ladys husband was abusive towards her and repetitively abused her. He hit and kicked her. There are many gender stereotyping in the real world. Through the novel, gender stereotyping is one of the theme and is portrayed through how females should behave. This can

be seen especially through Azreen. Her classmates cast suspicious glances at her when she begins playing hockey and laughing like a hyena with Mohd Asraf and the other boys. Finally, the fear for the unknown is part of our daily life and also one of the theme. In this novel, the villagers treat the Old Lady as an outcast because she had killed her husband, a deed which was unimaginable for them. Instead, they choose to misinterpret her talent at creating herbal cures and delicious dishes as dark magic and consider her to be an evil witch. A story they had spread throughout the village. Therefore, this novel is very much relate to the real life we have today. The characters in the novel do exist and the incidents are still happening. The novel portrayed how people like to make provocation and spread untrue rumors rather than doing investigation on the incidents. Until investigation is done, speculation spread widely that they easily believe and causes chaos to them. In this case, the main character, Azreen is a strong character and determine to find the truth behind her sisters death. In the end, although she lost her family she is relieved that she discovered the whole truth and moving on with her new life.