PIB2008 INTERPRETATIONS OF LITERARY TEXTS IN

SCHOOLS
SESSION 2021/2022 SEMESTER 2

ASSESSMENT:
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS 2

PREPARED BY:
AHMAD SYUKRI BIN SAHIDDAN | U2004418

PREPARED FOR:
DR. LIM JIA WEI

SUBMITTED ON:
26/06/2022
PIB2008 Textual Analysis 2
The Clay Marble
The novel ‘The Clay Marble’ by Minfong Ho is a story about Dara and her family
during turbulent times in Cambodia.
Based on the end of the excerpt given, I believe the writer portrays war as
something that does not make any sense. War destroys the norms of a nation, case in
point, Dara asks the cook why they were using high quality rice seeds that would help
farmers yield more crops as something to be eaten by everyone. It defeats the purpose
of those seeds and in normal circumstances those seeds would be a blessing for farmers
everywhere but in war everything must be used for the sake of war. Another point in the
madness of war is that, the will of the people are stripped away and every bit of their
effort must be put towards the war effort no matter what. We see this in the story where
the cook shows Dara that there are no more farmers only soldiers in that camp.
The story is set during one of the most volatile periods in Cambodia history, right
after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The state of the country can be changed in the blink
of an eye and we see it to an extent when the refugee camp that Dara’s and Nea’s family
stayed at was attacked which forced them all to separate and go their own way before
reuniting later. I believe that the writer picked the best setting to convey the nonsense of
war as we can see that despite the previous regime ended, the current regime is just as
bloodthirsty and gladly continuing their atrocities.
In my opinion, the writer feels very strongly on the topic of war, seeing that they
are willing to write a novel around it. They want us to question the logic of war: Why do
we need it? There is only sadness and suffering for those who are innocent bystanders.
The economy will be strained, there will not be enough people to keep the economy
stable as all the able men are sent to war as seen from the excerpt given.