Reading Notes: Reading B: The Ramayana p. 53-89

Get your head in the game. 

I continued reading The Ramayana by R.K. Narayan pages 54-89. In the Reading A assignment, I had thought about creating a story about the four brothers as they were growing up. And from the information I had gathered, I thought Bharata was an evil brother that wanted to make himself the king and get rid of Rama. I was happily surprised to learn that he was not happy with what his mother had done and did not want to take the throne instead tried to convince Rama to come back and assume the throne (p.60).  I also learned more about Lakshmana character in this section of reading. First, we found out in the reading that when Lakshmana finds out that Rama was banished, he becomes outraged and is ready to kill anyone who tries to get rid of Rama. Lakshmana seems to have a little bit of a hot head and can get worked up fast, but Rama has a calming effect on him. Later, however, it is Lakshmana who knows that the golden deer is a trick and is the voice reason for Rama and tries to be the level headed one (p. 82). I still really enjoy reading about Sita character and how well she and Rama fit together. While it leads to disaster Rama wants to please Sita and just make her smile by getting the golden deer for her to keep as a pet (p. 83). They genuinely love each other and I am sure would have many charming love stories together. When Ravana comes into the story, I pictured him as a high school bully who thought he should have everything, even if it had already belonged to someone else. The Ramayana characters could be used, in high school form, in my final project where The Ramayana is turned into a high school musical type feud. Rama and Sita would be like Troy and Gabriella, and Ravana and Soorpanaka could be the siblings Sharpay and Ryan.

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Image: High School Musical. Source: Wikipedia