Responding to Characters (Sec 2N1)

Responding to Characters

'The Clay Marble' by Minfong Ho

Read the following extract from the novel carefully and then answer the questions below it.

Pound and lift, up and down, the two dolls took turns crushing the rice with exactly the same jerky rhythm that real village women pounded it to get the brown husks off. There were even some real grains in the miniature mortar set between the two dolls. It was the cleverest thing I had ever seen.

Children crowded around Jantu, pressing it from all sides, to watch her work it. “Let me hold it,” I begged, standing next to Jantu. “I helped you find the stuff for the dolls.”

Jantu nodded. Breathlessly I held it carefully and blew on it. It worked! One of the dolls bent down and pounded the mortar with its club. The other doll straightened up and waited its turn. I was still engrossed with it when someone shouted a warning: “Watch out, Chnay’s coming!”

Even in my short stay at the camp, I’d heard of Chnay. He liked to break things, and he was a bully. An orphan, Chnay had made his way to the Border alone. Too young to be recruited into the resistance army, Chnay roamed the fields by himself, scrounging for food and sleeping whenever he liked.

Chnay sauntered up and showed his way through to us. “What’ve you got there?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” I said, trying to hide the toy behind me.

Laughing, Chnay snatched it away from me. One of the dolls was ripped loose and dropped to the ground.

As I bent over to retrieve it, Chnay pushed me aside. “Leave it,” he s aid. “That’s for kids. Look what I have.” He thrust his arm out. It was crawling with big red ants, the fierce kind that really sting when they bite. “I’m letting them bite me. See?” he bragged. Already small fierce welts were swelling up on his arms, as some ants kept biting him.

“That’s dumb!” I exclaimed. Dodging behind him, I tried to snatch the mobile back from him.

Chnay flung the toy to the ground, scattering straw and red ants into the air.

I grabbed his hand, but he was taller than I, and much stronger. He’d shoved me aside and stomped on the dolls until they were nothing but a pile of crushed sticks and rags. Then, kicking aside a boy who stood in his way, Chnay strode off, angrily brushing red ants off his arm.

I squatted down beside the bits of dolls and tried to fit them together, but it was no use. The delicate mobile was beyond repair. I could feel my eyes smarting with angry tears. “I should’ve held on to it more tightly,” I said bitterly. “I shouldn’t have let him grab it away from me.”

Jantu knelt next to me and took the fragments of the dolls out of my hands. “Never mind,” she said quietly, putting them aside. “We can always start something new.”

“But it took you so long to make it,” I said.

Idly Jantu scooped up a lump of mud from a puddle by her feet and began to knead it in her hands. “Sure, but the fun is in the making,” she said.


a) What are your impressions of Chnay based on this extract? Do you agree with the narrator that Chnay is a bully? Support your answer using evidence from this extract.

b) What is your impression of Jantu? What kind of girl do you think she is?

Post your comments:

1. You should say something worthwhile.You should on focus on the impression that you have of the characters of Chnay and Jantu in this extract.

2. There should be no socialising or making personal comments in the posting.

3. Check that your comments are free of grammatical and spelling mistakes before you post them.

4. It will be a bonus if you are able to make further comments on your friends’ postings.