Jeremiah (Boom)

Jeremiah 5 Characteristics Act 1 & 2 Evidence from the book: Characteristics Evidences ❖ Respectful/sensitive A1S3 1. Towards the director He did not interrupt the director whereas the director kept on interrupting him. 2. Towards the dead “15 years. The flesh has hardly gotten a chance to decompose, the whole process, the cycle of life and death, returning to the earth which they sprung. They have suffered so much, shouldn't they have the right to rest in peace for just a bit longer than 15 years.” 3. Towards the corpse Jeremiah addressed the corpse as “Mr Chan”. This shows that he did not just regard him as a dead piece of body. Instead, he treated him like a normal person with an appropriate surname. ❖ Submissive/timid (at first) A1S3 “You should make a site visit.” “Just submit your site report next Monday” Jeremiah gave in easily to the director and did what was told to him without questioning why he should do a site report. He followed the orders of the director without questioning the director. ❖ Sincere/devoted A1S6 “This cemetery is only 318 hectares in size and will be used up by 2013 at the current burial rate without the 15-year bury-in policy.” Jeremiah went extra miles to do some relevant research in order to convince the corpse in an attempt

to help him or else the corpse would be exhumed and scattered into the sea. Despite the constant rejection from the corpse, Jeremiah did not lose patience and walk away. He was very scared by the eerie atmosphere but he was not taken aback. Instead, he persevered and worked his way through to prompt the corpse to recall his memories by asking if he was” Married, single, divorced, widowed? Any children? Sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces?”, showing the time and effort Jeremiah had devoted. Unfortunately, the attempt was futile. ❖ Gauche definition : unsophisticated and socially awkward. A1S6 “Mr...um...Mr Chan Ah… Gow? Right. Mr Chan Ah Gow. Um…” Repetition of “um” shows Jeremiah’s uncertainty and anxiety. He could not even say a complete sentence properly. “(nervously flips through his file and it crashes loudly to the ground) Shit! I mean… shoot. I mean anyways. “ He was flustered in the graveyard and was socially awkward when talking to the corpse. He had to “ take a deep breath” and compose himself before he had the courage to speak up. ❖ Empathetic/humane A2S11 “Car accident. Some stupid motorcylist swerved into their lane, and that was it…” Jeremiah lost his mother in a car accident, which made him very sensitive. He had personally experienced the pain of losing his loved ones and he was able to empathise and relate to others who were in similar situations like the corpse’s family. This hence drove Jeremiah to take the initiative to help the corpse to find his family members.

A2S11 “I...I’m sorry, but I really need to attend to something urgent now.” At this stage, Jeremiah dared to talk back to the director, in juxtaposition to his previous self. This might be due to awakening humanity within himself and his own strong belief which was developed at the next half of the play. He thought the people were of the utmost importance so he went ahead to pursue what he believed was true - helping the corpse. He had his own judgement and prioritised “serving the public” over blindly carrying out the inhumane instructions. ❖ Responsible A2S6 “Unfortunately, as long as I’ve got your file, you're my responsibility. “ Jeremiah had faced a lot of problems, such as the fear of talking to a corpse, the difficulty in understanding the corpse, as well as the incorporation of the corpse. However, he did not give up. Instead, he overcame them and tried his best to help the corpse although this was not part of the job scope. ❖ Meticulous A2S11 Jeremiah did not just simply forget about the complaint letters. He still remembered the details of the complaint letters. ❖ Sentimental A2S6 “That’s when the screaming started. I swear I could hear it.” Jeremiah is still unable to let go of his mother even when she passed on quite some time ago. Until now, he still insists that he heard the screams of his mother. This shows that the screams he heard were engraved into his memory. Although it is apparent that she is dead, Jeremiah refuses to accept this truth. Due to his refusal to accept the truth, he even hallucinates the

screams of pain of his dead mother. He wants to believe that she is alive. ❖ Fillal A2S6 ¨You know, study, visit parents. Save time.¨ This suggests that even though Jeremiah needed to study, he still went to visit his parents´ graves and pay respects to them. Hence, his parents have a very important place in Jeremiah´s heart. General characteristics of Jeremiah: (no evidence no details just a summary) At first Idealistic Uncertain Hesitant Submissive Untainted by bureaucracy Scenes with Jeremiah A1: 3, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 18 A2: 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17, 20