The Sleeping Dictionary


A.   Film – Narrative

a.     Set-up

A young Englishman named John Truscott went to the British colony of Sarawak, Malaysia to apply his father’s work and he is introduced with a young beautiful lady (the sleeping dictionary) to teach him the local language but unfortunately, the two found themselves falling into a forbidden love which is prohibited.

    b. Confrontation

John and Selima were forced to depart ways and marry someone else, however a year later, Belansai (husband of Selima) tried to kill John when he heard the news that John secretly meets Selima and their baby, Manda.

    c. Resolution
         
          After the two escaped from the search that Aggie have made (commanding Neville to stop them from running away), John and Selima stayed together and live happily.
         

B.   "Selfishness as a Virtue"

To understand deeply this quotation, let’s first unlock the words “selfishness” and “virtue”. Now, when we say selfishness, according to Answers.com, this means “stinginess resulting from a concern for your own welfare and a disregard of others” or simply, “being concerned with one’s own interest.” While virtue means “the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong” as defined in the AudioEnglish.org. Trying to connect these two words, the philosophy, “selfishness as a virtue” would mean that being selfish does not always pertain to the negative side. Sometimes, selfishness could be considered goodness or an act that is beneficial or an advantage.

Citing the said quotation in the movie, it can be seen in the scenario where John leaves his wife (Cecilia) just for his sleeping dictionary and his true love, Selima. The action of selfishness portrayed by John shows goodness because it just mean that he can’t take to hurt his wife anymore and pretend that everything’s alright though it’s not, he just shows honesty when he admit it to Cecilia. What he did is just right and also for the betterment and peacefulness of both. In addition to that, the other scene that also depict selfishness as a virtue is when John chose to disclaim his duty for the sake of his love for Selima. He was supposed to perform his job but due to his affection towards Selima, he abandoned it and decided to stay with her and their son.


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