Week 7: Reading Diary B

The Wonderful Return:

·        I liked how this version of the story did a better job of introducing us to Guha’s character. His character was much less developed in Narayan’s version of the Ramayana.

·        I have mixed feelings about the changes made in regard to Rama’s return. In the previous version, I really liked how Bharata’s anxiety about Rama’s returned helped to establish his loyalty to his brother. His preparation to kill himself provided a suspenseful element to the story. On the other hand, Buck made no mention of Bharata’s anxiety. Instead, he established Bharata’s love for his brothers through dialogue and acts of service upon their arrival. Although I preferred the suspenseful aspect of Narayan’s story, Buck still did a very good job of revealing Bharata’s emotions through his words and actions.

·        I really liked how this chapter ended. It was very reassuring because almost everything that was said agreed with what I included in Rama’s letter from my storybook intro!

In What Dream:

·        I thought that it was an interesting addition that everything was able to communicate under Rama’s rule. Even inanimate objects could speak and tell stories.

·        How can Rama banish Sita, especially when she’s pregnant, simply because a few people in the kingdom refuse to believe that she didn’t sleep with Ravana? She even passed the fire test to prove that nothing happened between her and Ravana.

Farewell Again, My Lady and My King:

·        What a bold move by Sita to sacrifice herself in front of all of those people in order to prove her innocence. Rama must have felt terrible for banishing her due to other people’s beliefs about something she never did. Even if Rama recognizes how wrong he was, there’s no way of making up for his actions since she’s gone.

·        It was cool that Rama met his sons and finally realized who they were.