A Dream Of China

by Ovidia Yu

Cassandra Teo Filus

Abang Muhammad Syahmi
Muhammad Raihan
(CasSyaHan)
SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM
• Middle/Working class people
▫ The protagonist’s father (works as a teacher)
 “my father had a steady income from teaching” page
163
 Breadwinner of the family
▫ Heavenly Wisdom (the protagonist’s husband)
 “You will have to pay for half the trip, they only pay
half,” page 168
• Lower class people
▫ The protagonist’s uncle
 poor and unkempt; living of his brother’s money
 “not being miserable and badly treated on this hovel,
married to this misery of a wife who deserved to be
dead.” page 170
CULTURAL CRITICISM
• Identity

▫ The usage of Chinese language is no longer used in

their daily conversation.

▫ Instead, English is used as their main language in

Singapore
“She talked as though she weren’t Chinese herself
often speaking of ‘We Americans’, but her
American accent could not alter her almond
eyes and high cheekbones.”

Page 164 ,
paragraph 4,
line 4-7
• Calligraphy

▫ The art of calligraphy which is one of Chinese

culture is still maintained even though they are in
other country and environment.

▫ The fact that the protagonist’s father are teaching

the toddlers the right way of holding the
calligraphy’s brush shows that the culture is still
maintained.
 “He had never given up his interest in
calligraphy”

Page 166, Paragraph 4, Line 6-7.

“...to hold a Chinese calligraphy brush...”

Page 161, Paragraph 2, Line 6-7

• Inheritance

▫ The eldest son are supposed to be the head of

household and also inherits the family’s treasure.
 “If my father returned, all would have to be
surrendered to him, who was the eldest son of
the family.”

Page 165, Paragraph 2, Line 8-9.

PSYCHOANALATICAL CRITICISM
The protagonist thinks that “China was the most
beautiful of beautiful lands” (page 162) through
the stories of her father.
She even dreams about China that has strange
mountains, still waters, weird beast that looks
like a unicorn, fairies and spirits in trees and
animals.
And when she reaches China, she admits that
China has much beauty (e.g. the breathtaking
loveliness of the river, the mountains).
She even says that the beauty was “even my father
had been unable to convey to me.” (page 169)
She says that she feels alien when she came to
China and the land “had nothing to say to my
spirit” (page 169) but her spirit “inclined
towards a diamond city of trees and meaningful
occupation” (which refers to Singapore) (page
169).
At first, she is glad that her uncle has made his
father to stay in Singapore and Singapore is her
birth land.
But when her uncle asks her to get him out of
China, she has second thought about bringing
him along because that can spoil everything
there in Singapore.
In the end, China is not as beautiful as her father
tells her so: ‘that’ China only exists in the hearts
of the men.
POST-MODERN CRITICISM
• Irony of the title
- Title: ‘The Dream of China’,
- Page 162, first line: ‘China was the most
beautiful of beautiful lands’
- Page 172, line 11: ‘…wishing with all my heart I
had not come to China,…’
- Page 173, line 12: ‘…alienated from the China I
saw, but no less eager to listen to my father’s
stories of the most beautiful of beautiful lands.’
• Irony of the brothers
- The brothers parted ways, one of them went
back to China and the other stayed in Singapore.
- Page 163, line 36: ‘His brother had done right
and he had done wrong’
- Page 170,line 3: ‘If my father had only given
him a word of warning he would now be in
Singapore living in the lap of luxury’
• Distinction between reality and fantasy
- The existence of magical creatures (e.g.
unicorns, fairies) in China (her dreams).
- page 162
• Distorted timeline
▫ Starts with the description about how her uncle
will live in Singapore
▫ Then, moves back to the past of the two brothers
▫ It advances forward normally to the present of the
story of the girl being in China
▫ Then goes back the description about how her
uncle will live in Singapore with them
▫ Then it moves forward normally.