Different Voices: The Singaporean/Malaysian Novel

9. ABRAHAM’S PROMISE (1995)

201 ABRAHAM’S PROMISE (1995) In Philip Jeyaretnam’s Abraham’s Promise (1995), the reflective and retrospective musings of the first person narrator play a crucial role in the development of the theme. The protagonist Abraham Isaac comes from the Ceylonese community and speaks English as if he was “educated at Oxford” (p. 122). This is not unusual as his father comes from a community of Jaffna Tamils who found employment because they were from missionary schools and “had a good command of English” (Arasaratnam 1970, p. 33). According to Arasaratnam, in the 1890s the first batch of “young men most suitable for subordinate clerical employment” from the “superior network of secondary schools established in north Ceylon by the missionary organizations” (p. 33), were dispatched to Singapore. They prided themselves in being able to speak well in English. Abraham’s father had taught him “the power of the word” (p. 149). In Abraham’s introspection of his life, he uses his command of the English language to CHAPTER IX 09 SMNovel.indd 201 10/5/09 2:18:10 PM 202 Different Voices engage the reader in the events that undermined his moral framework. The protagonist is forced to reassess the question of his identity when the Malay driver of his Latin tuition student Richard calls him Orang Tua (p. 37). The thematic connection with the Malay expression Orang Tua (p. 37) which translates into “old man” is pivotal in the narrative discourse for it is at this juncture that Abraham is certain that he is not just an old man, but also a teacher. However, the subsequent events trigger his memory and he recalls the betrayals that have brought about his loss of identity. During a cocktail party at Richard’s house, he confesses that he is “terrified by all these beautiful, rich and self-assured individuals” (p. 70). As he participates in a conversation during the party, he is conscious of his “humble dress”, but is able to carry on an intelligent discussion. However when a member of parliament with whom he speaks mocks his pronunciation of “bom-bers” he feels that he had “spoken other than in their manner of speaking, betraying” his upbringing and his Tamil otherness, and “most of all” his “insignificance” (p. 75). Abraham is portrayed here as a member of a minority community facing an identity crisis in a multi-ethnic society. This fact is acknowledged by the protagonist when he gets a letter informing him about his childhood friend Rose’s impending visit. He says: “She must not find a tired, lonely old man” (p. 111). However, at the end of the last Latin lesson, he tells Richard that he is “just an old man” (p. 122). It is in the selection and organization of these events that the reader gains some understanding of the plight of the protagonist. Although throughout the reflective and retrospective musings the protagonist uses Standard English, the reader is made conscious of a multilingual environment where 09 SMNovel.indd 202 10/5/09 2:18:10 PM Abraham’s Promise (1995) 203 different languages coexist. For instance, in Mercy’s and Abraham’s speech, Tamil kinship words, such as appa, amma, annai, and thangkaichee are retained for their reverence. It is a practice among the Ceylonese to use the lexis of relationship without converting them into English equivalents. Although through the use of these untranslated words the sounds of the Tamil language can be held to have the power and presence of the Tamil culture they signify, it is actually their “function in inscribing difference” (Ashcroft et al., 1989, p. 53) that evokes a multilingual environment. They become “directly metonymic of that cultural difference which is imputed by the linguistic variation” (Ashcroft et al., 1989, p. 53). The reader is also made aware that Tamil is spoken by the narrator’s parents at critical moments: He spoke abruptly, in a firm voice, without preamble. Mother wailed, “How? How can it be?” until Father spoke to her, quickly and sharply, shifting into Tamil to make the point more strongly, telling her to pull herself together and not scare the children. (p. 34) Again, during his first meeting with his potential bride, the matchmaker rattles “off in Tamil” (p. 105). However, the reader is conscious that English is the main means of communication in the narrator’s household. But during the Japanese Occupation...