Emily of Emerald Hill: a Singaporean perspective. Part 1
Introduction
Emily of Emerald Hill is a play written by Stella Kon, a prominent playwright in Singapore. She was born in 1944 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and only became a Singapore citizen in 1966, which implies that the early days of her life was spent outside of Singapore. Yet, Emily of Emerald Hill can be justified as a piece of Singapore Literature as according to an interview from Kon in 1999, the character “Emily”, while inspired by memories of her maternal grandmother, does not reflect the facts of her grandmother’s life. "... and yet it is in a way the story of every woman of her generation, who could only find power and fulfilment in the role of wife and mother.” This means that the source of inspiration for Emily is her Peranakan mother living in Singapore. The context and culture and historical backgrounds are all derived from Singapore. This gives us the certainty to draw the line to consider this piece of work as Singapore Literature.
Background
Emily of Emerald Hill has its historical settings based on the context of Singapore in the 1950s post-war period. Our late Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew states in an interview “After independence, I searched for some dramatic way to distinguish ourselves from other Third World countries. I settled for a clean and green Singapore. One arm of my strategy was to make Singapore into an oasis in Southeast Asia, for if we had First World standards, then businessmen and tourists would make us a base for their business and tours of the region.” It is a period that marked the onset of the economic progress of the nation as it enters independence and then develops from a third world nation to a first world nation.
The play focuses on an ethnic group the “Peranakans”, whose ancestors are Malaysian Chinese. There are many Peranakans communities in the last century. The word Peranakan is a Malay word meaning "born of". It generally refers to people of mixed Chinese and Malay/Indonesian heritage. Many Peranakans trace their origins to 15th-century Malacca where their ancestors were thought to be Chinese traders who married local women. Peranakan males are known as babas while the females are known as nonyas (or nyonyas). A historical fact that inspired the author is that the Peranakans were economically affluent and successful people in the society.
The old mansion “Oberon” where the Peranakans resided is remembered by the author in the play.
A picture from Pinang Perankan meusuem depicting how the wealthy colonial Peranakans lived.
Culturally, Emily is portrayed as the “authentic Nonya” - dressed in sarong kebaya with jewelleries, a master in Peranakan cuisines, she sets high standards for the products she purchased for her family due to her economic affluence and outlook of her social status.
Her standards of living can be reflected from her family's lifestyle:
1. Birthday cake from Adelphi Hotel instead of from a conventional confectionary. (Act One of primary text)
Adelphi Hotel was one of the 3 big hotels in the 1900s along with the Raffles, which of course still stands, and the Hotel de l'Europe, which is now our present Supreme Court building.
2. Needing 2 servants in the kitchen, 2 to wash and clean the house and having baby ahmahs and a driver and his family and a gardener with his family living in the house. (Act One of primary text)
3. Daily sitting in with her mother-in-law drinking tea and making sireh from silver boxes. (Act One of primary text)
4. Making investments through existing family dividends in public companies like Whiteways, Singapore Traction Corporation, which were monopolies in their respective market back then. (Act One of primary text)
5. Hiring cooks and waiters to hold big formal dinners at the lawn. (Act One of primary text)
Postcolonialism and western influence in Singapore
Although Emily’s native language is Malay, she tends to communicate in English because at that point of time, Singapore was heavily influenced by the effects of western colonisation, the influx of western ideas, and English was then the language of status and affluence. We see this from Singaporean history that places of status like hotels, Cold Storage, a supermarket, (there was only one then) and her conversations with prominent people like the Bishop or schools were all done in English. She sent her children to western countries even though she can afford to send her children anywhere she wants. There is a preference to the western education in their lifestyle even as leisure activities like golf and riding were done by her son Richard and husband.
The Singapore Turf Club initially is restricted only for members and owners of the club. It started in 1927, stopped its operation during the Japanese Occupation and reopened in 1947. It was only available to the public in 1960. This highlighted the affluence of Emily's family as being one of the members or stakeholders of the club.
In her speech, she puts in deliberate effort to present herself as fluent in English and if need be, also uses the English accent to garner more respect from people that she interacts with.
" Rings off, dials again - speaks in an upper-class educated voice, in amazing contrast to her previous manner." (Act One of primary text)
The only Cold Storage then, an upscale supermarket, while todaym it is where it is commonly found in shopping malls.
It was only until 1966 did Singapore adopted a bilingual education policy, where English was promoted as a first language to ensure that the country would keep up with the global economy. Besides English, students studied their respective mother tongues — Mandarin, Malay and Tamil — to remain in touch with their cultures and heritage.
Up till now, in Singapore’s context, English is still the dominant language used in all forms of legal procedures and other languages are categorised under the mother tongue of various ethnic groups in Singapore.
Reference:
http://www.emilyofemeraldhill.com/#!how-much-is-real/cp2o
http://sgfilmlocations.com/2014/11/24/penarek-becha-trishaw-puller-1955/
http://glimpsesofperanakanculture.tumblr.com/
http://www.dsng.net/2005/04/adelphi-hotel.html
http://lionraw.com/2013/09/11/bukit-timah-turf-club/
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history/events/0daaa112-a100-4bbf-8907-8ea4472c26c3
