SUMMARY

"A Noble Nyonya" is a very interesting yet tragic story written by Esther Low which
depicts the life of a young Thai girl, Meh Nya who managed to escape from death when the
attackers murdered her aristocrat parents. She was saved by her aunt, Meh Sukrit and they
moved to Penang in Peninsular Malaya. Meh Nya was very lucky as her father had
bequeathed a mansion together with the entire state for Meh Nya. This story is full of cultural
values as Mek Nya shares her wonderful adventure and eye-opening Baba Nyonya traditions
and practices which flourished in the former British Straits Settlements of Singapore, Penang
and Malacca. Meh Nya was so happy and she named the mansion as Pelangi Mansion. She
grew up in the Pelangi Mansion as a notable matriarch of a clan. She married her husband,
Hoe and they lived happily in the mansion with their five children. However, as their children
had grown up, so many tragedies happened and took away their happiness. There was a scene
where she revealed her daughter's intense hounding for intermarriage where she had fallen in
love with an Indian guy. She also shared the trauma of her daughter who lost her husband as
well as her only son and desperately fought for life against Tuberculosis. During the Second
World War II, she and her entire family were suffering and tortured by the Japanese soldiers.
Even tough the inhuman tortures killed several of her family members brutally, she and her
family salvaged whatever remained. Love, peace and forgiveness successfully changed their
life for betterment that helped them to reconstruct their war-torn lives.
INTRODUCTION
Nyonya is also known as Baba Nyonya, Peranakan, Baba or Nonya by different
cultures. Nyonya is a unique community with distinguished and rich culture. Based on the
history, when the trade between China and South East Asia was formed hundred years ago,
many Chinese men migrated and came over to do business in the region. Some of them
settled down and married the local women. Nyonya community has formed their own
cultures by blending in Chinese tradition and culture with local culture and they were very
unique in terms of food, fashion, antique and even their wedding. However, they still
maintained some Chinese and culture, like region, name, folk medicine as well as their
festival celebrations.

VALUE SYSTEMS OF CHINESE AND BABA NYONYA COMMUNITY

A Noble Nyonya is a heartbreaking story of a young Thai girl, Meh Nya who lives
with her aunt without her aristocrat parents who are murdered by her father's enemies. Yet,
she grows up as a very strong, noble and beautiful woman who has five children and she
loves all of them with no condition.
Sexual Discrimination against Females
At the beginning of the story, there is a conversation between Nya and her brother in
law, Ah Hye where he tells some conditions and traditions in China which he does not like
that causes him to migrate from China. He says, "These social ills were inhuman, perverted
and repulsive to me". He himself does not like the revolting and dangerous practice of
crushing and binding the feet of young girls, which killing many of them in the process.
Chinese culture and traditions are distinctive from others and they are extreme in a way. In
addition, girls and women are considered as low and inferior to men. Historically, Chinese
culture has valued male children over females, especially in rural areas. They even practice
female infanticide where innocent newborn baby girls will be killed because they are afraid
that the baby will bring misfortune to their families. This also reflect strong adherence to their
tradition and culture. Elders will force the midwife to kill the baby girl. It is proven when Ah
Hye's aunt says, "If it is a girl, quickly kill her" and "If you prefer to suffocate her with a
pillow use one of those on the bed. Do whatever you want, only hurry before bad luck sets
in,". This practice signs bias against females. This is because women are perceived as
inferior because their roles as homemakers while men's job as home provider in which they
are responsible for family's social and economic stability.
This bias is also proven from the act of Hoe, Nya's husband where he shows
disappointment when Nya deliver her second child who is a girl. Hoe says, "We have a big
mansion. We must fill it up with lots of boys. My relative in China had eight boys. How about
having eight boys, Nya?". Nya is surprised with her husband's request as she thinks that he is
being heartless and she says, "How could you? You think i am a breeding cattle?". The
situation is getting worst when Nya delivers her third child who is a girl, Li Li. Hoe keeps
blaming Nya for bearing another daughter for him. He says, "Aiya. Aiya. Why do you give
me another girl? Can't you do better than that? Every family must have several male children
to carry on the bloodline. Boys are children, real children, a blessing - girls are garbage". But,
Nya loves all her children no matter what gender they are. She even scolds her husband by

saying " Why are you still clinging to such primitive belief? We are in Malaya, not China".
This shows that Nya does not believe in traditional Chinese cultures and she is being more
rational and sensible than her husband.
Family Oriented
In a family setting, responsibilities are assigned according to gender. Men are
responsible for providing economical needs to the families while women are assigned to
handle housework and child care. In Asian culture, women are expected to be dedicated and
devoted to their families, strong, capable, responsible, unselfish and attentive. This is because
traditional Asian women are raised up to be very family oriented and they are expected to
sacrifice their needs to ensure that their children are well taken care of. Generally, traditional
family values are stronger in Asia and they are related to parental guidance. This is because
Asian women are taught by their parents or older relatives to be faithful and attentive to their
husbands from an early age. That is why Asian women are well known for their attentive
nature and care for their husbands and children.
In this story, Nya is willing to do anything in order to keep her children safe. It is
proven when she is willing to dig the ground in order to find red earthworms in order to save
Li Li who is infected by a rare disease. Even though she is a hygienic person, but she will do
anything in order to save her beloved daughter. Nya has to chew the worms before feeds Li
Li with the chewed worms. She says, "Besides, a mother will do anything for her child, born
from her own body". Nya is also a kind hearted woman where she is willing to adopt her
friend's niece as the mother of the baby is blind and they are not able take care of the baby.
Nya adopts the baby, Dee immediately and Dee is now her fifth child whom she loves dearly.
Nya says, "You're right Shen Nee. Perhaps I could do something for humanity and save this
life".
Elite Baba Nyonya Community
Nya's family highly value their cultures and they will celebrate certain occasions. For
example, Hoe excitedly approaches Nya and tells her to celebrate their last child, Han. Hoe
says, "Wife, it is our tradition to celebrate Han's first moon. Let us have a lavish feast. Invite
all our relatives and friends". During the celebration, Nya prepares packets of gifts containing
a popular local cake, ang koo, saffron glutinous rice served with chicken curry and red hardboiled eggs, neatly packed in special containers for distributions to friends and relatives.

In 1927, intermarriage between Chinese immigrants and local Malay women were
rampant among the elite. This intermarriage resulted in the Baba Nyonya or peranakan
culture with special cultures of their own, their clothes, cuisines, language, entertainment and
beliefs reflect their lifestyle.
Han who is Nya's last son, dressed in young Baba outfit and he is a good looking man.
The matchmaker tries to match him with Marie. At first, Nya just ignores the matchmaker but
when the matchmaker explains the background of Marie, Nya immediately changes her mind.
The fact that Marie is a decent girl who comes from a notable Baba Nyonya family in
Malacca has attracted Nya's attention. Nya is definitely love to have a Nyonya daughter in
law and she really likes Marie. Wedding of Han and Marie is conducted in Baba Nyonya
tradition where Marie wears a long, red, richly embroidered dress as her wedding attire. Nya
even hires a shoe expert who designs Marie's beaded shoes using hundreds of fine coloured
beads assembled into floral motif. Their dressing styles clearly reflect their status in society
as an Elite Baba Nyonya Community. As for mother-in-law Nya, she wears a richly
embroided, long sleeved baju panjang, which is a long robe worn over a sheer inner blouse.
Three big, glimmering brooches stood out conspicuously in the centre of her baju panjang.
While a matching sarong imported from Indonesia gives that touch of elegance. All of these
show that Nya's family highly value their traditional attires as they symbolize their identity
and status as Elite Nyonya community.
Marriage
Nya's daughter, Li Li met an Indian man, Ed at a beach and they start their romantic
relationship. During that time, inter-marriage was extremely forbidden and the racial
prejudice was very strong. The villagers always used sarcasm at Nya by saying, " We do not
want kopi susu, black coffee mixed with milk. We want purity, either black coffee or white
milk. What a shame! ". Hoe' brother, Ah Hye was totally against the marriage as he says, "
Tell Hoe to stop this marriage, do you hear? It is such a disgrace. Are all the eligible Chinese
mean dead? Why must your daughter get mixed up with a black charcoal? This black skin
deserves to die". He even adds, "This marriage will bring disgrace to our bloodline. Our
ancestor will all turn in their graves". In traditional Chinese culture, they strongly reject
intermarriage because marriage is very important to ensure the survival of their families and
bloodline. In addition, traditional Chinese culture practices arranged marriage for quite some
time but it is no longer widely acceptable in this modern days as youngsters are given

freedom to choose their own partners. In traditional Chinese culture, marriage is not based on
love or romance, but it was a transaction between two families in which a woman was
transferred to her husband's family. For women, the maximum marriage age was 30, while
that of the man varied depending on his financial status. Buying and selling women into
marriage and forcing widows into marriage were common practices, as well as match-making
years ago. "For arranged marriages, bride and bridegroom do not meet until the wedding
ceremony are widespread", (Zang 2012, Chapter 4). Before 1949, most of the marriages
were arranged by parents. In this novel, most of Nya's children were married as the results of
matchmaking and arranged marriage except for Li Li who managed to marry her dream guy,
Ed. Mak, who is Dee's husband is a married guy who has been forced to marry a girl with
title of The Third Princess. The marriage is arranged by Mak's parents as his parents are
craving for higher status quo and trying to upgrade their status in society through Mak's
wedding. Mak who is a liberal guy, says that "China is too medieval and primitive, and my
parents are still steeped into the old school of thought, which is obsolete to me". As a result,
Mak is not happy with his marriage and he suddenly falls in love with Dee. Then, he marries
Dee. Mak says, "I regret deeply for giving in to my forced marriage, but then, could I face the
repercussions of opposing my parents? Most probably, they would disown me and wrath of
the powerful Wan family would become a big issue". This shows that Mak's willingness to
marry The Third Princess as the act of filial piety. He feels that he is obliged to fulfill his
parents' wishes despites of his feeling.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, A Noble Nyonya is an interesting story which is rich in cultural values
that allows me to have better understanding of Baba Nyonya community. They are very
unique and distinctive in many ways such as language, attire, food, practices and traditions.

TSL 621: ASIAN LITERATURE

TAKE HOME TEST
"A NOBLE NYONYA, BY ESTHER LOW"

STUDENT'S NAME

: MAIZATUL FARANAZ BT MD ASIF

STUDENT'S ID

: 2010674344

GROUP

: ED2206C

LECTURER'S NAME

: MDM ADZURA ELIER AHMAD

SUBMISSION'S DATE : 28TH JUNE 2013