Novel Sing To The Dawn : Sample Questions and Answers

Question :

Based on the novel sing to the dawn by Minfong Ho , it is true that one has to face many challenges
in her life before reaching his or her goal. Based on one of the novels that you have studied, describe
how far this is true and support your answer with textual evidence.

Answer :

Based on the novel sing to the dawn by Minfong Ho, it is true that one has to face many challenges
in life before reaching his or her goal. An obvious example is the main character, Dawan, who has
faced many obstacles in her way to catch her dream to study in city school.
One of the obstacles faced by Dawan is facing her brother, Kwai’s initially jealousy that leads to a rift
between the two previously-close siblings. They had stop talking nicely to each other for sometimes.
It started right after the bell ring at school in the first day she knew the result. Dawan called out for
Kwai who was standing alone in the doorway but he just turned away and stalked out abruptly. In
my opinion, one should not feel jealous of their sibling’s success, instead, they should be proud of
them.
The misunderstanding got worst when Dawan told her family about the scholarship result. Her
father was very angry and don’t want Dawan to go there. In chapter three, at the first Dawan asked
his permission to study at the city, he even accused Dawan for stealing her brother’s only
opportunity to study in city school. Her father thinks that proper study in the city is no place for a
girl. He thinks even if Dawan success, she still could not make any changes to their village. I think her
father should not mind about the gender discrimination. He cannot stop Dawan from being
successful in her life just because she is a girl. He should give her an opportunity to shoe what she is
capable of.
Lastly, Dawan face another problem when she and her mother went to see her cousin, Noi, and his
husband, Ghan. However, they do not want to help her to convince her father to let her study in the
city school. In the meantime a truth was discovered when they actually tells Dawan and her mother
about how the city actually are. In chapter four, Noi has described the city as cruel and ugly. She also
add that the city is not suitable for a young, healthy girl. In my opinion, Noi should help Dawan as
her family member. Besides, she has to think positive about Dawan.
The conclusion is, Dawan is a very determined and ambitious girl. Even though she had faced a lot of
obstacles, she still wanted to study in the city school. Dawan was nervous and worried at the start
but she became calmer and more confident towards the end. She overcame her fears by presenting
a logical and sensible appeal to her father. Her sincere and calm appeal helped her father realize
that Dawan too had a dream that her father could share in.

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Question :
Based on the novel you have studied, which character do you sympathise with? Give reasons for
your answer with close reference to the text.

Model Answer :
The novel, Sing to the Dawn by Mingfong Ho, is about Dawan, a young Thai girl who livesin the
village with her family. She won first place in a test and was announced as the winner of
ascholarship, giving her an opportunity to pursue her studies in a City school. Her brother,
Kwai,came in second after her. Both of them have great ideas of using their education to improve
lifein the village. The character whom I sympathise with in the novel is Dawan.Instead of getting
support and encouragement for her achievement, Dawan faces anger andrejection from her parents.
Her father is angry with her because he wants his son to get the scholarship. Her mother does not
encourage her because she thinks it is foolish to give her hope.Dawan’s close relationship with Kwai
suffers because her brother is jealous of her success.He threatens to take the scholarship from her,
making her worried and defensive. The conflict between them worsens with Dawan thinking ‘It’s
either him or me.’ His betrayal causes her pain.She even gets hurt physically when Kwai pushes her,
causing her to injure to her ankle.Thirdly, Dawan is sad to leave home. After all, she is only fourteen
years old and she isleaving her home for the first time. She will be alone in the ‘ugly, cruel city’. She
will also be faraway from nature which she loves.For these reasons, I sympathise with Dawan. She
has to struggle to pursue her dream. Byright, she should have received support from her family and
her community. She will also face alot of challenges in her new life in the city.

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Question :

Based on the novel sing to the dawn by Minfong Ho , it is true that one has to face many challenges
in her life before reaching his or her goal. Based on one of the novels that you have studied, describe
how far this is true and support your answer with textual evidence.

Answer :

Based on the novel sing to the dawn by Minfong Ho, it is true that one has to face many challenges
in life before reaching his or her goal. An obvious example is the main character, Dawan, who has
faced many obstacles in her way to catch her dream to study in city school.

One of the obstacles faced by Dawan is facing her brother, Kwai’s initially jealousy that leads to a rift
between the two previously-close siblings. They had stop talking nicely to each other for sometimes.
It started right after the bell ring at school in the first day she knew the result. Dawan called out for
Kwai who was standing alone in the doorway but he just turned away and stalked out abruptly. In
my opinion, one should not feel jealous of their sibling’s success, instead, they should be proud of
them.

The misunderstanding got worst when Dawan told her family about the scholarship result. Her
father was very angry and don’t want Dawan to go there. In chapter three, at the first Dawan asked
his permission to study at the city, he even accused Dawan for stealing her brother’s only
opportunity to study in city school. Her father thinks that proper study in the city is no place for a
girl. He thinks even if Dawan success, she still could not make any changes to their village. I think her
father should not mind about the gender discrimination. He cannot stop Dawan from being
successful in her life just because she is a girl. He should give her an opportunity to shoe what she is
capable of.

Lastly, Dawan face another problem when she and her mother went to see her cousin, Noi, and his
husband, Ghan. However, they do not want to help her to convince her father to let her study in the
city school. In the meantime a truth was discovered when they actually tells Dawan and her mother
about how the city actually are. In chapter four, Noi has described the city as cruel and ugly. She also
add that the city is not suitable for a young, healthy girl. In my opinion, Noi should help Dawan as
her family member. Besides, she has to think positive about Dawan.

The conclusion is, Dawan is a very determined and ambitious girl. Even though she had faced a lot of
obstacles, she still wanted to study in the city school. Dawan was nervous and worried at the start
but she became calmer and more confident towards the end. She overcame her fears by presenting
a logical and sensible appeal to her father. Her sincere and calm appeal helped her father realize
that Dawan too had a dream that her father could share in.
Question 7

Using the details from the novel you have studied, discuss what you like about the story and why
you would recommend the story to your friends.

Answer :

The story, Sing to the Dawn tells of Dawan, a Thai village girl who has her early schooling in the
village school in spite of gender discrimination practised by the villagers. She wins a scholarship
which will help her pursue her studies in a City school, Dawan has hopes of using her education to
improve the situation in the village. But she has obstacles to overcome before she can realise her
dreams.

I like the story for the aspects it portrays of life I* the village, the village school and how Dawan
prepares to face obstacles when going to the city and overcomes them.

One interesting aspect is love for nature. Dawan and Kwai often get up early to watch the sunrise
and the sunglow as it sweeps over the awakening world. This love for nature is illustrated also by
Bao who is devastated by the death of one of her sparrows. The lotus and sparrows are used to
illustrate that nature should be free and not be spoilt by man.

The story portrays a few themes like family ties and kinship. Dawan and her family have strong ties
in a simple and rough way. Father is against Dawan going to the city school as he is more in favour of
Kwai having more schooling than Dawan. However, this does not weaken the strong ties and love
they have for each other. Dawan goes through the process of having to persuade Father and Kwai.
Eventually she succeeds in making Father understand her situation. Support from her grandmother
and her leave taking from her, adds an interesting description to the story.

The moral values taught by the story makes it an interesting story. The moral value of strong family
ties and support is potrayed very well. We also learn to appreciate the importance of traditions in
one’s family and lifestyle. Respect for the elders despite the differences in opinions is shown by
Dawan. Sibling support and love makes Kwai encourage Dawan to understand that opportunity
knocks but once. So she should grab the chance. Bao tells her not to forsake her dreams even for her
brother.

Yes, I would recommend this story to my friends as I know they will enjoy the story for the same
reasons I do. We should be positive and must not let unpleasant situations deter us as we look
forward to a bright future.
Based on the novel you have read, write about how being positive helps the characters in the story.
Support your answer with close reference to the text.

Based on the novel 'Sing to the Dawn' by Minfong Ho, being positive has helped quite several
characters in the story such as Dawan, Kwai and Grandmother. Dawan is the main character of the
story and she faces a lot of hardships in achieving what she wants throughout the story. Next,
Grandmother is always there to help Dawan in any way she can as she loves her granddaughter very
much. Then, Kwai comes in by starting to behalf on Dawan's side nearing the end of the story.

The first character is Dawan. By being positive and having a strong set of mind, she manages to win
her father's approval after several hardships she has to go through. Dawan stays positive even
though she get scolded by her father for wanting to go to the city to study and she was accused of
stealing her brother's chance to further his studies instead of hers. She stays positive and strong all
the way through each disapproval that she receives from her own cousin, Noi and even the head
monk of the temple. Her patience definitely pays off and she manages to further her studies as she
wants to in the end.

The next character is Grandmother. By being positive, she manages to give excellent support to her
granddaughter without fail. She believes in Dawan's responsibilities and always encourages Dawan
by giving her confidence and bravery to fight against all the discrimination Dawan is receiving. With
her constant contributions, she manages to watch her granddaughter leave to the big city to further
her studies and feels extremely proud of her. Her granddaughter's success brings tears of joy to her
and she is very glad that she supports her granddaughter all the way.

The last character is Kwai. By being positive and supportive of his sister, he manages to help her
achieve her wish to study in the city. At the beginning of the story, he does not support her but then
he realises that he is being selfish and irrelevant. After long hours of considering, Kwai decides that
he will support her sister and help her get their father's approval to go. He helps Dawan by
defending her when she is scolded by their father and strongly states his opinion of how he does not
want to go to the city instead of her. He keeps his trust in Dawan and continues defending her until
their father finally agrees.

In conclusion, being positive has helped the characters a lot in achieving what they want especially
Dawan who gets her wish fulfilled and is able to finally go to the city to further her studies.