Little Ironies: The Taximan's Story

Q1. What is the irony in the story?

The taxi driver supported people who did inappropriate acts as he earned a lot of money from them but when his own daughter became one, he got extremely angry at her and dragged her home in his taxi.

Q2. What are the themes raised in the story?

There are two themes that are raised in the story. These themes are past and present and trust and betrayal. Trust and Betrayal is raised when Lay Choo betrays her father. Past and Present is raised when teenagers today are different from teenagers in the past.

Q3. How realistic is the story?

I think the story is quite realistic as nobody would want their own child to be doing inappropriate things just to earn money.

Q4. What do you think of the taximan? Do you feel sympathy for him?

I sympathize with the taximan because his youngest, cleverest and most ‘obedient’ daughter has lied to him by telling him she was in school for tuition but actually went somewhere else. However I do not agree with him with supporting social escorts as this will only further aggravate his daughter’s unhappiness with him.

Q5. Do you agree with his lamenting?

I agree with his lamenting in some way as his daughter lied to him. He complains that teenagers are disobeying their parents but he should not do this as these teenagers are the one’s giving him a huge profit.

Q6. What about the other characters in the story? Do you feel sympathy for them?

I sympathize with Lay Choo as she did those things in order to relief the pressure on her father to earn money for her university fees by helping him earn some money. However if she did them so she could buy branded things she deserves her punishment.