TSL430

Literature in Malaysian
Schools:
How I Met Myself
Prepared by:
Ramizah binti Amir (2012274678)
Intan Aina Shazreen binti Mohd Shah
(2012951307)
Farah Khairani binti Saiful Bahri (2011330355)
Prepared for:
Dr. Jamiah binti Baba

Main Menu
Auth
ors
Biog
raph
y

Char
acter
s

The
mes
&
Valu
es

Syno
psis
&
Plot
Setti
ngs
&
Point
of
View

Liter
ary
Devi
ces

Authors Biography

Born in Napier in 1942, David gained an MA (Hons) from Victoria University

in 1964, teaching English in secondary schools for 14 years before
becoming a full-time writer. David is a versatile journalist, reviewer, fiction
writer, playwright and childrens author. He has been widely published in
newspapers and magazines both in New Zealand and overseas. Many of his
novels have been translated into various languages including French and
Chinese.

David has a well-developed sense of humour, which, coupled with his own
interests, and experiences as a child and teenager, provide much raw
material for his writing. In Beneath Southern Skies (Scholastic 1993), David
comments As a small kid I was short, stout and stammering. As a teenage
kid I was spotty, scruffy and still stammering. David understands the desire
of young people to be accepted within their peer group and this has become
a strong feature of his writing - and what makes it incredibly accessible and
sought after by his readers.

David works from his home in New Plymouth where he lives with his wife,
Beth who is a language teacher. In his spare time David enjoys reading,
astronomy.

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Synopsis
This story is about a man who met his doppelganger; a
ghostly double of a living person.
John Taylor was an English computer programmer who
worked in Budapest, Hungary, and lived there with his wife,
Andrea, and daughter, Kati. He was walking home from work
one day when he bumped into his doppelganger. John
believed the doppelganger had come to give him a message.
John did some research and found that a man, with a name
similar to his, had lived in that area many years ago along
with a wife and daughter whose names were also Andrea
and Kati. The person's wife and daughter were killed in a
tragedy. The timely warning from John's doppelganger
saved John's wife and daughter from a similar fate.
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Exposition

Plot

John was walking home

from work one evening
when someone ran into
him, causing him to fall into
the snow on the ground.
When John looked up, he
saw that the person looked
exactly like him. John felt
very afraid. He decided to
follow the person but was
unable to track him down
as he seemed to have
disappeared. John also
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to Main
realised that the person
did
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not leave any footprint in
the snow. He did not know

Rising Action

John began having dreams about that evening. This

resulted in him losing concentration at work, staying out
late and having arguments with his wife, Andrea. Finally,
John decided to tell Andrea about the incident. At first, she
was supportive. However, once their daughter ,Kati, was
born, Andrea was constantly angry at him for paying more
attention to his doppelganger than to his family. John had
no choice but to find out more about his doppelganger on
his own.

John discovered that not only did he look like his

doppelganger, they also shared the same name. Even the
names of their wives and children were the same. John felt
uncomfortable with these similarities, especially when he
learnt that his doppelganger's wife and child were killed in
a cellar that was destroyed during the war.
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Climax:

A similar incident that had happened to the

doppelganger and his family years ago
occurred exactly on the same date. When
John heard a very loud noise that sounded
like an explosion, he realised that Andrea
and Kati were at the same cafe where his
doppelganger's wife and daughter were
killed. He rushed over and saw that the
place had been destroyed again.

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Falling Action :

John tried to get into the ruins of the destroyed cafe to find and rescue his
wife and daughter but a fireman prevented him from going in. The place
was full of gas and was too dangerous. John was told to go home as there
was nothing else he could do to help. He was heartbroken. He realised that
he should have paid more attention to the message his doppelganger was
trying to tell him.

Resolution:

As was walking home, he saw his doppelganger again. His doppelganger

pointed to two figures at a distance. John was overjoyed to see that his
wife and daughter were alive! Andrea told John that his doppelganger had
saved them by preventing them from entering the cafe.

Settings & Point of View

Settings

Point of
View
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Settings (Physical)
The story is set in Budapest in Hungary. The main
character, John Taylor and his wife Andrea, live in
a flat in in the Thirteenth District. His office is
located at Vaci utca.

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Swindon John and his

family
usually
spend their
Christmas
holidays in a
village near
Swindon in
England.

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Margaret lsland The family would

often visits the
island park in the
middle of the river
Danube, to get
some fresh air and
to relax.

Budapest City Library - John

goes into the library to read
up on every incident that
happened in Budapest's
Thirteenth District every 18
January.

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Settings (Time & Social)

Set in the present in modern day.

The time span is a period of 3 years.

Johns first meeting with his doppelganger is on 18 th January.

For the next 2 years, he meets his double on the same date
and at the same location.

There are mentions of the past through the narration of Mrs.

Fischer.

A glimpse of the turbulent times during the 1940s, right after

the Second World War and during the Revolution in Hungary.
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Point of View

First person point of view through the protagonist, John

Taylors eyes.
John Taylors thoughts are conveyed openly to the
audience, but not to any of the other characters.
Allows his character to be further developed through his
own style in telling the story.

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View

Characters

John Taylor

Andrea
Taylor

Janos Szabo

Zsolt

Kati Taylor

Mrs.
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Paul Harris

Petra

Main Characters

John Taylor
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Characters

34 year old
Englishman.
Nearly 2 meters tall.
Light brown hair and
eyes.
Has a mustache.
Computer
programmer with a
computer company in
Bristol.
Sent to Budapest,
Hungary to lead a
young team in a
project.
Happy at work.

Main Characters

John Taylor
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Characters

Married to Andrea,
his Hungarian
language teacher.
Conscientious
husband.
Protective family
man.
Stable and
confident young
man until he met
his doppelganger.
Troubled by his
doppelganger.
Obsessed.
Determined.

Main Characters
Young Hungarian
language teacher.
Dark brown hair,
blue eyes and
beautiful smile.
Observant.
A loving wife.
Accommodating.
Humble and
versatile.

Andrea Taylor
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Characters

Main Characters
A good family
man.
Not very healthy.
Became
distraught and
was never the
same again after
the tragedy.
Believed to be
John Taylors
doppelganger.

Janos Szabo
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Characters

Side Characters

Owner of a bar at
Gergely utca.
Friendly.
Helpful.
Open to changes.

Zsolt
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Characters

Side Characters

Born on 16
September.
Keeps parents
busy.

Kati Taylor
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Characters

Side Characters

A close friend of
John.
A journalist.
Understanding.
Concerned.
Paul Harris
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Characters

Side Characters

A little deaf.
Hospitable.
Sympathetic.

Mrs. Fischer
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Characters

Side Characters

Old friend of
Andrea.
Helpful.

Petra
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Characters

Themes

Sharing Problems
and Coping With
Them

Perseverance in
Looking for the
Answer
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Tolerance in a
Relationship

Themes

Sharing Problems and Coping With Them

Right, she said. Tomorrow is Saturday, and neither of us is working.

Well go round to number 7 Felka utca and start asking some questions.
Im sure theres a very easy answer to this story.

(Chapter 5)

Im trying to believe you, love, she answered, turning to look at me.

Its just that its very difficult to understand.

(Chapter 6)

Well, thats good news, I replied. I thought I was going crazy or

something!

(Chapter 8)
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Themes

Perseverance in Looking for the Answer

However I didnt forget my strange meeting with myself. I started doing

lots of reading about the life after death.
[Chapter 7]

Then suddenly a new idea came into my head: it was the date that was
important I needed there to be on 18 January.
[Chapter 9]

The door opened. The man ran out of the door and knocked me over.
[Chapter 10]
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Themes

Perseverance in Looking for the Answer

It was almost closing time when I reached 19 January 1945. By now I was
tired, but then I saw something at the bottom of the Budapest page of the
newspaper.
[Chapter 11]

It was such bad luck, so unfair, after all that war. A Russian bomb hit the
building above the cellar shop in Gergely utca..so that poor young woman
and the baby were killed.
[Chapter 12]

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Themes

Tolerance in a Relationship

Andrea and I still lived in the same flat; we slept in the same bed
and ate the same food. We both took care of our beautiful little girl
but we werent very close anymore.
(Chapter

14)

The things slowly started to change. We had a very good time when
we took Kati for her second visit to England in August.. I was able
to forget about my meetings with myself.
(Chapter

14)
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Moral Values

Be Supportive
Towards Our
Beloved One

Value Our Family

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Being Resourceful
is Important in
Solving Problems

Moral Values

Be Supportive Towards Our Beloved One

We'll go round to number 7 Felka utca and start asking some

questions.
(Page
13)
I hoped that I would sleep better knowing Andrea was coming with
me on Sunday.
(Page
28)

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Values

Moral Values

Value Our Family

We decided to go to England at Christmas. We wanted my parents and

family to meet Kati, and this was a good chance.
(Page 21)
Everyone was very happy. It was only the third time that Andrea had
visited my parents place, and only her second English Christmas. And
this time we had a new baby in the family.
(Page 24)
We flew back on 29 December, returning to spend New Year with
Andreas family in the snowy Hungarian countryside.
(Page 24)
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Values

Moral Values

Being Resourceful is Important in Solving Problems

At two oclock in the afternoon on Monday 19 January, I was

sitting in the reading room of the Budapest City Library with a lot
of big books in front of me.
(Page 33)

There is one person: old Mrs. Fischer on the fourth floor

(Page 38)

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Values

Literary Devices

Simile

Metaphor

Juxtapositio
n

Personificati
on

Tone

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Symbolism

Imagery

Simile

I felt a bit like a private detective in an American film (pg 14)

I thought they were a thing of the past. But here they were
again, as big and black as before.

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Devices

Metaphor

"Sadly my doppelganger seemed to be building a wall between

us (page 18)

"She put her arms around me and talked to me quietly as if I

were a little child.
(page 18)

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Devices

Personification

"The Danube cuts the capital into two halves, Buda and Pest " (page 7)

"My mind was running round and round in circles.(page 9 )

"The strong sunshine made me feel more hopeful about the future."

(page 20)

"l saw something at the bottom of the Budapest page of the newspaper. It
jumped out at me." (page 39)

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Devices

Symbol

Doppelganger

Symbolises something sinister or a saviour

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Devices

Darksymbolises the disturbing phase and

the appearance of something
threatening in John's life. The word is
mentioned a few times in the novel"lt was dark, and my eyes took a few
moments to get used to the
darkness." (page 10)
"l kept seeing myself in that dark
snowy street. " (page 12)
"l woke up feeling afraid and cold in
the dark". (page 15)
"But I lay in bed, looking at the four
walls in the dark " (page 16)
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Devices

Foreshadowing

Dream - the recurring dreams symbolises a reminder that John should not
disregard.

"Suddenly, I realized what had happened I had had that dream again." (page
31)

"As if to make me remember what had happened on 18 January the last two
years, I had a terrible dream. lt was really the same dream. [page 50]

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Devices

Juxtaposition/Contrast

Inside, it was suddenly warm after the winter streets " (page 10)
"Her pretty blue eyes were red" (page 18)
RepetitionI walked up and down again and again." (page 31)

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Devices

Tone

A hint of uncertainty in every chapter

Suspenseful and unsettling tone

Frightening and a sense of trepidation

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Devices

Imagery

"And we went inside and shut out the night." (page 63)

This line is significant as 'shut out the night' suggests that the John
has finally succeeded in moving out from the 'dark' phase of his life
now, and that the incident has finally happened and both Andrea
and Kali are safe.

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Devices

End Note