The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
R.K Narayan
Link
Pages 131-171
This book has this convenient way of magical powers showing up exactly when needed. Fleeing this all-powerful being? Here's this mountain he just can't go to. Need to cross an ocean? Oh, did you forget your ability to change size as needed?
"what has begun with a monkey may not end with a monkey"
The asuras are known as an evil race but even within them they have an honor code and do not respect Ravana's actions in kidnapping Sita which is interesting
Is it foreshadowing if it's literally just someone calling exactly what's going to happen? That's happened several times in this book tbh--like Vali's wife calling his death, or Lak calling the fake cry of Rama when Ravana was kidnapping Sita, or now Ravana's brother predicting Ravana's fate.
The passage from Ravana of "where was your God then?" I find really powerful. "Where was he when I imprisoned Indra, and destroyed his mighty elephants...Did this God abandon his giant universal form and reduce himself to human size in order to make it easier to follow him?"
Rama's soliloquy about accepting people in asylum feels hypocritical with how he treated Vali
So the battle summed up to me all of my frustration in reading this book with regards to the concept of "deus ex machina". It's stretching my growth as a reader I think, but I find it interesting how so many people like this method of storytelling, as evidenced by how omnipresent this story is in India and has been for thousands of years, because to me I find it cheap and a cop-out and lazy writing. Everytime, one of them pulls out the biggest weapon or craziest attack, and then is rebutted by a convenient solution that shows up just when all seems lost. The image below shows an example of this in a play, where the savoir is descending from the clouds at a critical moment:
Also, I liked how the author himself even pointed out Rama's crappiness at putting Sita literally through a trial by fire when she stayed loyal to him and was so excited to see him. It does do a good job of pointing out his humanity though, and I think it's interesting that it's always with regards to Sita that Rama demonstrates the most flaws in his character, like it's his love for Sita that humanizes him the most.
Overall, I did really enjoy the book though, and am excited to delve more into it in my writing.
R.K Narayan
Link
Pages 131-171
This book has this convenient way of magical powers showing up exactly when needed. Fleeing this all-powerful being? Here's this mountain he just can't go to. Need to cross an ocean? Oh, did you forget your ability to change size as needed?
"what has begun with a monkey may not end with a monkey"
The asuras are known as an evil race but even within them they have an honor code and do not respect Ravana's actions in kidnapping Sita which is interesting
Is it foreshadowing if it's literally just someone calling exactly what's going to happen? That's happened several times in this book tbh--like Vali's wife calling his death, or Lak calling the fake cry of Rama when Ravana was kidnapping Sita, or now Ravana's brother predicting Ravana's fate.
The passage from Ravana of "where was your God then?" I find really powerful. "Where was he when I imprisoned Indra, and destroyed his mighty elephants...Did this God abandon his giant universal form and reduce himself to human size in order to make it easier to follow him?"
Rama's soliloquy about accepting people in asylum feels hypocritical with how he treated Vali
So the battle summed up to me all of my frustration in reading this book with regards to the concept of "deus ex machina". It's stretching my growth as a reader I think, but I find it interesting how so many people like this method of storytelling, as evidenced by how omnipresent this story is in India and has been for thousands of years, because to me I find it cheap and a cop-out and lazy writing. Everytime, one of them pulls out the biggest weapon or craziest attack, and then is rebutted by a convenient solution that shows up just when all seems lost. The image below shows an example of this in a play, where the savoir is descending from the clouds at a critical moment:
.png/1280px-Set_design_Act1_of_Androm%C3%A8de_by_P_Corneille_1650_-_Gallica_2010_(archival).png) |
| Set Design of Andromede (Wikipedia) |
Overall, I did really enjoy the book though, and am excited to delve more into it in my writing.
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