Based on the novel you have studied, which character do you sympathise with?

Give
reasons for your answer with close reference to the text.
RECOMMENDED OUTLINE
• State the novel you have studied and the author.
• Name the character you sympathise with. Give some information about the character in
the story.
• Give three reasons to support your answer.
• Give textual evidence to support each of the three reasons.
Model Answer
The novel, Sing to the Dawn by Mingfong Ho, is about Dawan, a young Thai girl who lives in
the village with her family. She won first place in a test and was announced as the winner of
a scholarship, giving her an opportunity to pursue her studies in a City school. Her brother,
Kwai, came in second after her. Both of them have great ideas of using their education to
improve life in the village. The character whom I sympathise with in the novel is Dawan.
Instead of getting support and encouragement for her achievement, Dawan faces anger and
rejection from her parents. Her father is angry with her because he wants his son to get the
scholarship. Her mother does not encourage her because she thinks it is foolish to give her
hope. Dawan’s close relationship with Kwai suffers because her brother is jealous of her
success. He threatens to take the scholarship from her, making her worried and defensive.
The conflict between them worsens with Dawan thinking ‘It’s either him or me.’ His betrayal
causes her pain. She even gets hurt physically when Kwai pushes her, causing her to injure
to her ankle. Thirdly, Dawan is sad to leave home. After all, she is only fourteen years old and
she is leaving her home for the first time. She will be alone in the ‘ugly, cruel city’. She will also
be far away from nature which she loves. For these reasons, I sympathise with Dawan. She
has to struggle to pursue her dream. By right, she should have received support from her
family and her community. She will also face a lot of challenges in her new life in the city.

Based on the novel you have read, write about how being positive helps the characters in the
story. Support your answer with close reference to the text.
Based on the novel 'Sing to the Dawn' by Minfong Ho, being positive has helped quite several
characters in the story such as Dawan, Kwai and Grandmother. Dawan is the main character
of the story and she faces a lot of hardships in achieving what she wants throughout the story.
Next, Grandmother is always there to help Dawan in any way she can as she loves her
granddaughter very much. Then, Kwai comes in by starting to behalf on Dawan's side nearing
the end of the story.
The first character is Dawan. By being positive and having a strong set of mind, she manages
to win her father's approval after several hardships she has to go through. Dawan stays
positive even though she get scolded by her father for wanting to go to the city to study and
she was accused of stealing her brother's chance to further his studies instead of hers. She
stays positive and strong all the way through each disapproval that she receives from her own
cousin, Noi and even the head monk of the temple. Her patience definitely pays off and she
manages to further her studies as she wants to in the end.
The next character is Grandmother. By being positive, she manages to give excellent support
to her granddaughter without fail. She believes in Dawan's responsibilities and always
encourages Dawan by giving her confidence and bravery to fight against all the discrimination
Dawan is receiving. With her constant contributions, she manages to watch her granddaughter
leave to the big city to further her studies and feels extremely proud of her. Her
granddaughter's success brings tears of joy to her and she is very glad that she supports her
granddaughter all the way.
The last character is Kwai. By being positive and supportive of his sister, he manages to help
her achieve her wish to study in the city. At the beginning of the story, he does not support her
but then he realises that he is being selfish and irrelevant. After long hours of considering,
Kwai decides that he will support her sister and help her get their father's approval to go. He
helps Dawan by defending her when she is scolded by their father and strongly states his
opinion of how he does not want to go to the city instead of her. He keeps his trust in Dawan
and continues defending her until their father finally agrees.
In conclusion, being positive has helped the characters a lot in achieving what they want
especially Dawan who gets her wish fulfilled and is able to finally go to the city to further her
studies.

Using the details from the novel you have studied, describe the moral value you have learned
from the novel

Answer :

The story, Sing to the Dawn tells of Dawan, a Thai village girl who has her early schooling in
the village school in spite of gender discrimination practised by the villagers. She wins a
scholarship which will help her pursue her studies in a City school, Dawan has hopes of using
her education to improve the situation in the village. But she has obstacles to overcome before
she can realise her dreams. One of the moral values I have learned from this novel is strong
family ties and support.

Every society should have families with strong and close family ties. Such ties should extend
into encouragement and support for family members who want to better themselves. Dawan
comes from a simple f.imily, who like all the other villagers work on the land for their everyday
needs. Father, like all other villagers, believes in gender discrimination. For them, males have
priority in everything including education. When Daw.»n wins a Scholarship to go for further
schooling in the city, Esther is not happy about it. In his eyes, Kwai is a more sizable candidate
than his sister. Mother supports Dawan but silently as she is subservient to Father.
Grandmother openly supports Dawan while Kwai shows some feeling of animosity. Kwai may
support Dawan’s plans and ideal but he has hopes of furthering his education in the city, too.
However, eventually everyone in the family including Father, gives their blessing and support
to Dawan. So she leaves for the city with love, support and encouragement from the whole
family.

Another family that shows support and love is Noi and her husband. To better their financial
circumstances and to escape from being drafted into the army, Noi and Ghan move to the city
to seek a better life. Whatever they decide to undertake, they do it together. They return to the
village when they find city life not as rosy as they had hoped it to be. They are prepared to
face the future together irrespective of what the future has in store for them.

However, Bao and her family does not show strong family ties and support. Bao does not
attend school while her brother, Vichai does. Bao has to work in the marketplace, selling lotus
buds and sparrows. A nature lover and being kind-hearted, she does not relish seeing the
sparrows caged up. So sometimes she lets her customers release the birds free -of-charge.
Vichai is not happy about this and attacks her physically when the money collected does not
tally with the remaining number of birds.

The moral value I have learned is family ties. The family should be strong and supportive of
family members who want to advance themselves.

Write about a memorable event in the novel. Explain how this relates to a character in the
novel.

In the novel Sing to the Dawn by Minfong Ho, a memorable event in the story is when Dawan
is announced as the winner for the scholarship to further her study in the city. This event is
closely related to Dawan as she did her best to attain the scholarship.

When Dawan is announced as the winner for the scholarship, she is shocked as she never
expects a girl would win the prestigious award. This part is memorable as it relates to her
determination later, when she seeks help from people around her, to let her achieve her
dream. Her determination is shown when she goes to see the head monk to help her convinve
her father, to let her go to the city. Her father believes that a girl furthering her study is a waste
of time. Since she knows her father respects the head monk, she is confident that, if the head
monk persuade her father, he will let her go. However, it turns out to be a sour affair for her
as the head monk, similar to others in the village, belief that a mere schoolgirl like Dawan does
not deserve a higher education. She is so frustrated that she runs out of the temple crying.
Yet, she does not stop there. She is still determined in convincing her father to let her go.
Looking at Dawan's determination, it is indeed a memorable event when she is announced as
the winner for the scholarship. It sparks the determination in her to secure what is hers. We
as teenagers should always follow Dawan's characteristic.

Next, after she is announced as the winner for the scholarship, Dawan shows her caring side
when she is more concerned of her brother's feeling. After knowing the result, friends
surrounded her. Yet, she has mixed feeling of happy and worry at the same time. She is
looking for her brother Kwai. As usually they will walk home togeher after school, that day she
is worried as Kwai is seen clutching to his books, looking sad. Then Kwai disappears. When
she reaches home, Kwai is not there either. This shows that Dawan is caring towards her
brother. Even she is happy that she gets what she always wants, she is aso concerned about
Kwai since she knows that he has high hope to get the scholarship as well. This is shown
when they are sitting on the old rickety bridge at dawn, whenKwai tells her about his dreams
of exploring the city if he gets to go there. Kwai also tells about how he will come back to the
village and help his father with new ways of farming. Remembering all these, Dawan is sad
for her brother. She is in dilemma as she herself really yearn to be there in the city, but at the
same time, she is concerned of her brother's frustration of not getting what he always dreams
of. Here, we can see that Dawan is caring towards her brother even she has got what she
wants. I believe we should always be caring towards our siblings, like what Dawan shows
towards her brother, Kwai.

Other than that, this is a memorable event for Dawan when she is announced as the winner
for the scholarship as this shows Dawan's bravery to speak up for herlself. In her village, it is
uncommon for girls to speak up. For example, Dawan is not confident at first when she wants
to ask questions to her teacher. However, with Kwai's encouragement, she speaks up. She ia
surprised when her teacher doesn't ignore her. Then, she is brave to talk to her father, to let
her pursue her study in the city. She asks her father to let her try, giving example of the sparrow
that is never let out of the cage. Her father is shocked but eventually he grants her his
permission to let her go. We can see Dawan's bravery here as she speaks up for herself with
his father when her mother is also afraid of him. I believe we should be brave like Dawan, in
fighting for our right in life.

All in all, it is a memorable event when Dawan is announced as the winner for the scholarship
as this shows us her determination, caring and bravery in fighting fir her right for education.
Let us be like Dawan, fighting for our right, as well as for our society's whenever it is needed
of us.