My First Kiss

1. How does the author describe Malaysia in regards to showing affection? The law forbids 'indecent behaviour' which can be interpreted as any affection showed in public. This law is especially hard on the homosexuals because that was against the law. This shows that Malaysia has a very strong position in showing affection in the face of other, that being it is morally wrong.

2. What happens to the author when she hits puberty? She followed the stereotypical path of a teenage girl which is to have long hair, pimples are a crush. Where she differs is that she had a crush on girls idols rather that the heterosexual male idol. She also began to write in a diary to express herself creatively.

3. What is the author’s experience at school when she first arrives to Melbourne? Her experience when she first arrives in Melbourne is that she is stereotyped into the ESL class because she comes from overseas. She is annoyed by this because she knows English well and has spoken it all her life and is not offered the challenge that she hopes for. She does like the fact that she can make friends in a similar position.

4. What is it that made the author feel that she wasn’t Australian even though she spoke English fluently? She came from a different background to most people spoke English and thought that she sounded like she spoke a mix of cultures (Malaysian-lit, Manglish, TV-Influenced Americianisms, the Queen's English and Australian).

5. What else was it about the author that further alienated her from her peers? She is considered nerdy be the socio-economics of the school and would rather read at lunch and stay away from the gossip. She also is in the chess team with others that are alienated from the peers.

6. What does the use of description like ‘crash hot’ do to the audience’s perception of the author? The audience's perception of the author by using 'crash-hot chess player' shows that she is a victim to Australian colloquialisms and that she judges people the same to stereotypical girls.

7. What opportunity does university give the author? What is it about university which would allow her to express herself more freely? The university offers her to be more creative with her theater writing. This allows her to express her sexuality as seen through her wanting to kiss another girl and that she is in charge of how the play is written.

8. What role does creativity play for the author? Why do you think that creativity would be so important to her? Creativity plays an important part of the authors life because it gives her an outlet to her otherwise discriminated homosexuality. It is so important to her because without it she would have to 'bottle up' her emotions rather than express them freely.