Week 6: Famous Last Words

(Image information: basically, this is my life right now; image from wikimedia)

I haven't been able to do one of these in a while because life has suddenly gotten so hectic, but I like keeping busy. The more I write for the class, the more I want to continue creative writing. In high school, I wrote a 300+ page ficton (YA fantasy) book for myself to see if I could do it. I didn't even tell my family while I was writing it! They just thought I was always on the computer doing homework or watching videos on youtube. I'm sure if I looked at it now I would laugh at my ability to write, but since it took me several years to finish the book, I can tell that my writing improved as a result. Hopefully that will be the case with this class. I am feeling more comfortable about finding things to write about, so it takes less time to do the projects.

This week I felt okay with my storytelling project. I love first person narrative and telling stories from the person's perspective, but I feel as if I've done a lot of my storytelling assignments that way. I'm excited for the Week 7 project, which I just wrote, which is third person. I took a little more liberty with the dialogue this time to see if I could alter it without changing the story too drastically. I think I'm happy with it, but I'm looking forward to reading any comments that it gets in order to continue improving my writing. All comments-- good and bad-- are welcome!

This week was no exception to how busy things have been lately. I even drank coffee to stay awake, which never happens to me. I could never handle the taste, but I learned there are a few drinks that I can tolerate. I'm not much of a tea or coffee person, but apparently, I might be now!

This week was also the first meeting of the group at OU for women who are pre-med (Pre-Medical  Women's Society). It can be a challenge to plan an event and then hope and pray people show up. We were very pleasantly surprised that a lot of girls came to hear our speakers, who were two amazing medical students at OU med school right now. It was really great to hear that medical school is doable and that you can still somewhat have a social life outside of school. I start medical school next year, so it was so comforting to hear them talk about their experiences. In the future, we hope to bring female doctors to talk about their experiences and what it's like to a woman in medicine.

Week 6: Storytelling Mandodari

(Image of Mandodari and Hanuman: image from Wikipedia)

 Ravana's obsession with this new woman annoyed me to no end, but I loved him. Because I loved him, I tolerated his fascination like a mother tolerates her child's fascination with a new toy.

Sita is the wife of Rama, but my husband claimed her because he had heard of her beauty. Rama didn't care much for her anyway. Who leaves his wife alone and unprotected like that? Ravana would never do that to me.

Ravana is the great and strong ruler of Lanka, so I was not surprised to find another woman joining his large number of lovers. This one was different, though. Ravana has never become to overwhelmed by any other woman except me, his queen. Sita refused to give herself over to him and be done with his attentions. I suspect she is secretly wanting to take him from me, so she is pretending not to be in love with his many charms. The more she rejects him, the madder Ravana becomes. It takes all of my tricks to get him to even look at me now!

Now, I am walking with him for his daily trip to Sita's grove. His many faces show a variety of emotions, all of them unpleasant. He wants her badly. As he approaches her, I stand back out of respect for my husband, but that doesn't stop me from staring at Sita disgustedly. Several of my attendants had already commented on how strangely similar we are. I think I am more beautiful, although some of the concubines have been whispering that Sita is the most lovely woman they had ever seen. Fools!

As usual, the disrespectful woman spurns Ravana's sweet words and offers. I gently take one of Ravana's arms and lead him away. I can feel his arm trembling with anger, and his eyes are very angry. I tell him to come with me. After all, how could a lowly insect love such a majestic creature such as he? Sita is a mere insect, and she belongs with her insect human lover, Rama. She does not deserve my husband.

As we walk, I tolerate Ravana's rants about Sita. I offer him empty platitudes while burning inside. How dare this woman hurt my husband so! I must find a way to make him love me again and crush Sita!

Author's Note: Although Mandodari is a background character in the Ramayana, she holds much power over Ravana and the story's progression. I thought it would be interesting to explore her animosity towards Sita and perhaps why she was angry. In the story, she speaks quite harshly about Sita but then completely changes her manner to soothe Ravana. She's quite a complicated character, so it was fun to explore her thoughts more.

Bibliography:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.

Week 6: Reading Diary B

Sita:

• Sita breaks when she thinks Rama has been killed and "let life slip and fall away through her fingers" (p. 233)
• Trijata is the woman every heartbroken girl needs to snap her back into reality
• Sita says Hanuman is powerful because of his love for Rama (p. 258)

Other points of interest:

• Rama has to be convinced by the animals to go to war 
• "Fools mistake patience for weakness" Rama (p.224)
• The squirrels helping to build the bridge is the cutest thing ever! (p. 225)
• "Are you afraid?" "Well, no, but my stomach hurts." Ravana and Sardula (p. 231)
• Poor elderly Malyavan...
• The blow meant for Nala only killed a mosquito about to bite him
• Everyone things taking Sita was a mistake-- everyone, except Ravana "What I don't like, I don't hear" (p. 245)
• Ravana cannot take on the form of Rama to trick Sita because he would have to become morally good like Rama (p. 246)
• sword becomes a woman (p. 253)
• Rama actually dies (p. 253)
• War as much physical as it is psychological-- the demons pretend to kill Rama and pretend to kill Sita

Week 6: Reading Diary A

Sita Notes:

• Even in captivity and starvation, Sita was beautiful
• She speaks logically with Ravana
•  Sita is so fiesty and strong to stand up against the guards
• Trijata completely changes the situation
• Sita and Hanuman's interactions are very sweet

Points of Interest:

• Hanuman wasn't really paying attention when they were trying to decide who would go to lanka
• Hanuman as a cat!
• Maybe Hanuman thought Mandodari was Sita because Sita could be Mandodari's daughter... makes Ravana's obsession much more disgusting
• Ravana: "The nicer I am, the worse you treat me!" (p. 199)
• I like this version of Hanuman-- he seems more monkey-like
• "Never fear to love well" Hanuman (p. 220)