Sing to the Dawn eBook

C H A R A C T E R S
14

17
Dawan
loving
Concerned about Kwai's feelings
She runs after Kwai to console him although she should
have enjoyed a shower of appreciation and
compliments for her performance in winning
government scholarships.
When her brother sat and pondered alone under a
heavy downpour, she shows effort to pass her brother
an umbrella although she was struggling. This is
because she does not want her brother to get a cold.
She struggles to find Kwai, given the fact that it was
dark outside. She feels bad after her father shared his
disappointment in Kwai that he was unable to meet his
father's aspirations and dreams for him.
Although her family did not fully support her in
achieving her dream, she stills appreciate her family
and hope to get their support and cooperation.

19
Kwai
virtuous
Has a strong sense of justice in the area of
women's rights and others who he thinks are
powerless to defend themselves
He felt criticized when Dawan boldly mentioned
his act of turning his back on his beliefs by
seizing her only chance to make a change for
their society.
Although he did quarrel with his sister
regarding the scholarship, due to his mixed
feelings of letting her pursue her studies in the
city, in the end he finally admitted that his
sister deserves that chance and he should just
give up in fighting to get the scholarship.

20
Kwai
loving
In order to get his sister a proper education, Kwai
took action in dealing with his father so that his
sister also gets an opportunity to study, just like
him.
He notices that his sister was anxious on the day
when the scholarship winner was announced, so
he quickly try to cheer her up so that she will be
happy.
Concerned that the responsibility to meet the
expectations of the scholarship would have
burdened his sister.
He decides to prioritize his sister's feelings and
dreams of pursuing his studies in the city, instead
of fighting for the scholarship although Kwai also
has a dream to study in the city and he is aware
that the scholarship is his golden opportunity to
achive his dream.

22
MINOR
Grandmother
Mother
CHARACTERS
Father
Noi

23
MINOR
Monk
Bao
Teacher
CHARACTERS

24
MINOR CHARACTERS
Father
1.Bad-tempered
Instead of praising his own daughter
for winning the scholarship, he
throws a temper and even blames
her of stealing the opportunity from
her brother in getting a decent
education.
Interrupts his wife as she attempts to raise
the issue of schooling their daughter.
2. Prejudiced against women
He appears to believe women
shouldn't have to be educated
because good education would be
wasted on them
At first he refuses to let Dawan go to
school

25
MINOR CHARACTER
1.Observant
Grandmother
The first one to notice Dawan's
hesitation and unpleasantness
when she came home after she
won the scholarship
Question her politely about what is disturbing
her
2. Warm
Congratulates and supports Dawan, despite her son's
rejection and oppression.
3. Committed in her beliefs
Believe in her moral sense.
She stimulates Dawan's motivation in believing
her ability to stand up against the prejudices and
opression of their society againts the capability of
a girl

26
MINOR CHARACTER
Mother
1.Reasonable
Chooses not to lavish her daughter
with false expectations when she
received the scholarship
2. Temperamental
Can be affectionate and jovial at
one point and biting or bitter at the
next.
3. Attentive
Speaks in a low voice, amidst the
urgency at Noi's house, in order to
prevent waking the baby.
Selects the appropriate time to leave
Noi's house, so that it doesn't invade the
privacy of her family

27
MINOR CHARACTER
Noi
1.Negative-thinking
Sees the world as inhumane and
horrific
Appears to believe that hope
and the struggle for change will
only give misery and anguish
2. A devoted daughter, wife and mother
Deceived her family about the city's wonderful
things to guard them from feeling discouraged by
its horrific realities
Try to keep her family working hard together to
stop Ghan from joining the army, so her child will
grow up without the absence of a father.
3. Self-respect
Seek to get a job in the city, so that she
can maintain some self-respect

28
MINOR CHARACTER
Bao
2. Sympathetic
1. Self-willed
Encourage Dawan to stand firm in following
her dreams for the future, and not to give
in to the people who threaten or step in
her way.
She condems Kwai for acting negatively
towards Dawan's only chance to pursue
her study in the city, although Kwai did
defend her from her evil brother.
She feels sympathy with Dawan and offer
solace for her in her toughest times, even
though she has known her for less than a
day
Opens a caged sparrow to lighten up her
mate, although being mindful of the severe
repercussions it would have.

29
MINOR CHARACTER
Teacher
2. Unprejudiced
1.Respected
His students respect and follow
him, without him having to
punish or scold them
Motivates his students by saying
that learning is an effective way
to learn how to help others and
not just cram into painful truths
before they are spat out again
Embrace his students despite their gender or
family background context.
When Dawan earned the government
scholarship, he never questioned Dawan, and
continued to promote her opinions regardless
of their social standing.
Asks Dawan and Kwai 's father regarding his
idea of sending either one of them to the city,
rather than just inquire about Kwai.

30
MINOR CHARACTER
Head Monk
1. Austere
Consider giving up on materialistic goals
and belongings for an uncomplicated
and peaceful life.
Acknowledges things as they are,
claiming that real happiness comes from
not wanting; including physical change in
circumstances of life
Persuade Dawan to broaden her belief,
instead of following transient aspects of
life

THEMES
35

A biased society towards
the respective roles of
gender
37
The society in this novel depicted a prejudiced attitude
towards women, where they choose to look at women as
unworthy of having any superior position other than a
housewife. Women have less opportunity to step out from
their traditional role because they are living in a misogynist
society.
Dawan's mother feels powerless whenever
her husband did something like throwing
tantrum or being unfair towards Dawan
because she thinks as a wife she does not
have the power to speak up
Educating their daughters is taboo, as it is assumed
that it would be wasted, hence only their sons are
given the opportunity to pursue their study
Although Bao is a wise girl, She would not get any
chances to study because she is forever trapped
by her biased family that think less of her simply
because she is a girl. They think a job like peddler
suits her.
Dawan is fortunate because she managed to break the stig
by getting the scholarship. However, she had to encounter
negative reaction from people around her like from her
father, the head monk, and also from her cousin

An unfair system that
opressed the poor
38
The land lord charges the villagers with taxes,
although it is difficult for them to make ends meet.
They have to sacrifice most of their harvests. The
villagers are voiceless because they do not have
power to do so. Hence, by this system the land lord
will keep gaining the profit meanwhile the poor will
stay poor.
Noi and her husband are annually struggling to
meet the avaricious demands of a greedy army
officer who pressures them to pay expenses in
order to prevent Ghan from entering the army
The cruel army has increased the amount of Noi and her
husband's debt with 40% interest. Although he is aware of Noi's
family's struggle in giving him money because they are poor, he still
gruesomely enjoys watching them struggle to find the money just
to ensure Ghan being enlisted into the army

Close relationship
between family
members
39
Being close to his sister, Kwai is longing for an equal
treatment of his sister. So he helped to convince their
father to allow Dawan to study and join the same
classes that he did years ago when he first attended
the school.
In turn, Dawan also care about her brother. She never
neglect him and always carries her responsibility as a
sister. Although she is the first born in the family, she
always need to prioritize Kwan simply because he is the
eldest son. But she never hates him
The close relationship between them is suddenly being
tested when Kwai becomes indifferent towards Dawan
after she got the scholarship. However, although their
relationship is being tested, Dawan always care about
her brother, for example when Kwai does not return
home, she went out to look for him, althought it is
already dark.
Despite his father's rage, Kwai still stands
unswervingly by his sister's side and give her as
much encouragement as he can.

Education is the key
to a better future
40
Most of the villagers are poorly educated, and
therefore are unaware of initiatives to maximize their
quality of life. Farmers like Kwai 's father, therefore,
wishes that their son would then find success in
continuing his schooling before returning to help
lighten the financial burden on their family
Their school teacher is the character that
motivates his students about education
because he realizes education can be one
of many reasons to change someone's life.
He motivates his students to think
individually, to examine the weaknesses in
the rules that constitute the tax systems of
their village and their privileges to the land
they and their forefathers had worked
hard on before them.
He advises Dawan, the scholarship recipient, to
comprehend all of those things in order to be able to
identify and pick up approaches that can be handy in
helping her the villagers and her family to change their life,
once she ended her studies and gain her self-confidence in
doing so.

PLOT
45

Plot
is the stage where the
Exposition
and settings are
characters
rising action is where the
The
or problem is introduced.
conflict
is where the characters
This
to face complications and
start
climax is the turning point of the
The
This is the part where the main
story.
faces the most danger either
character
or physically. The climax also
mentally
the possibility of the main
shows
failing to resolve the conflict.
character
sequence of events in
The
story a
RISING
ACTION
falling action occurs right after the climax. This stage usually contains
The
that will help the main character to resolve their conflict.
events
resolution is the final stage in a plot. This is where all the loose ends
The
tied and all the questions or mysteries answered. The conflict will also
are
this video
Watch
understand
to
remember
and
elements
plot
VIDEO
2
46
1
There are 5 elements in a plot:
usually introduced to the readers.
1
EXPOSITION
2
3
things get exciting.
5
RESOLUTION
PLOT
FALLING
ACTION
CLIMAX
3
4
4
5
be resolved at this stage and the outcome of the story revealed.
better!

DO TO
WORKSHEET
THE
GOOD LUCK!
50
worksheet
PLOT ELEMENTS
THIS WORKSHEET IS TO ALLOW YOU TO
UNDERSTAND THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF A PLOT.
STUDY THEM CAREFULLY BEFORE TRYING OUT
THIS WORKSHEET. FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN
AFTER YOU HAVE SUBMITTED THE WORKSHEET.
CLICK HERE

52
worksheet
UNDERSTANDING PLOT
BASED ON THE NOVEL SING TO THE DAWN BY MINFONG
HO, WRITE A DIARY ENTRY FROM DAWAN'S POINT OF
VIEW STARTING FROM THE MOMENT SHE FOUND OUT
THAT SHE HAD WON THE SCHOLARSHIP AND ENDING
AT THE PART WHERE KWAI WAVED TO HER FROM THE
BRIDGE. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE ALL THE SIGNIFICANT
PLOT DETAILS. THE DIARY ENTRY MUST CONSIST OF AT
LEAST 500 WORDS. AFTER YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THE
DIARY ENTRY, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AVAILABLE IN
THE LINK BELOW.
U B M I T Y O U R
S
N S W E R H E R E
A
CLICK HERE TO
SUBMIT YOUR
ANSWER

WHAT IS
SETTING?
54
BASED ON THE NOVEL
SETTING
SING TO THE DAWN
Click here

QUIZ IS HERE
worksheet
NAME:
CLASS:
61
Test Your Knowledge
of Setting
Click the link below to answer a quiz on
setting based on the novel Sing To The
Dawn. It's a Multiple Choice Question
(MCQ), thus choose the best answer.
Click

worksheet
NAME:
CLASS:
62
MATCHing
Match the place in the left column with its
correct event in the right column based on the
novel Sing To The Dawn.
ACTIVITY
Click Here
MATCH US ACTIVITY

63
moral lessons
A message conveyed by, or a lesson
learned from, a story or an event.
It is not necessary that the author has
clearly stated it. It can be left for the
readers to derive.
Moral lesson is necessary for a piece of
literature, which then functions as the
main gist of any literary piece.

ON THE NOVEL
BASED
TO THE DAWN
SING
64
moral lessons
1. Everyone deserves an equal right to
education.
In this rural village, girls are not given equal
opportunity to study. However, Dawan wants to
convince everyone that she deserves to go to the
city school. She believes that education will break
the vicious cycle of poverty in her village.
2. We should have a positive attitude.
Kwai feels torn about blocking Dawan’s chance to
further her study. When Bao tells him off for being
selfish, he realises his mistake and rectifies it. His
better self takes over and he wants her to grab
this chance she has. He tries to be positive about
Dawan winning the scholarship.

65
moral lessons
3. We should work hard to improve the
quality of our family life.
Dawan knows that she has to do a lot more for
her family and society once she has finished her
studies. Kwai too says he will improve the plight
of the villagers when he can. They both see that
they need to bring changes for the people.
4. We have to listen to others and be more
tolerant.
Dawan needs to get her father’s permission to go
to the city school. Her father, like most of the
male villagers, feel that females have no right to
education. However, after Kwai and Dawan
persuade him, he permits Dawan to pursue her
studies in the city.

66
moral lessons
5. We should respect the elders.
Dawan and Kwai respect their elders and obey
them generally. Dawan wants her father to give
permission for her to go to the city school.
Although her parents forbid her from receiving
the scholarship, she is hardly rebellious.
6. Determination is the key to success.
When Dawan wins the scholarship, she seeks
support from many people to convince her father
to let her pursue her study. She goes to Noi's
house, and the temple to ask for help. She is
determined as she does her best to get support
from others even when her father and brother
stand in her way.

NAME:
CLASS:
67
BASED ON THE NOVEL SING TO THE DAWN, WRITE
THE MORAL LESSON OF THE EVENTS THAT ARE
GIVEN IN THE WORKSHEET.
CLICK HERE
THE QUESTIONS
ARE HERE!
worksheet

A T T E M P T T H E
Q U I Z N O W
NAME:
CLASS:
68
BASED ON THE NOVEL SING TO THE DAWN,
ATTEMPT A QUIZ ON MORAL LESSON TO TEST
YOUR KNOWLEDGE.
CLICK HERE
worksheet

NAME:
CLASS:
70
BASED ON THE NOVEL SING TO THE DAWN, WRITE
ABOUT AN EVENT THAT TEACHES YOU A VALUABLE
MORAL LESSON. GIVE EVIDENCES FROM THE TEXT TO
SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.
CLICK HERE
ANSWER SHEET
worksheet