Here is my presentation based on what I have learned this semester in class, a short play entitled Visits by Jit Murad. It is a very interesting play and I had fun reading and study it.

1. SHORT PLAY
VISIT by Jit Murad

2. About the Playwright
• His real name is Aziz Mirzan Murad, but in his childhood, it was
contracted to ‘Jit’ which his entire family knew him as. He writes short
stories and plays, he acts and does stand-up comedy.
• He is also a raconteur, philosopher and social commentator. As with
most middle class families, Jit’s parents expected their children to train
in some professional fields and pursue prestigious, well-paying careers
in law, medicine, accounting or engineering.
• So after his Lower Sixth year, Jit headed for the United States where
he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology (Urban Studies). He went
on to read his Masters’ degree in Art History.

3. • On his return to Malaysia around the time of the mid-eighties slump, he
landed his first job as a copywriter at a well known advertising firm.
• In December 1989, he co-founded the Instant Cafe Theatre Company
which garnered an immediate following with its wickedly funny, biting
social and political satire lampooning everything from Malaysian social
mores to political skulduggery.

4. • In 1993 Jit helped start Dramalab, an arm of
ICT specifically dedicated to encouraging
new writing.
• His first play, in 1992, Gold Rain and
Hailstones, was a successful production that
played to full houses in Kuala Lumpur,
Penang and Singapore.
• In 1996, Dramalab produced The Storyteller,
a musical comedy by Jit about South East
Asian oral traditions.

5. Storyline / Summary
• In the play Visits, the conversation started in the ward. The playwright focused on three
women
1) a woman in the hospital after having suffered a breakdown
2) her sister-in-law
3) a nurse.
• The women had a kind of dissatisfaction towards each other. The Woman slapped the Nurse
while the Nurse dismissed her as “Not very bright. Not very educated. Breeding stock for the
rich families”.
• Throughout the conversation in the ward, the sister in law and the nurse often reduced the
woman entirely from her role of a mother. The sister-in-law then further reduced her position
as a mother by saying that the Woman’s daughter Tasha, sick of explaining that the sister-in-
law is in fact her aunt, now just responds to questions by saying, “Yes, she is my mum”.

6. • The sister-in-law detailed the healthy lunch she was preparing for Tasha and told
the Woman is actually a less affectionate and caring mother. But the Woman was
able to defend herself by calling her unmarried sister-in-law a ‘typical virgin
spinster’ who was getting more and more cracked.
• In the middle of the conversation, the woman often thought about the marriage
life mainly her husband and the accuse she has been carrying for killing their son
after Tasha.
• However, those three women somehow come to understand themselves and
each other by breaking the barriers that define what women are meant to be. For
example the woman finds out how little control she has really had in terms of
defining the role she plays in the society as a mother and caretaker.

7. • After this moment of revelation that they have been controlled all their
lives, the three women proceeded to control events themselves so that
each goes in different directions which significantly gives a greater sense
of relief and satisfaction on their own terms.
• The Woman needed her child to fulfil herself but does so with the child’s
support.
• The Sister-in-law finally get married to a man who appreciates her
personality and behaviour verbally and non-verbally whereas the Nurse
continues to work in the profession she loves.

8. Theme
Family
Love of a
Mother towards
her child
Different
background
Women

9. Family
• The complicated relationships in Woman’s and Sister –in-law’s family.
• The hate-love relationship between the main characters.
• Mainly revolves around the main characters’ families.
• The main characters’ source of motivation and focus in life is similar –
family.

10. Love of a Mother towards her child
• Love of the nurse and woman towards their children.
• Have a strong sense of perseverance in life due to their children.

11. Different background
• All the characters in this play came from different walks of life.
• Woman came from a poor background and loved to flirt with guys before she was
married into a respectable and rich family.
• Sister in law was born in a respectable and rich family and she had good manners.
• Nurse lived a poor life and she had work hard everyday to support herself and her
son.

12. Women
• This play portrays three main characters whom all are women.
• Women’s life and feelings are given significance.
• Feminism is highlighted as well.

13. Settings
• Place
• Mental Hospital with expensive facilities
• “Can you believe hospital room ada mini-bar? No booze, of course. No caffeine, no
sugar. But all the Evian and 100% pure fruit juice that you can drink. I've got cable
TV. And a room service menu. This is the most expensive facility of this kind in the
country”. (Page 144)

14. • People
• Members from respected Malaysian families- The Woman's
in-laws, Sister-in-law
• Poor families
• The Woman's family, Hakim's family, Nurse's family
• 3 main female characters
• Nurse, Sister-in-law, Woman

15. Characters and Characteristics
The Woman Example
Has a daughter (Tasha) and a son (died)
Yeop’s wife
Your daughter, yes. Tasha’s riding tournament. It was so
funny. We’re meeting all the other riders and their
parents… (page 139)
Comes from a broken and low social class family Three wives. Lots of family, but not a lot of supervision.
The house was teruk, but my father jenis yang ‘biar
papa asal bergaya’. So we all walaupun makan tak
tentu, letrik and phone selalu kena cut, tapi dressing
mesti jaga. (page 145)
Has a free life – she went to the disco at a young age By 13 I dah already ikut dia orang pergi disco. Man, I
had my first joint, my first boyfriend, my first break-up-
all before 14. (page 145)
Rude – use vulgar words (shit, those crazy bitches,
psycho-bitch)
Sorry about those crazy bitches. And I’m the one they
give medication to, boleh? (page 143)

16. Nurse Example
Has a son (Rauf) who live in Perth, Australia As much as I panicked when he said he was trying
Australia, I knew I couldn’t convince him to stay. (page
156)
Busybody – likes to ask personal questions to the
woman.
“Where’s Hakim darling, I need my drugs. Oh I feel the
ants crawling up my arms. Dadah! Dadah!” (page 158)
Sister-in-law Example
Yeop’s sister “Look who’s here now; it’s your sister-in-law.” (page 136)
Caring – visits woman twice a day, every day “Look who’s here now; it’s your sister-in-law. Twice a
day, every day.” (page 136)
Boastful – talking about her family’s wealth “All ayes are on his performance. In five years he plans
to be asked to accept a political position. Look at you, in
a few years you’ll very likely be a Datin and just look at
you.” (page 140-141)

17. Literary Devices
1. Simile Example
A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing
with another thing of a different kind, used to make a
description more emphatic or vivid (e.g. as brave as a
lion ).
Like a tired child. (page 129)
… was as quiet as sleep. (page 133)
2. Repetition Example
the action of repeating something that has already been
said or written.
For months and months. (page 133)
Fine, fine, fine. (page. 134)
3. Alliteration Example
The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the
beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
… she said she screamed so hard she fell backwards
and sprained her wrist. (page 134)

18. 4. Personification Example
The attribution of a personal nature or human
characteristics to something non-human, or the
representation of an abstract quality in human form.
… lovely, loving sunlight. (page 134)
5. Polysyndeton Example
The use of several conjunctions in close succession,
especially where some could otherwise be omitted
I was looking good and young and stupid. (page 146)
6. Soliloquy Example
The act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by
oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a
character in a play
Hello. Hello.
Sorry about those crazy bitches. And I’m the one they
give medication to, boleh? I’m so glad you’ve come to
visit again. I really needed somebody, anybody, to talk
to. And you look… (page 143 until 148)

19. Theories of Literary Criticism in the Short Play

20. Feminist Criticism
• Woman has been refer as objects
• The stories tell by the nurse, the woman and the sister –in-law display the negative
portrayal of women’s inferiority.
• Yeop, the woman’s husband fancies his wife not because of love but rather the woman’s
behaviour and her aura of ‘the bad- girl thing’. But gradually, he begins to feel tired of her.
• Example, ‘he said: “You are, to me, like a dangerous, mysterious girl in a French film. Or
a street-smart New Yorker, leading me to an adventure”. (Page 147)
• “Yeop stopped being in love with me. The ‘mysterious, street-smart New Yorker’
disappeared. He stopped projecting those things on me. I mean, I didn’t change.” (Page
148)

21. • Women are viewed as object to give birth
• The woman’s mother-in-law views the woman as birth-giving tool
instead of as a family member. For example,
• “Good choice – these people can have one baby a year, ………and
you’ve been keeping mother in a state of misery for the past three
years…….” (Page 143)

22. • Stereotypes and Marriages
• Unmarried women are seen as being incompetent or unattractive.
• Example, the nurse’s Nyang was married on the age of 13. Her great-grandmother and grandmother was
also married and pregnant at a very young age.
• The sister-in-law’s mother pestered her to marry. Her mother even asked helps from the brother, which
the brother thought his sister’s failure to get married was her own fault. For example,
• “Of course she’s also hoping that I’ll meet someone. It’s sickening the way she pesters my brother about
it. It’s like so many other times with Mother- horrible and embarrassing. ‘Tak kan you tak dak single
friends, Yeop. ….” (Page 141)
• Yeop said, ‘This isn’t like when we were children, Mak. She can’t become an adjunct to my life. What, is
she so unpleasant that she can’t make any friends on her own?’ All this said right in front of me. I was
there, sorting out some bills, and they were casually discussing me”. (Page 141)

23. Reader response Criticism
• The Woman
• The woman maybe rebellious and free character. Yet, she is sharp and conscious.
• This can be seen as she only pretends to digest medicine per scripted from her doctor,
and narcotizes both nurse and her sister-in-law secretly in order to escape and meet her
daughter. Example,
• “You know, for days now I haven’t taken the medication. Nurse tu bukannya perhati
sangat. Buat-buat telan aje, ‘the hand is quicker than the eye, kan? Dia tak perasan pun.
The pills are all in the drawer. (Page 144)

24. • Unlike other woman, she is disinterested in wealth of her husband family,
but rather the English education given in that family. Example,
• “Yang I suka, especially for Tasha, is that their children all speak English;
have all the books and CDs they could want. They provide the best
education for their young, and a taste for learning.” (Page 146)
• The woman also hold her consciences despite of her behaviours. This is
reflected on her guiltiness for causing Hakim to be hanged, death of her
baby and love for her daughter.

25. • Sister-in-law
• Reflected as a woman who likes to show superiority toward the
woman.
• The sister-in-law may feels inferior as she is unmarried and
unattended by family members.
• Her show-off acts may be also due to her guilt of not telling the
woman the truth of the baby boy.

26. Post-colonial Criticism
• Racism until current era
• Racism is still occurring in Malaysia. (The nurse’s son was unable to find jobs).
• He migrated to Australia as citizens were not connected, narrow-minded and unfair to the
countrymen. He even stated that the country is heading towards fundamentalism.
• “After graduation Rauf had such a hard time getting a decent job. Didn’t have the right
contacts. He was too clever, my boy, to pretend things were not unfair, or unkind. But
what could he do? Be upset all the time?” (Page 156)
• According to a World Bank report in 2011, a total 308,834 high-skilled Malaysians moved
overseas. The number of skilled Malaysians living abroad rose 300 per cent in the last
two decades.

27. • Inferior status of woman and mixed-race
• The nurse first story where her Nyang’s best friend is indirectly murdered
by her husband.
• This is widely adapted during post-colonial era due to traditional belief and
influences brought by the colonists.
• The nurse also mentioned about her ancestor being a concubine to a
colonial administrator. Thus, her Nyang is mixed-race.
• The phrase ‘local wife’ by the nurse indicated her Nyang’s husband had
multiple wife. (his home is in India, Penang and Hong Kong).