1. How does the text relate to the theme of a journey?
[The text is all about the journey of a ten-year old girl, Chihiro into a fantasy world and how she must find her way back to reality. The protagonist’s experience in the alternate world represents her passage from childhood to adulthood. In the opening scene, the viewer is informed that Chihiro and her family are moving to a new town. This is also a form of journey for her, in terms of leaving behind old memories and learning to adapt in a new environment. Furthermore, she travelled on a train ride across the spirit world to visit Zeniba in hope of breaking her curse over Haku.]

2. What is the main issue in the text?
[The main issue in this text would be the autocracy rule. Yubaba, the main antagonist of the film and an old witch with an inhumanly large head and nose, supervises the bathhouse with an over-bearing and authoritarian personality. She took Chihiro's name and renames her "Sen" in order to hold power over her for the duration of the contract. She also does this to her other workers, so she can keep them in service forever. Haku works as Yubaba's direct subordinate, often running dirty errands and performing various missions for her. Furthermore, discrimination is also a problem throughout the text. After Chihiro is put to work, she encounters difficulties; she was given hard and menial tasks. As an additional example, she was denied bath tokens whereas others were granted those with ease. Besides that, greed for money is an obvious topic. Yubaba is only interested in taking care of guests for money, while the bathhouse staffs are crazy over gold.]

3. What quality do you admire or dislike in a character?
[Chihiro Ogino, the ten-year old protagonist of the film, has several commendable traits. During her adventure she matures from a whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic child to a hard-working, responsible, optimistic young girl who has learned to care for others. She is also persistent, as shown when she insists on getting a job from Yubaba. Once being accepted, she works diligently with the help of Lin, who in the end warms up to Chihiro and grows a strong bond with her. It can be seen that she eventually becomes very well-mannered and polite and cares deeply for those around her, especially Haku and No-Face.]

4. How does the text develop your understanding of the world?
[Personally, the text has helped to expand my understanding of being hard-working, particularly in a competitive society nowadays. Chihiro is an ideal role-model; she works like a horse to accomplish her daily chores under Yubaba and is willing to go the extra mile. She never gives up in her quest to recover her parents and escape. Besides that, there are lots of people in society who are dictators, more than eager to control and exploit others for their own personal gain. Yubaba has this sort of personality and practically worships gold. She rules her employees with an iron grip and seizes anything prized from them. Communist countries such as Vietnam perform such acts towards their population, and the people are oppressed. This, in my opinion, should be avoided as people have rights and freedom.]