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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Essay & Composition Writing

Interpreting a poem using SPECS and SLIMS (Neighbours by Alfian Sa'at)

Could someone help me to identify the poet's attitude for writing the poem? Also, could you help me to interpret this poem utilising the SPECS (Subject matter, Purpose, Emotion, Craftmanship, Summary) and SLIMS (Structure, Language, Imagery, Movement, Sounds) method?

(Neighbours by Alfian Sa'at)

During Hari Raya she knocks on my conscience,
I knock on her door and I give her cakes.

She says she likes them and gives me
Sweets with gelatine inside. I throw them away.

Poor woman, doesn’t know how to make cakes.
Her children eat Maggi after school every day.

That's why the elder one is in Normal stream
And the younger one can't spell her name.

If I was her age I wouldn't be wearing shorts at home.
No shame, she doesn't know how to hide her womanhood.

When the children are naughty and I beat them
I close the door: I hear she's a gossip.

But she beats her children harder than I do
What to do her children are like that.


I once hear her scream she wanted to kill herself.
These people never value their own lives.

Other times I see her I smile and she smiles back
And her children smile and call me auntie.

But in our hands we hold with fists clenched tight
The keys to our homes, each night we slam the bolt shut.
  

Top answer

Dear Anon; We do not do other people's original work for them. That's not helping; on the contrary, it will impede your learning to think for yourself. So if you write what you think about this, we will assist you with your essay.

  • Dear Anon; We do not do other people's original work for them.
  • That's not helping; on the contrary, it will impede your learning to think for yourself.
  • So if you write what you think about this, we will assist you with your essay.
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12 Answers
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Dear Anon;

We do not do other people's original work for them. That's not helping; on the contrary, it will impede your learning to think for yourself. So if you write what you think about this, we will assist you with your essay.
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AlpheccaStars
Dear Anon;

We do not do other people's original work for them. That's not helping; on the contrary, it will ****** your learning to think for yourself. So if you write what you think about this, we will assist you with your essay.
[foul language removed by moderator; please read points 5, 8, and 9 of
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Hello Bobby;

I did not mean any rudeness. I only said that students need to do their own work first. By making your own efforts, you will learn and do well on tests. You did not understand my reply at all. Perhaps you did not understand the verb "******". It means to limit or slow down. Here is an example: Speed bumps on the road ****** traffic and reduce accidents.
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Hi

We don't often discuss invective in the forums, so let's give it a few moments..

- Calling people geeks, freaks and retards is not amusing

- Trying to back out of the insult by saying that a ****** is a speed bump is amusing - but not very persuasive

- Using the f word is appropriate if someone has insulted you. I can't disagree with that

- "You're
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Please note that the use of "******" was not to insult, and the usage of said word in that context was to mean "hinder". Although it is true that giving a little help or ideas would of been more amusing, please do not try and put AlpheccaStars in a bad light.
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Yeah not sure why people focused more on the term ******.. the term is specifically used in the maritime industry, mainly for when jumping through time zones. For example, clocks on the ship need to be adjusted to the appropriate time zone.. so clocks are then "advanced" or "retarded" .. so what the guy actually meant to say is if the guy who wants people to do his homework, will make him FALL BAC
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second line
it states that she throws them away. infering from the passage the speaker is muslim ,geletine is cnsidered non-halal and thus has to throw them away.this shows that either the neighbour is ignorant of this fact or she simply does not care
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I'm not really sure how to use the methods you mentioned but i try to make this poem easier to understand.It's not really the poet's attitude but rather the speaker's attitude.
In this poem, we can infer on the surface that it is about the racial tension between the Chinese and Malay, the two dominant races in Singapore. Coincidentally, it is also related to the racial riots that happened in
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'I hear she's a gossip' show that imagery used in the sentence which appeals to the sense of hearing. It shows that writer thinks that her neighbour is a gossip. However, she did not know that she herself is one

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