087-mwh10a-O520 12/16/2003 3:07 PM Page 87

Name Date

CHAPTER LITERATURE SELECTION “Paper”

20 by Catherine Lim
Section 2 Malaysian author Catherine Lim set this short story in Singapore, an island
nation that became known as one of the Four Tigers of Asia—the name given to
Asian countries that experienced dramatic economic growth beginning in the
1970s. What price does Tay Soon, the story’s main character, pay for his dreams
of success?

H e wanted it, he dreamed of it, he hankered

after it, as an addict after his opiate. Once the
notion of a big beautiful house had lodged itself in
she asked petulantly. “Aren’t we all comfortable in
it?”
Not as long as you have your horrid ancestral
his imagination, Tay Soon nurtured it until it altars all over the place, and your grotesque sense
became the consuming passion of his life. A house. of colour—imagine painting the kitchen wall bright
A dream house such as he had seen on his drives pink. But Yee Lian was tactful enough to keep the
with his wife and children along the roads border- remarks to herself, or to make them only to her sis-
ing the prestigious housing estates on the island, ter Yee Yeng, otherwise they were sure to reach the
and in the glossy pages of Homes and Modern old lady, and there would be no end to her sharp
Living. Or rather, it was a house which was an tongue.
amalgam of the best, the most beautiful aspects of The house—the dream house—it would be a
the houses he had seen. He knew every detail of far cry from the little terrace house in which they
his dream house already, from the aluminum slid- were all staying now, and Tay Soon and Yee Lian
ing doors to the actual shade of the talked endlessly about it, and it
grew magnificently in their imagi-
dining room carpet to the shape of What’s so grand nations, this dream house of theirs
the swimming pool. Kidney. He
rather liked the shape. He was not about marble with its timbered ceiling and pan-
ashamed of the enthusiasm with flooring and a swim- elled walls and sunken circular sit-
which he spoke of the dream ting room which was to be carpet-
house, an enthusiasm that ming pool? ed in rich amber. It was no empty
belonged to women only, he was dream, for there was much money
told. Indeed, his enthusiasm was in the bank already. Forty thou-
so great that it had infected his wife and even his sand dollars had been saved. The house would cost
children, small though they were. Soon his wife many times that, but Tay Soon and Yee Lian with
their good salaries would be able to manage very
© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.

Yee Lian was describing to her sister Yee Yeng, the

dream house in all its perfection of shape and well. Once they took care of the down payment,
decor, and the children were telling their cousins they would be able to pay back monthly over a
and friends. “My daddy says that when our house period of ten years—fifteen, twenty—what did it
is ready . . .” matter how long it took as long as the dream house
They talked of the dream house endlessly. It was theirs? It had become the symbol of the peak
had become a reality stronger than the reality of of earthly achievement, and all of Tay Soon’s ener-
the small terrace house which they were sharing gies and devotion were directed towards its realiza-
with Tay Soon’s mother, to whom it belonged. Tay tion. His mother said, “You’re a show-off, what’s so
Soon’s mother, whose little business of selling bot- grand about marble flooring and a swimming pool?
tled curries and vegetable preserves which she Why don’t you put your money to better use?” But
made herself, left her little time for dreams, the forty thousand grew steadily, and after Tay
clucked her tongue and shook her head and made Soon and Yee Lian had put in every cent of their
sarcastic remarks about the ambitiousness of young annual bonuses, it grew to forty-eight thousand,
people nowadays. and husband and wife smiled at the smooth way
“What’s wrong with this house we’re staying in?” their plans were going.

Global Interdependence 87
088-mwh10a-O520 12/16/2003 3:07 PM Page 88

Name “Paper” continued

It was a time of growing interest in the stock beaten his forehead in despair and said, “I know, I
market. The quotations for stocks and shares were know, why didn’t I! Big fool that I am!” And he had
climbing the charts, and the crowds in the rooms of another reason to curse himself—he sold five thou-
the broking houses were growing perceptibly. sand West Parkes at sixteen twenty-three per share,
Might we not do something about this, Yee Lian and saw, to his horror, West Parkes climb to eigh-
said to her husband. Do you know that Dr. Soo teen ninety the very next day!
bought Rustan Banking for four dollars and today “I’ll never sell now,” he vowed. “I’ll hold on. I
the shares are worth seven dollars each? The temp- won’t be so foolish.” And the frenzy continued.
tation was great. The rewards were almost immedi- Husband and wife couldn’t talk or think of anything
ate. Thirty thousand dollars’ worth of NBE became else. They thought fondly of their shares—going to
fifty-five thousand almost overnight. Tay Soon and be worth a million altogether soon. A million! In
Yee Lian whooped. They put their remaining eigh- the peak of good humour, Yee Lain went to her
teen thousand in Far East Mart. Three days later mother-in-law, forgetting the past insults, and
the shares were worth twice that much. It was not advised her to join the others by buying some
to be imagined that things could stop here. Tay shares, she would get her broker to buy them
Soon secured a loan from his bank and put twenty immediately for her, there was sure money in it.
thousand in OHTE. This was a particularly lucky The old lady refused curtly, and to her son later,
share; it shot up to four times its value in three she showed great annoyance, scolding him for
days. being so foolish as to put all his money in those
“Oh, this is too much, too much,” cried Yee Lian worthless shares. “Worthless!” exploded Tay Soon.
in her ecstasy, and she sat down with pencil and “Do you know, Mother, if I sold all my shares today,
paper, and found after a few min- I would have the money to buy
utes’ calculation that they had “Do you know, fifty terrace houses like the one
made a cool one hundred thousand you have?”
in a matter of days. Mother, if I sold all His wife said, “Oh, we’ll just
And now there was to be no my shares today, I leave her alone. I was kind enough
stopping. The newspapers were full to offer to help her make money,
of it, everybody was talking about
would have the but since she’s so nasty and
it, it was in the very air. There was money to buy fifty ungrateful, we’ll leave her alone.”
plenty of money to be made in the
stock exchange by those who had
terrace houses like The comforting, triumphant
thought was that soon, very soon,
guts—money to be made by the the one you have?” they would be able to purchase
hour, by the minute, for the prices their dream house; it would be
of stocks and shares were rising even more magnificent than the
faster than anyone could keep track of them! Dr. one they had dreamt of, since they had made

© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.

Soo was said—he laughingly dismissed it as a silly almost a—Yee Lian preferred not to say the sum.
rumour—Dr. Soo was said to have made two mil- There was the old superstitious fear of losing some-
lion dollars already. If he sold all his shares now, he thing when it is too often or too directly referred
would be a millionaire twice over. And Yee Yeng, to, and Yee Lian had cautioned her husband not to
Yee Lian’s sister, who had been urged with sisterly make mention of their gains.
goodwill to come join the others make money, “Not to worry, not to worry,” he said jovially, not
laughed happily to find that the shares she had superstitious like his wife, “After all, it’s just paper
bought for four twenty on Tuesday had risen to gains so far.”
seven ninety-five on Friday—she laughed and The downward slide, or the bursting of the
thanked Yee Lian who advised he not to sell yet, it bubble as the newspapers dramatically called it,
was going further, it would hit the ten dollar mark did not initially cause much alarm, for the specula-
by next week. And Tay Soon both laughed and tors all expected the shares to bounce back to their
cursed—cursed that he had failed to buy a share at original strength and thence continue the phenom-
nine dollars which a few days later had hit seven- enal growth. But that did not happen. The slide
teen dollars! Yee Lian said reproachfully, “I thought continued.
I told you to buy it, darling,” and Tay Soon had Tay Soon said nervously, “Shall we sell? Do you

88 Unit 5, Chapter 20
089-mwh10a-O520 12/16/2003 3:07 PM Page 89

Name “Paper” continued

think we should sell?” but Yee Lian said stoutly, He began to have wild dreams in which he
“There is talk that this decline is a technical thing sometimes laughed and sometimes screamed. His
only—it will be over soon, and then the rise will wife Yee Lian was afraid and she ran sobbing to her
continue. After all, see what is happening in Hong sister who never failed to remind her curtly that all
Kong and London and New York. Things are as her savings were gone, simply because when she
good as ever.” had wanted to sell, Yee Lian had advised her not to.
“We’re still making, so not to worry,” said Yee “But what is your sorrow compared to mine,”
Lian after a few days. Their gains were pared by wept Yee Lian, “see what’s happening to my hus-
half. A few days later, their gains were pared to band. He’s cracking up! He talks to himself, he
marginal. doesn’t eat, he has nightmares, he beats the chil-
There is talk of a recovery, insisted Yee Lian. dren. Oh, he’s finished!”
Do you know, Tay Soon, Dr. Soo’s wife is buying up Her mother-in-law took charge of the situation,
some OHTE and West Parkes now? She says these while Yee Lian, wide-eyed in mute horror at the
two are sure to rise. She has some inside informa- terrible change that had come over her husband,
tion that these two are going to climb past the forty shrank away and looked to her two small children
dollar mark— for comfort. Tight-lipped and grim, the elderly
Tay Soon sold all his shares and put the money woman made herbal medicines for Tay Soon, brew-
in OHTE and West Parkes. OHTE and West ing and straining for hours, and got a Chinese med-
Parkes crashed shortly afterwards. Some began to icine man to come to have a look at him.
say the shares were not worth the paper of the cer- “There is a devil in him,” said the medicine
tificates. man, and he proceeded to make him a drink which
“Oh, I can’t believe, I can’t believe it,” gasped he mixed with the ashes of a piece of prayer paper.
Yee Lian, pale and sick. Tay Soon But Tay Soon grew worse. He lay
looked in mute horror at her. I have the money in bed, white, haggard and deliri-
“All our money was in OHTE ous, seeming to be beyond the
and West Parkes,” he said, his lips
for his funeral, and touch of healing. In the end, Yee
dry. I shall give him the Lian, on the advice of her sister
“That stupid Soo woman!”
shrieked Yee Lian. “I think she
best! He wanted a and“Ifriends, put him in hospital.
have money left for the
deliberately led me astray with her beautiful house all funeral,” whimpered the fright-
advice! She’s always been jealous of his life; I shall give ened Yee Lian only a week later,
me—ever since she knew we were but her mother-in-law sharply
going to build a house grander than him a beautiful retorted, “You leave everything to
hers!” house now! me! I have the money for his
“How are we going to get our funeral, and I shall give him the
© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.

house now?” asked Tay Soon in best! He wanted a beautiful house

deep distress, and for the first time he wept. He all his life; I shall give him a beautiful house now!”
wept like a child, for the loss of all his money, for She went to the man who was well-known on
the loss of the dream house that he had never the island for his beautiful houses and she ordered
stopped loving and worshipping. the best. It would come to nearly a thousand dol-
The pain bit into his very mind and soul, so lars, said the man, a thin, wizened fellow whose
that he was like a madman, unable to go to his funereal gauntness and pallor seemed to be a con-
office to work, unable to do anything but haunt the cession to his calling.
broking houses, watching with frenzied anxiety for That doesn’t matter, she said, I want the best.
OHTE and West Parkes to show him hope. But The house is to be made of superior paper, she
there was no hope. The decline continued with instructed, and he was to make it to her specifica-
gleeful rapidity. His broker advised him to sell, tions. She recollected that he, Tay Soon, had often
before it was too late, but he shrieked angrily, spoken of marble flooring, a timbered ceiling and a
“What! Sell at a fraction at which I bought them! kidney-shaped swimming pool. Could he simulate
How can this be tolerated?” all these in paper?
And he went on hoping against hope. The thin, wizened man said, “I’ve never done

Global Interdependence 89
090-mwh10a-O520 12/16/2003 3:07 PM Page 90

Name “Paper” continued

anything like that before. All my paper houses for Activity Options
the dead have been the usual kind—I can put in
1. Writing Narrative Paragraphs Write a differ-
paper furniture and paper cars, paper utensils for
ent conclusion to this story. For example, you
the kitchen and paper servants, all that the dead
might write an ending in which Tay Soon reaps a
will need in the other world. But I shall try to put
profit from his investments and attains his dream
in what you’ve asked for. Only it will cost more.”
house. Read your ending aloud to classmates.
The house, when it was ready, was most beauti-
2. Summarizing Draw a sketch of Tay Soon’s
ful to see. It stood seven feet tall, a delicate frame-
dream house based on your reading of this story.
work of wire and thin bamboo strips covered with
Then post your sketch in the classroom.
finely worked paper of a myriad colours. Little sil-
3. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects
ver flowers scattered liberally throughout the entire
Make a chart to illustrate the positive and nega-
structure, gave a carnival atmosphere. There was a
tive effects of Tay Soon’s quest for his dream
paper swimming pool (round, as the man had not
house. Then discuss with classmates what lesson
understood “kidney”) which had to be fitted inside
you think this story teaches about the pursuit of
the house itself, as there was no provision for a gar-
wealth.
den or surrounding grounds. Inside the house were
paper figures; there were at least four servants to
attend to the needs of the master who was posed
beside two cars, one distinctly a Chevrolet and the
other a Mercedes.
At the appointed time, the paper house was
brought to Tay Soon’s grave and set on fire there. It
burned brilliantly, and in three minutes was a heap
of ashes on the grave.

© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.

90 Unit 5, Chapter 20