Unpolished Gem Chapter Summary
Essay by gujhdksn • October 8, 2015 • Essay • 895 Words (4 Pages) • 6,443 Views
- Use this table to record your reading of ‘Unpolished Gem.’ [pic 1]
- Through summarising what has happened and identifying key quotations, you have a greater understanding of the big ideas of the text.
Pages: | To be completed by: | Characters involved: | Key events which take place over the chapters: | Key quotations/themes (include page numbers and quotation marks): |
1 - 36 | Friday 26th June | Grandmother Granddaughter- Alice Alice’s father and mother Mothers sisters | -They move in to an apartment in Australia -They are very appreciative of everything they are able to gain here and it really reflects on modern day selfishness exhibited in Australia. -Family feuds betwixt the mother and grandmother | “Wah” –pages 7,8,9,10+ Wah is an annoying term used frequently in this book but it highlights their feelings of wonderment. “Why do you love your grandmother more than me?” pg 34 –this is an indication of the ongoing family feud between the mother and grandmother and the kind of absurd questions the mother is asking her 8 year old daughter. I believe she was 8 but I get confused with the ages in this book. |
37 – 64 | Friday 3rd July | Grandmother Alice Mother Outside-ma Grandfather 1 and 2 Father | -family feud between mother and grandmother continues -Alice and her brother both get nits -Alice goes through bladder control issues due to not being able to work up the courage to ask to go to the toilet -We are told about the grandmothers 6 son miracles and about the pig of a husband with two wives. | -Page 57 with “Outside-ma” – The mother was born into the husbands family so she is “outside-ma” -page 42+ grandmother “saves” two boys with small pox and we get an idea of her life with her husband and 5 sons. |
65 - 86 | Friday 3rd July | Ah Bo Ah di Grandmother grandfather Father Mother Alice | -Father opens an appliance store and mother starts up a small jewellery business. -We learn about the grandmothers two daughters and there deathly ordeals | -page 74+ we learn about the grandmothers two dead daughters and how the grandma kept her first girls hair all these years. |
87 - 118 | Friday 10th July | Alice Mother Father Grandmother Grandfather | -Alice leaves the baby unattended for a small amount of time and the baby kicks itself off the bed hitting its head and causing Alice to consider suicide. -Typical teenage issues that Alice goes through. It’s like her own hardships with boyfriends, friends and parents. It kind of resonates with the issues privileged teenage girls think about and consider problems and the kind of problems her mother or father would be experiencing at that age. Basically her parents grounded her for the holidays for talking to a boy. Talks about some of the hardships in china and how the grandmother was kicked out of the country by the government due to a news article and it also says how she met her husband and Alice’s grandfather. We also were given a grave idea of the Cambodian civil war caused by Pol Pot and some of the things the Cambodian people endured or suffered. | Page. 91 suicidal thoughts because she dropped her baby brother on his head Page. 97+ grounding and hardship with parents and boys Page. 107 look over- talks about china’s hardships and political messages. Page. 111-119 We learn about the Cambodian war and Khmer Rouge. |
119 -151 | Friday 10th July | They talked about how Alice’s parents and the rest of the family walked through Vietnam and Cambodia to reach Thailand and waited roughly a year before they were accepted as refugees. Her mother was also insistently trying to come to a conclusion about why she is never happy and never gets any sleep. It even lead to her digging up her old backyard. Alice’s mother even showed great persistence with selling her jewellery and retrieving the money, she didn’t leave the store until she was reassured she would be paid. We also witnessed a petty gossip between her mother and aunty and what it’s like for jobless Asian women. Alice’s mother also tried learning English then gave up. | ||
152 - 191 | Monday 13th July | Alice’s mother (seemingly the main character for this section of the book) was clinically depressed and always complaining and crying as she looked upon her jobless future. The chemicals she worked with for the gold were dangerous she had to find new work. So she worked for her husband’s electrical appliance store. Meanwhile it was holidays for Alice and she went on cleaning the house and cooking making sure everything was ready for her mum when she got home. She also entertained her siblings and herself. The mother then lost her job and not long after the grandmother was in hospital. She had a stroke and half her body was paralysed. This made Alice have a breakdown, she has anxiety and I believe it was depression even though the book never stated that. She saw her body as a shell that covered the truth inside. That she was fake on the outside and what was on the inside was horrible. | ||
192 - 218 | Monday 20th July | Alice’s grandmother has died. After Alice’s long and tiering depression she overcame it and was reassured about her future with her brilliant ATAR score. She now saw more meaning in her life It also talked about Alice’s aunt? Trying to set her up with her son. | ||
219 - 266 | Monday 27th July | |||
267 - 282 | Monday 27th July |
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