A random day

NUS-AUN Asian Undergraduate Symposium (AUS in short) is one of the series of the summer programmes that students from ASEAN (with a few Asian), from now on ASEAN+, universities can choose from. This series of summer programmes consists of similar AUS-like programmes running in parallel in different countries in the ASEAN+ region. AUS2024 has extended in scale and scope, hosting 300 delegates from the ASEAN+ universities. With the theme of Interconnected Community, students are expected to collaborate with each other to work on a project that aim to tackle the social problems facing their home countries and beyond, spanning three areas Sustainability and Environment, Needs and Wants, and Diversity and Inclusion.

When I was working on my assignment and used and listened to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (Menken and Schwartz, 1998) the musical soundtrack, adapted from the book of the same name by Victor Hugo (2011) as background music for my study, I suddenly realised how my reactions towards the characters had changed from the first time I watched it. In this essay, I will focus only on the character Claude Frollo.

I meet a handsome boy, not without charisma. He tells me that he is hurt when people are treated unfairly. I am sure he will love the elitist ball, Where masquerade is appropriated. People tell me the eyes are the window to the soul, let's just assume they are right. I ponder. Does his masquerade cover his eyes? He speaks of equality, But does it contain humanity? Or is it masked by a silk of privileges, with its bloody history? Full of pride, he invited people to his masquerade party, Where equality is the dress-code. What do mortals see of the equality chased after by a deity?