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MARIAH
By: CHE HUSNA AZHARI

Prepared By :
BONNIE MADUIN EDWIN
MAS FAIRIZIANA
NORDIANA
NUR SOLEHAH
TAN YIING
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 Analyse the short story through the

Gender Perspective. Relate it to
Malaysian context.
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PLOT ter 
gh  Cik
au Ya
 Tuk d
Imam asked for his wife’s permission m to marry Mariah
n ) ’s app
e k h
o m e i ro
( w Sh ve
s e dt
e r t h he
g t f
a
ill ab p as ve o Im
e v ’s lo am
th Gu N ’s
y am ble re
b ik I m tta S qu
p C k e N FA es
T u rg I O L tt
f nf o T LI o
k o u C CLIMAX NG ta
c is A ke
a
b h G A
h I N CTI M
la s R IS ON ar
S

EXPOSITION
RESOLUTION
Introduction of Maria Tuk Imam married Mariah
Nasi seller
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THEME
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Discrimination

Male vs Female
Female vs
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required to giveWidow is considered

full submission as under
to their class which she would be
husbands.

Mariah
Yam allows Tok Imam to have another wifeaccepts Tok Imam’s propo
Pg: 14 Pg: 15
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ISSUES AND CONCERNS

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Gender Stereotyping

Men Women

Strong, courageous and rational.

Weak & Irrational
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Ironic:
• The women in Mariah stand out in triumph because of the
strength in their faith. They are selfless while men show
their weaknesses.
• Both women are willing to sacrifice for love and religion.
 Cik Yam – willing to share her husband because she
loves him and because she believes that she will be sheltered
under the Golden Umbrella of Siti Fatimah on the Day of
Judgement.
 Mariah – gives up independence (her love) to marry the
Imam because he is a man of religion – she is not dependent on
men for a living because it is shown at the start that she is
capable of finding her own income.
•
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Relationship

Husband and wife Among Neighbours

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Husband-wife relationship
• Perfect marriage: Tuk Imam & Cik Yam
• Problematic marriage: Cik Gu Leh & Cik Gu Nab

 Ironic: Tuk Imam is the one who wants to take a
second wife not Cik Gu Leh
 Pg 13 “Cik Yam jumped up as if struck by a bolt
of lightning. Can that dreaded thing most feared by
women be real, happening to her? Please God, let it
not be true. Why couldn’t it have happened to that
lazy Cik Gu Nab, who couldn’t even fry an egg
properly? Why her? The loving devoted wife, the
model housewife? Why? Why?



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Among Neighbours
•Cik Yam & Cik Nab


 Cik Yam welcomes Cik Gu Nab

despite the fact that Cik Gu Nab is a
gossip.
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Misuse of religion to justify personal

desire (Tuk Imam)
• Polygamy in Islam– To have more than one wife
 Up to 4 women: “Marry women of your choice
 Two, or three, or four;
 But if you fear that ye shall not
 Be able to deal justly (with them)
 Then only one (4:3)
 Other criteria: widows and orphans (who need male
protection for survival)
• Imam does not practice the real concept of polygamy.
 Pg 12 “Forgive me, oh God, for men are weak”
•



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Ironic:
• Mariah marries Imam in the hope that he will
guide her in spiritual matters. In actual fact, the
Imam marries Mariah because she reminds
him of his lost love of his youth.
 pg 15 “Imam was the man to marry, if she
would ever wish to marry. A man of religion
would be the only person worth marrying after all
those years of self-imposed celibacy.”
•
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Relating things that happened to

sorceries
 The women think that Mariah use sorceries to
attract customers to her stall



pg 6 “Cik Yam,” continued Cik Gu Nab, “Mariah
has been enticing our man to abandon their homes
for her Kedai Merpati. You know her nasi cannot be
that special. Why, I am sure for one she cannot beat
your nasi belauk.” (Cik Yam readily agreed). “But
why do all these men seem hell-bent on eating
breakfat at her place? I reckon, I mean we reckon
she has put ‘something’ (Cik Gu Nab put heavy
emphasis on the word something) in her nasi.”
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Blaming women on the issue of

infertility
• If a couple could not bear children, the woman is at
fault not the man.
 Pg 7 & 8 “Why couldn’t his wife bear children like
other women? Some women, it seemed, have the
fecundity of rabbits, but not his wife. Like all men of
his generation, it never occurred to him he could be
the culprit in his wife’s supposed inability to bear
children. As far as he was concerned, bearing children
was a woman’s job, and if she didn’t there was
something wrong with her.”

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CHARACTERS & CHARACTERISTICS

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Mariah
• A widow
• Nasi Belauk seller
• Beautiful and sexy
Pg 3 & 4
 “Mariah was a nasi seller in Mulo, in fact the nasi nasi
seller in Molo. Every morning at seven sharp she would walk
past the market entrance into the village square and mesmerise
the men with her swaying hips as well as her nasi….. Mariah
also had another asset. She was without a husband…. Mariah
had been married once, but her husband had passed away soon
after. ”
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TUK IMAM
• Head of the mosque (Pg: 5)
• Pious (Pg: 11)
• Respectable (Pg: 5)
• Referent to solve problem (Pg: 5)
• Succumb to his lust (Pg: 14-15 )

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CIK YAM
• Perfect wife
• Good cook
 Pg 5 “Her (Cik Yam) culinary skills were not her
only attribute; her housekeeping was also a model to be
followed by other womenfolk in the village. One could
always call at the Imam’s house at any time of the day,
guaranteed to be greeted by a well-turned-out wife, hot
tepung and fragrant surroundings.”
•

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CIKGU NAB
• Gossip (Pg:6)
• Loves to find other’s fault (Pg: 6)
• Hopeless cook (Pg:8)
• Jealous wife
 (pg 14)
 Cik Gu Nab sent threatening messages to
Mariah
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CIKGU LEH
• Cik Gu Nab’s husband and Tuk Imam’s friend
• Represent Tuk Imam in asking Mariah’s hand for
marriage
•
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SETTING
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PLACE
• Mulo, Kelantan, Malaysia
• (Pg: 3) “The main trunk road from Pasir Puteh
to Kota Bharu….”
•
•
•



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Morning stall in Mulong

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• PATTANI, SOUTHERN THAILAND

 (Flashback) Pg 8 “ the Imam became transported to
another time, his youth….”
• The place where Tuk Imam studied be an Imam
 Pg 9 “When the Imam was a young man of fifteen
his father had voiced his wish for his son to be sent to
Pattaniin Southern Thailand to learn under a tutelage of
a well known Sheikh.
•
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SOCIAL/POLITICAL
• Typical Malay (Muslim) community
 - Careers
 (Imam, Teachers, Nasi seller)
 - Clothing
• The characters (Kelantanese) in this short story are
portrayed as religious.
• Kelantan is the only state which is governed by PAS a
political party that aims to establish Malaysia as a
country based on Islamic legal theory derived from
the primary sources of Islam, the Quran, Sunnah as
well as Hadiths.
•
•
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MALAYSIAN VOCAB
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• Imam/Tuk Imam: Head of the mosque

• Cik Gu: Teacher
• Subuh : 1st prayer of the day
• Isya’ : 5th (last) prayer of the day
• Tepung : flour
• Kebaya : traditional clothes for women
• Kain lepas : sarong
•
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• Kedai Merpati ( the name of Mariah’s stall)

• Abang : endearment for husbands
• Local cuisine :nasi, nasi dagang, nasi berlauk,
nasi kerabu ,roti canai



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• Kulliyah : lecture
• Fusus al- Hakam: Islamic famous book
• Masyaallah (interjection): praise be to Allah
• Rizq (arabic word): sustenance
• Sheikh (arabic word): Islamic scholar

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Tudung saji

• Use to cover the food on the table

•
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Jubah and kuffiyah


Kuffiyah


•
Jubah
•
•
•
•

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Serban: head cover

SERBAN
•



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Safrah
• For functions; like a table cloth but to be put on
the floor instead of table.
•