Abortion has be a great phenomena trough out our country recently. Yes you are wrong when you committed the first sin. But why you are eager to add another? Is it really because of you or others influence you? So I stand up my case base on the 2 short stories entitled “A Great Injustice” by Heah Chwee Sian and “The Merry Maid” by Jayakaran Mukundan. Abortions happen not because of the unmarried mother, but because of the people around her that force her to make such decision.
I will start with “A Great injustice”.The first one is the treatment that Ah Nya received from her boyfriend, Steven and his family. We can see that in the story, Steven has never thought of marrying Ah Nya when she told him about the pregnancy. This is show by the line, “She was a very nice girl, honest and sincere, a great companion and a bag of fun but, marriage...” this line show that Steven never thought of getting married because he is not ready to take the responsibility yet. Steven tried to console Ah Nya by saying that he will discuss about Ah Nya’s pregnancy with his family even though Steven already know the answer that will be coming out from his family. Steven parents do not want Steven to married Ah Nya because she came from the lower class people. Ah Nya’s father, Ah Seng is just a mee seller. Steven left Ah Nya and flirted with other woman. This can be seen in the line, “well, I saw your Steven at a night-club with a gorgeous doll.” The treatment that Ah Nya received from Steven and his family show how the higher class society will treat a lower class people.
Secondly, we can see the different treatment that Ah Nya received when she tell her family about her pregnancy. When Ah Nya tells her parents about her pregnancy, her father was furious and angry. This is show by the line, “That’s disgusting! Shouted Ah Seng”. Mean while, Ah Nya’s mother reacts differently from the father. Rather than getting angry with Ah Nya, her mother was supporting Ah Nya. This can be seen in the line, “You men always said tht you should have sexual experience before marriage but who are your mates? They are also someone else daughter.” this show how women and men treated the unmarried mother. The men tend to get angry while the women are more supportive.
Next is the treatment that Ah Nya has received from the society because of her pregnancy without getting married. The society looks down upon unmarried mother. Ah Nya also received bad treatments from the villagers when the news of her pregnancy was widely spread in the village. This is show by the line, “Some women even had the audacity to visit her on the pretext of buying noodles from her parents,” and by the line, “Her neighbours forbade their daughters to talk to her, while old folks glared at her with contempt and called her name.” This shows how the society will treat an unmarried mother and tempt to make their life harder by calling them names. In the story, we also can see how the society treats differently between an unmarried mother and unmarried father. This is show by the line, “the village folk who jeered at her mercilessly and looked down on her spite were treating Steven with great respect and pride,” This show how the perception of the society were different when it comes to the matter of unmarried mother and unmarried father.
As conclusion, we can see how people can change a person life. People hold the power to make a person life to be good or miserable. In the story, we can see how the society has make the life of Ah Nya become miserable when they treat her badly when they heard of her pregnancy. The treatment of the society had made Ah Nya to make a drastic decision. Ah Nya had made the decision to abort the baby because she knows that the society will not accept her and her baby, so she made the decision to abort the baby because she do not want her baby to live in the cruel world because of her mistake. We as a part of the society should know how to treat a person with problems like Ah Nya. We should help them rather than condemn them for the mistake that they had done. We also should know that people are bound to make mistake because there are no prefect person in the world.
It is the same with what happen in “The Merry Maid”, unlike Steven, Shanmugan is more responsible. He is willing to marry Lakshmi. But before he succeeds he was set to prison. This maybe because Shanmugan did not came from the upper class like Steven. Because there is no Shanmugan at that time to support her, Lakshmi decide to give away her child. But she really regrets it. So her boyfriend also play roles in Lakshmi decision but in different way compare to Steven. Finally they both get married, but they have to forget their child. Because now and before is different in both literal meaning and spelling.
The next factor is Lakshmi’s parent. They keep blaming the past without thinking what will happen next, yes they will feel ashamed. But to they have the right to be god? Punish other creature? Only creator can do that because the creator has a right. What they suppose to do is look after the baby and Lakshmi. Lakshmi is just like other people who make mistake but they deserve a guide to become better not a punishment.
Issue of society in this short story is society wrong perception towards religion. Yes Sakinah now is a Muslim. But her bound with her mother will never break. But in this short story, once Sakinah is Muslim she is no longer Lakshmi blood line. I am sure because oh what society will think about sakinah also affect how Lakshmi’s parent treat her and contributing to Lakshmi biggest mistake.
Once again I want to highlight my stand. We human play a big role in anyone decision in this world. Because human are all connected, everybody think about others when doing something. The purpose of why they thinking about other are up to them. We must also responsible to whatever sin that committed in this world. This might sound ridiculous, but think deeper. Why people stealing? Because there are no other jobs that they can get. Why people rape? Because women dress up to sexy. Just think for a while and reflect how we are connected to others.
