The Coffin is Too Big for The Hole is a play from Singapore and Kuo Pao Kun wrote

it. It is about rich people who are trying to get what they desire. People who have a lot of money can do whatever they like and if they cannot, it will bring shame to them. It arouses the feeling of unsatisfied to them. In this play, the late grandfather wants his funeral to be fancy and big. He orders a big expensive confine for himself. He can afford this because he is filthy rich. This shows that he trying to show off his status of being a rich man through his grand funeral. This play stories about those rich people who want to fulfill their desires so that their status would not be questioned and it reflects the theme of status overcomes everything. We can see that through these three characters, the theme develops. The first character is the grandson. He is the head of his family and he has a big responsibility to handle events such as funeral ceremony. He does his job responsibly and it shows that he is a responsible man. This is because, in this play, there is a problem that he is facing during the ceremony and it is the big expensive coffin that his grandfather books cannot fit the hole. As a responsible man who wants the ceremony to be a perfect thing, he seeks for solution. For example, he talks to the caretaker to dig a bigger hole but he cannot do that because of the strict rule, one dead man is allotted for one standard size coffin. Feeling that his responsibility to handle the ceremony is challenged, he demands to meet the cemetery manager of that place to talk face to face. It shows that he puts a lot of afford to solve this problem as he is trying to be a responsible man. His afford is paid off after the cemetery officer agrees to dig a big hole for his grandfather but not after the grandson threatens to make a protest first. It also implies to us that a responsible man should put a big afford in what one is trying to archive just like the grandson does his job responsibly for his grandfathers funeral. In other way, it implies to us that the grandfathers status is preserve as his responsible grandson manages to bury him in that fancy coffin. The second character is the late grandfather. He is a snobbish person. He thinks that he is rich and can afford anything that he desire so that people will adore his greatness. This is because in the play, we can see that he has bought a big fancy coffin for his funeral and during his funeral, there are few hundred people coming. With that attention from the many crowds at his funeral, we can see that his intention is becoming true. Despite of the strict rule, he can have that grand funeral ceremony because of he is rich man and has the power to make anything happen. If a poor person who does not have any status in the society wants to have a big size hole at Singapore, he will be surely not getting that because there is no status or title to support him. His desire is illogical and beyond comprehension. This situation is actually a universal common sense that could happen in any society. Thus, it implies to us that rich people will get what they desire as they have status, power and money to do so. The third character that also is also contributed to the theme is the cemetery officer. In this play he stands firmly in his principle while working. As a cemetery officer, he has to abide to the policy of one dead man is only for one standard size plot, no exception. Therefore, his characteristic is an honest man. The evidence that shows that he is an honest man is when the grandson demands for his late grandfather to be bury in a bigger grave. The cemetery officer refuses his desire because he is a honest man and does not want to break any rules. He also give some options to the grandson and all of the options are not void the policy. The options are to change to a private

cemetery, chop off the extra wood of the coffin, remove the body and wrap it with a bamboo sheets and change to a smaller coffin. All those options are parallel to the policy and it also implies to us that the officer manager is actually is trying to be sarcastic with the grandson so that he can realize that he is trying to show off his status as a rich man. This character is very significant to this play because he can show to the reader that with his firm principle, the grandson tries very hard to get what he desires because he is taking care of his familys name as the theme for this play is about status.