THE CURSE

By Lee Su Ann

Highlight a few moral values that you can learn from Novel The Curse. Support your
answer with evidence from the novel
There are many moral values found in The Curse by Lee Su Ann. The story is set in an island
off Langkawi Island. The Curse revolves around the events surrounding the death of a village girl,
Madhuri, who is also the adopted sister of the main character, Azreen.
The first moral value is bravery. This value is shown by Azreen. First, even as a young girl she
takes challenges and tries to prove to her friends that the Old Lady is not an evil witch. When she
is yelled at for entering the Old Ladys house and destroying her vegetable garden, Azreen bravely
defends herself. In fact, she returns the next day and repairs the trampled garden. Her action wins
the Old Ladys heart.
The second evidence is when Azreen bravely takes the blame for Mohd Asraf in the bull
incident. She demonstrates courage. The same bull later injures her mothers leg causing he to
lose the use of her leg. She was blamed and scolded by her father as well as the villagers. She
bravely endures that and never tells anyone of what really happened.
Her bravery is once again tested. The third event that displays her bravery is when she tries to
tackle the angry mob who are about to attack the the Old Lady. When the Old Ladys house is in
fire, Azreen tries to rescue the Old Lady but at the end she has to be rescued by her father. When
the Old Lady dies in the tragic fire, she confronts Mohd Asraf like a wildcat.
Finally, towards the end of the story, she finds out the secret that her father has been keeping.
She confronts her father about Madhuris murder until he is forced to confess about the truth. She
is very brave to confront people whom she knows have done wrong to others. At the same time
she is very brave when defending herself and the people she loves.

Write about a moral value you have learnt in the story. Support your answer with
evidence from the novel
The novel that I choose is The Curse by Lee Su Ann. The story is about the mysterious death
of Azreens adopted sister, Madhuri, and how Azreen goes through everything to find out the truth
behind the death. A moral value that I have learnt in the story is bravery.
This value is shown by Azreen. First, even as a young girl she takes challenges and tries to
prove to her friends that the Old Lady is not an evil witch. When she is yelled at for entering the
Old Ladys house and destroying her vegetable garden, Azreen bravely defends herself. In fact,
she returns the next day and repairs the trampled garden. Her action wins the Old Ladys heart.
The second evidence is when Azreen bravely takes the blame for Mohd Asraf in the bull
incident. She demonstrates courage. The same bull later injures her mothers leg causing her to
paralyze. She was blamed and scolded by her father as well as the villagers. She bravely endures
that and never tells anyone of what really happened.
The third event that displays her bravery is when she tries to tackle the angry people who are
about to attack the the Old Lady. When the Old Ladys house is in fire, Azreen tries to rescue the
Old Lady but at the end she has to be rescued by her father. When the Old Lady dies in the tragic
fire, she confronts Mohd Asraf like a wildcat.
Finally, towards the end of the story, she finds out the secret that her father has been keeping.
She confronts her father about Madhuris murder until he is forced to confess about the truth. As
conclusion, bravery is the moral value that I have learnt through Azreen. For me, Azreen is very
brave to confront people whom she knows have done wrong to others. At the same time she is
very brave when defending herself and the people she loves.

Write on a character that show responsibility in her or his actions based on Novel
The Curse. Support your answer with evidence from the novel
Based on the Novel The Curse by Lee Sue Ann, the character that shows responsibility in her
actions is Azreen Saleh. Azreen is not only a responsible sister and daughter but also a
responsible student and friend.
Firstly, Azreen as a responsible sister comes back immediately when she hears of her sisters
death although at that time she is about to sit for an examination that is important for her. She
postpones her examination in order of giving her sister her last respect.
Secondly, as a daughter she shows her responsibility firstly, when she spends the whole night
repairing her mothers favourite rattan basket that was broken by the heavy durians that she and
Madhuri has brought in. Subsequently, with Madhuris help she makes a new rattan basket that
looks like the one that she and Madhuri have broken. In addition to that, Azreen accepts the offer
to further her studies in London for the sake of upbringing her family social status and thus could
then save a lot of money to get a better treatment for her mother that is paralyzed by the bull
escape incidents that she.
Thirdly, as a friend and a student, Azreen shows her responsibility when she accepts to join the
school hockey team as a substitution to Hock Seng that is injured. She does that even though she
knows that she will be the only girl in the team and this will tarnish her image as a girl. In fact she
plays very well and almost scores a goal. In addition to that, Azreen shows that she is a
responsible friend, when she brings a full basket of fresh vegetables and tomatoes to The Old
Lady of the forest to replace the one that she tramples earlier when she comes to The Old Ladys
house for the first time.
In conclusion, throughout the story, Azreen shows that she is a very responsible towards her
actions. In fact, I would like to have her as a friend as a friend as such is hard to come by.

Which character do you like the most based on Novel The Curse? Support your answer
with evidence from the novel.
The novel I have studied is The Curse by Lee Su Ann. The novel is about the main character,
Azreen, who returns from England after she finds out about her sisters death. Upon her
return, she is surrounded by many secrets. She discovers the circumstances of Madhuris death
later in the story. At the end of the story she finds out the truth and leaves for London an orphan
but more resilient and wise.
The character I like most is Azreen Salleh. She is a 20-year-old student who is studying in a
university college in London on an exchange programme. She is short, bespectacled, rather
bookish and outspoken.
I like Azreen because she is outspoken and she is not afraid to spoke her mind. She is vocal
and says her opinions although sometimes she says the wrong things at the wrong time. She
also hates her fathers treatment of her foster parents and Madhuris burial ceremony that is
conducted without her presence. In handling the village gossip, Pn Normala, Azreen tells her off
that the rain has started even before the Old Lady comes into town.
The second quality she has is she is courageous. As a child, she plays hockey and football
with the boys. In the bulls incident, she is brave enough to accept the blame for the bulls escape
instead of blaming someone else. Azreen also shows her courage by taking up the dare to knock
on the Old Ladys door when none wants to do it. In another instance, Azreen confronts her father
about Madhuris murder despite her young age.
Azreen also has strength of character. When she returns to her village, she hears a lot of
gossip surrounding her sisters death such as as Madhuri having white blood and her death
signals a curse to the villagers. Azreen feels upset but she never retaliates. Sheshows patience
and strengh because she knows that whatever she does, she cannot stop the villagers from
gossiping about her family. In another instance, Azreen is told that her sister is
murdered. She should have been very upset about this news but she takes it calmly and does
not become hysterical. Later, when she finds out that
her father is the culprit
who kills Madhuri, she feels no anger but regrets that it has to happen. She understands her
fathers anger and shame because Madhuri has been having an illicit affair with Ashraf although
she is already married to Hj Ghani. Azreen also shows a lot of strength because after all that has
happened to her family, she stays composed and strong and returns to England for her
examinations.
In conclusion, there are many qualities in Azreen that I admire and she is the character that
I like most in the story.

Write on an important event in novel The Curse. Support your answer with evidence
from the novel
In the novel The Curse by Lee Su Ann, an important event is the outbreak of the fire which
results in the Old Ladys death.
Firstly, it is an important event because after this event, it creates a domino effect on a number
of other events which in turn helps Azreen to finally solve the mystery behind her sisters murder.
The fire enrages Azreen and like a wildcat, she confronts Mohd Asraf. He apologises and admits
that he had been too grief-stricken to be rational when he has lost two important people in his life
his secret lover, Madhuri and his grandmother, Nek. After the fire which kills the Old Lady who is
trapped in the fire, Awang, the bomoh informs Azreen that Madhuri is not her biological sister. The
secret about Madhuris identity is finally disclosed by Azreens father who reveals that Madhuri is
adopted. Moreover, the village Pontianak is actually Madhuris biological mother who returns to
the village to seek revenge over her daughters death. According to Awang, the ghostly figure is
also the vengeful spirit that has killed Azreens chicken.
Secondly, it is an important event because we are finally shown the reason for Madhuris
murder and the culprit. When Azreen confronts her father, Encik Saleh defiantly confesses that he
had accidentally murdered Madhuri after learning that Madhuri, a married woman, commits an
adultery when she secretly sees another man.He confronts Madhuri and during the struggle,
Madhuri falls to the ground and her head knocks over the latex cup which stains her clothes. A
distraught Azreen flees after hearing the shocking news while Encik Saleh comes face-to-face with
the shadowy woman Madhuris mother who nears him with a parang in her hand. Saleh
collapses and dies of a heart attack.
Thirdly, the fire at the Old Ladys house is the climax of the novel. From that point onwards,
events dramatically unfold and Azreen gets to the bottom of the mystery. Azreen puts the pieces
of facts here and there together and begins to understand the reasons behind the cover-up of
Madhuris murder by her husband, Haji Ghani. Most importantly, we are also exposed to the crime
of the villagers who are willing to do anything including planning an attack on the innocent and
harmless Old Lady just because of superstition. Under the instigation of Puan Normala, the
villagers are convinced to believe that the Old Lady possesses a special power to turn people into
rats and squirrels, so the latter is accused to be an evil witch who brings all the misfortunes and
bad omen to the village. In fact, when the rain continues to pour for more than four days, causing
the town to be flooded, the Old Lady is blamed to have put the curse on the village. From this
event, we can see how gullible the villagers are to believe the vicious rumours spread by the
village gossiper, Puan Normala. She does not seem to care about the destruction she causes. Her
irrational behaviour thus destroys the reputations of victims such as the Old Lady even in the eyes
of children. At the same time, through this event too that we see the purity of the Old Ladys heart.
Despite being ostracised by the villagers, the Old Lady bears no grudges and is still willing to help
people like Asrafs Nek. More importantly, the Old Lady at the point of her death before the
burning house collapses on her, she reminds Azreen to forgive all the villagers who have wronged
her.
In conclusion, the fire is the most important event as it is the catalyst for many more events in
which makes the stories more interesting.

Write on the theme of love based on novel The Curse. Support your answer with
evidence from the novel.
The Curse written by Lee Su Ann touches on many aspects of life. Basically, all the aspects
revolve around our own community and can be used as guidance in our life.
The theme of love which is actually the main conflict in this whole novel. Firstly, we can see
this aspect between mother and child when we read how loving was Azreen towards her mother
when she came back from London. She realized her mother still does not know about the death of
her sister, Madhuri. Azreen took over the duty to take care of her mother who was suffering from
Alzheimers disease which was getting worse. Azreen cooked porridge for her mother like Madhuri
used to do and fed her. This shows that Azreen loves her mother very much and feels responsible
to take care of her after her sisters death.
The concept of love can also be seen through Encik Saleh who loves his daughters very much
but does not know how to show it. He kept his love within him and was always looking fierce and
angry towards his daughters and wife. He loved his family very much and that is why he worked
hard on the farm.He also repairs chicken coop, repairs fencse and roofs and chops wood in
order to earn a living for his family. As a hard-working man, he wanted to give his family the best
out of him due to his love towards them which he does not show openly. Here, I admit that I
admire Encik Saleh as a loving father towards his family but he should have shown his love in a
more appropriate way.
Lastly, the concept of love can be seen in the characters of the Old Lady and Azreen. Azreen
was very lucky to find a meaningful and comfortable relationship with the Old Lady of the forest.
She was very close to the Old Lady until she told her all her secrets. She always goes and visits
the Old Lady whenever she felt bored, angry or happy. This shows that Azreen really loves the Old
Lady and does not give a single thought to what the villagers say about the Old Lady. Azreens
love towards the Old Lady was very strong until she was willing to go into the burning house in
order to save the Old Lady. But, faith wins. The Old Lady died in the fire while Azreen was saved
by her father due to his love towards his daughter. As we can see, the concept of love is very
strong throughout the novel. Each and every character in this novel has the desire to love and to
be loved.

Write on the theme of forgiveness in based on novel The Curse. Support your answer
with evidence from the novel
Lee Su Ann, the writer of the novel The Curse had brought up many themes in her writing.
One of the themes that I liked very much in this novel is forgiveness which was clearly portrayed
in Azreens character.
As we know from the beginning, Azreen is a very outspoken, aggressive and stubborn
character but towards the ending of the story she had learnt to forgive others. Azreen was very
much influenced by the Old Lady who begged Azreen to learn to forgive others at the time of her
death. We can see very much that Azreen kept her promise when she forgave Mohd Asraf who
had deliberately played with her emotions. All the while Azreen thought Asraf liked her but, Asraf
was actually falling for Madhuri and when he admitted that to Azreen, she was speechless at first.
Azreen hid herself from Asraf by running away until she reached the cliff of the hills when Asraf
confessed his love towards Madhuri. But as time passed, her anger melted away slowly and she
forgave Asraf as the Old Lady had told to her just before she died.
Azreen too learnt to forgive her father who murdered Madhuri. Even though she felt sad at first
but she did not feel angry or resentment at him but she realized that she had lost her only father
that she used to know as a very hot-tempered man. Slowly Azreen forgave her father but she
could not see him eye to eye so she left him alone and that was the time when Encik Saleh had a
heart attack and collapsed. But if at all Azreen had not promised the Old Lady to forgive others, I
do not think that she would forgive her father for murdering Madhuri.
Azreen too forgave Madhuri for all the hurt and resentment she caused in Azreens life.
Azreen was jealous of Madhuris beauty and genteel behavior. She was the favorite daughter.
She also resented Madhuri as Madhuri was able to captivate Asraf who eventually fell in love with
her. But, when Azreen discovers that Madhuri was adopted and the truth about Madhuris murder
at the hands of her own father, she feels nothing but pity for poor Madhuri . Finally she forgives
her sister, Madhuri.
Last but not least, Azreen also forgave Asraf and wished him luck from the bottom of her heart
when he left Langkawi to take a teaching course in KL. When she read a note from him, she did
not feel angry but she smiled after reading the note and also questioned herself whether she had
learnt to forgive others. From Azreens character, I too learnt to forgive others in my life if they hurt
my feelings. Being revengeful will not give us anything in life except the negative value.
From the evidence above, the theme of forgiveness had been portrayed very well in this novel
through the protagonist, Azreen. I hope each and every human will learn to forgive others in their
life.

Write about lessons you have learnt from the novel. Support your answer with evidence
from the novel
The Curse by Lee Su Ann has many lessons for its readers. One of the lessons, truth will be
known and secrets will not last forever. There are a few characters who keep secrets and
eventually the secrets are exposed.
First, Mohd. Asraf and Madhuri. They were secret lovers. They planned secretly to run away to
Kuala Lumpur. After Madhuri died followed by his grandmothers death, he almost lost his mind.
Keeping his secret love was very difficult. He was easily influenced by Puan Normala that his
grandmother was poisoned by Old Lady. That was the reason he burned the Old Ladys house
causing her death. Finally, he realises his mistakes and comes to his senses.
Second, En Saleh Abdullah, Azreens father. He was always proud of Madhuri. Madhuri made
him proud when she agreed to marry the village headman, Haji Ghani. When her affair was
discovered, Encik Saleh gets very angry and accidentally killed Madhuri. He never tells anyone
and until Azreen confronts him. Actually, he is ashamed because the daughter he was really proud
of, had an affair and tried to run away. He keeps seeing a ghost. He suffers a heart attack and
dies.
In conclusion, dark secrets only make life difficult. The evidence in the story has shown us that.
Any dark secrets we have, may destroy our lives. We may lose the people we love. Always be true
to ourselves and do not take advantage of others. Always think before we act