LITERARY CRITICISM ON

THE COFFIN IS TOO BIG FOR THE HOLE

GROUP 2BEATRICE

CHEONG ZI HOONG HONG YIN YIN

LEE LI WEN

• The grandson and his relatives are mourning at the funeral of the his grandfather.

• When the funeral procession reaches the cemetery, the family realizes that the big, grand coffin does not fit the standard hole prepared by the undertaker.

• The grandson asks the undertaker enlarge the burial plot size, but the undertaker maintains that this is impossible due to the state policy.

o---Synopsis---o

• Undeterred, the grandson drags the undertaker along to meet the officer-in-charge of the public burial grounds.

• But the officer-in-charge also echoes the same principle of "no

exception to the rule" and instead offers various alternatives to ensure the state policy would remain inviolate.

• None of these alternatives satisfies the grandson , who remains adamant and even threatens to have his family camp overnight in the cemetery in protest.

• The authorities eventually accede to the grandson's request, but sternly warn that such exceptions will not be tolerated again.

Synopsis

LITERARY CRITICISM

1. POLITICAL CRITICISM

2. SOCIAL CRITISICM

POLITICAL CRITICISM

• The plays criticized the political condition of Singapore in early 1980s.

• The dramatist criticized the rigid, unaccommodating style of the government of Singapore in 1960s, 1970s early 1980s

• In this play, the dramatist also showed us the changes of government style of Singapore in 1980s.

• During the 1960s and 70s, the People's Action Party (PAP) adopted a governing style which emphasized that decisions should ultimately be made by the state and not from the people's perspectives.

• This is mirrored in the played by the officer-in-charge who rejected the requested of the grandson due to the national planning at that time.

• Toward 1980s, as an increasing majority of Singaporeans became "better educated” and “better informed”, the people were becoming less tolerant and frustrate of the government's omission of public opinion and sentiment in its dogmatic pursuit of state interest.

• These feelings of frustration and exasperation towards the authorities are mirrored by the grandson in the play who feels that the officer-in-charge and the undertaker are more preoccupied with their "national planning" policies.

• In the play , the grandson admonishes the authorities to look beyond their pragmatic, unsentimental approach towards everything, and have the humanity, understanding and attentive to consider the difficult situation in which he and his family find themselves.

• In order to ease public disapproval and retain public support, the government to reform its public image, from rigid and unaccommodating to sympathetic and humane.

• This show in the play where the cemetery authorities finally allow the grandson to have his way is mainly driven by concern over their public image.

• The officer-in-charge, after careful deliberation over the grandson's outburst, agrees to make a "very special exception" for the grandson, citing as reasons that "we don't want people to misunderstand us, to read us as being disrespectful to traditions, as being hard and unaccommodating to even the dead” (pg44)

• The cemetery authorities' concern is to appear humane and understanding to the public, and to correct or prevent any perceptions that they are "hard and unaccommodating."

• The officer-in-charge's gradual softening in attitude is strikingly similar to the changes in the government's attitude during the 1980s.

SOCIAL CRITICISM• In the play, the dramatist criticize the social condition

of Singapore during 1980.

• In this play, the dramatist portrayed us the feeling of frustration and exasperation of Singaporean towards the authorities in 1980s.

• This can be seen by the grandson in the play who showing his dissatisfaction, frustrated toward the rigid and unaccommodating principle of "no exception to the rule”.

• The dramatist also showed the changes of government attitude in 1980s due to the pressure of public sentiment towards their rigid and unaccommodating actions.

• This have been showed in the play where the cemetery authorities finally accede to the grandson's request to enlarge the burial plot size.

THE END