Emergency IT Lesson 4: Theme: Gambling

Q1. In relation to Paper, you should explain exactly what the title refers to and why it is so significant to gambling, gains on the stock market and ultimately the conclusion of the story.

The title can refer to many things. The most prominent fact is that lots of the term "paper" is referred to and used as significant contributions to the story. In "Paper", it is quite obvious that money is involved, hence, it can refer to the paper notes of money. The couple in the story have done a lot of paperwork in contribution to their savings, too. In the story, it is clearly emphasised that gambling can not only be in casinos but in business life, too. Gains in the stock market, buying and selling of shares, are all unstable rates which depends on luck, similarly to gambling. Hence, paper could be also trying to foreshadow the unstableness of the future of the couple, and the stocks and shares. The conclusion of the story has the most obvious example of symbolism to paper. When the sick Tay Soon was deceased, his mother bought a beautifully decorated paper house for Tay Soon's funeral and burnt it along with his death. This also implies the term "unstable as paper" as the house, made of paper, was the house of his dreams, only made in paper. It was so insignificant, so fragile compared to the reality of the house he had dreamt of. Together with Tay Soon's death, the paper house burnt away too, weakly and unstably.

Q2.For Lottery, do an analysis of 100 words in which you look at Ah Boh’s superstitions regarding gambling.

For a typical Ah Boh, gambling was all she could hope for, and that is what ruined her mind and state. She became more and more addicted each day, letting her sense drain away as she became undauntedly superstitious about the “tips” to winning. She would associate with every single things related to lottery numbers, from a cat’s weight, an infant’s coincidental behaviour to a license plate of a wrecked car in a car accident. She did extravagant things, including praying to the gods every morning and offering joysticks to her dead husband. She believed in foolish things like the “sign” that her husband gave to her. Ultimately, these were what caused her mother’s death indirectly, and things would have been better if she were a real fortune-teller, however. She is only a mere domestic helper addicted to gambling.

Q3.For The Rocking Horse Winner, write a paragraph of 100 words in which you point out who was responsible for Paul’s death.

For this case, its not just one person who is responsible for Paul's death. Several people were involved and they were the ones who caused Paul's death, and ultimately, also Paul himself. Paul was initially spurred on and inspires to ride to his "luck" no his horse when he heard the whispers in the house and his mother's replies. Paul's mother and father both should not have talked about money so loud in front of young children as those would corrupt the minds of youngsters, just like Paul. Also. when Paul asked his Mother about luck, his mother should not have mentioned anything about money, or defaming her husband. We can say that the whispers were the roots of his death and his Mother's response was the shoot of his death. Paul and Basett themselves are also greatly responsible for Paul's death. Paul should not have resorted to gambling even though he wanted to help his Mother and that cause the corruption of his mind and eventually lead to him being pre-occupied with gambling all day long. Basett should also not have encouraged and spurred the young child on just for money. He should have identified the problem and eliminated the corruption taking place in Paul's mind. Same goes for Oscar. Hence, we can conclude his death by saying that ultimately, the real cause of Paul's death was money.