Reading Notes Part B: Jakata Tales Part B

After reading Part B I realized that all the stories were written by the same person, whoops.  Anyway, I think that all the stories in Part B are wonderfully done and there is hard to find any fault with them.  The descriptions that the writer uses helps me visualize and bring to life in my head what I am reading.  I know I have stated this countless time, but I think that it is super important to be able to have your reader visualize while they are reading what you have written.  That is the first and only way to draw their intention ion.  If the reading is bull and boring the person is most likely to skip it or read it once and then discard it from their mind.  With these stories, I know that they will stay with me for a long time. It definitely was not easy to pick a favorite story because I felt they were all very well written and conveyed the message well.

Again, the only thing that bugs me is the fact that most of the characters are animals.  I know that the Indians believed certain animals to be spiritual and holy, but I think it would be ok to throw human characters in there once and a while.  Reading about animals does get a bit stale after a while. I noticed that in this day and age it seems that the same animals that we think are dumb and stupid, the Indian’s did too.  We probably should treat all animals equal and not focus on what we think their intelligence is. That is probably the only thing that I have to nit-pick at. Overall, I did enjoy Part B stories and I kind of hope we get to read more stories like this because they were short and to the point.

Great Horned Owl. (March 9. 2016)

Peter K. Burian. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Jataka Tales. Jataka Tales

Reading Notes Part A: Jataka Tales Part A

I really enjoyed all the stories in Part A. I thought they all did a good job of expanding on the stories from the old times and making them easier to understand.  I feel like the lessons that are being taught in these stories are a lot easier to understand than if we were reading something that written way back when. Sometimes, I do find it difficult to follow along with older stories because the way that they are written are very confusing. The story that I probably will write on is the monkey and crocodile.  What I may do to add a twist that instead of having the monkey get away from the crocodile, is have the monkey get too cocky and die.  While this is a dark take on the story it probably would be good to remind everyone that not all stories have good endings. I would also make the crocodile smarter than to monkey because too often crocodiles and sharks are considered quite dumb in stories like this and so having them being smart would be interesting. As Indian stories have shown us sometimes they do have the happiest ending.  

What I do find a little annoying about these stories is that they seem to all have a lesson to attach to them.  Why can’t a story just be a story and have no lesson with it.  Seems like all too often a story is trying to teach people something. I think having two evenly matched people/creatures would be an interesting take and make the story seem for even. Overall though, I did really enjoy reading all these stories. I liked how student made them up and put a more realistic spin on them than what we have read in the past.

Ox. (September 15, 2016)

AB.C. Source: Flickr

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Jataka Tales. Jataka Tales

Reading Notes Part B: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

One thing that I thought was interesting for Part B that I did not address in Part A was the fact that the characters in the stories are different than the ones I read about in Mythology and Folklore. What I mean by that is that each person seems to have emotional ties to whoever is going through a journey.  Generally, when reading a story, it focused on a major protagonist and then it had secondary characters who stood in the background mostly.  With Part B, the characters that I thought were background people are coming to the forefront.  I thought that was interesting because it allows us to get a better view of these people who we might not have considered important in the beginning. On top of that they all have backstories which I think is ingenious. By allowing them all to have backstories it gives us characters we can more easily relate to and cheer for. I do enjoy the fact that multiple stories are told through this novel. It gives us a chance to further expand our knowledge about Indian folklore.  These stories will help us be able to write better story books that everyone would be to understand.

Still one thing that I dislike and probably never get over is the fact that the characters names are hard to announce. Most people would not think that is a big deal but to me it is. When you cannot say the character’s name it is hard to generate a response to what they are going through. Going forward I hope the authors can keep one straight narrative and not split into 10 different ones. That would be very helpful, so I am not confused about what I am reading. Overall, thought Part B was a great read.

Devavrata. (1923)

B P Banerjee. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

Reading Notes Part A: Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

For the reading part A I chose The Myths of Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabhrata.  This was a very long and sophisticated reading.  For one, I feel that I still do not know how to pronounce the names still and with the inclusion of different gods and goddesses I still don’t know which one does what.  I do feel like the stories that are shown throughout the first part of Mahabhrata are good stepping stones until Part B is reached.  It seems like the trials and tribulations that the characters go through in Part A can easily be related to real life.  That to me is what I find fascinating.  Whenever I am reading a story for this class I can always sense a connection between what is going on in my person life/real world and what they were describing back then. It seems that the Indians type of storytelling was sort of foretelling the future because in a eerie way, some of the stories relate to what is happening in the world.

While there is a lot to praise to there are also some negatives.  One negative is that while the stories are good and just, there seems to be a lot going on.  What I mean by that is that there seems to be an overabundance of characters and journeys that are happening. Now, while this might good sometimes, here it is bad because it is hard to remember all the people’s names.  There also seems to be a lot of twists and turns that occur during the stories that might be a little unnecessary. Some parts of Part A are a little slow and seem to make me lose interest which is not the best because then I want to read something else. Overall though, I felt like the characters and the journey that each one went on during Part A were done very well.

Pandu. (1690)

NA. Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography: Gibbs, Laura. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata

Week 8 comments and Feedback

Feedback in

I think the quality of comments and feedback that I receive from everyone is great.  I feel that by looking at the comments I can better tailor my blog stories to have a more profound impact on the reader.  Hopefully, I can draw their attention and not divert it. The comments that I find the best are the ones that are critical and offer suggestions.

Feedback out

I feel like the kind of comments that I leave everyone is helpful. I think that I offer good insight and helpful suggestions while not coming across as rude or disrespectful. I think that other people's writing has helped me shaped my own writing because I can really see what other people like and don't like when it comes to the stories we tell.

Blog Comments

I do feel like I get to connect with people while commenting on their blogs.  It is a good interaction that can set the tone going forward in this class if I have questions I need to ask.

Looking Forward

I could probably make sure that my comments give more helpful suggestions and also some "what if" questions. I feel like no changes are needed for my introduction or comment wall.

Feedback. (March 18, 2019)

Mohamed_hassan. Source: Pixabay

Week 8 Progress

Looking Back
I definitely am happy with my progress. I think I am a week or two ahead of where I was last year when I was in the Mythology and Folklore class. I am most proud of the fact that I am actually getting ahead of class.  Trying to balance this class and my capstone is a challenge but with me being a week ahead it allows me more time to focus on my capstone. My weekly routine is doing most of the assignments on Sunday then finishing it up on Monday.  The assignments I enjoy the most is definitely adding to my storybook.

Looking Forward
I want to keep the same pace that is have been going with for the rest of the semester and not slack off. One pitfall that I want to put off is putting off a week of homework for this class since I am a week or two ahead.  I might change the layout of my storybook later on but I am not sure yet.

Looking Forward. (February 9, 2018)

500px. Source: Wikicommons

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I feel that my reading and writing assignments are going well for me.  I must say that it is a tad difficult to understand what I am reading since I know nothing about Indian folklore.  What I can say is that I enjoy it a lot.

I am happy with the layout of my blog because I feel like the overall aesthetic is representing what we are reading.  On top of that my project website is coming along very well and hopefully it will be better than the one I did for Mythology and Folklore.

My biggest writing accomplishment in this class would probably be the fact that I am able to write stories at all.  Having really no background in understanding Indian epics, I thought it would be difficult to produce stories and understand them but I feel like I am doing a good job.

I don't think there is anything that I need to be doing to get more out of the readings.  I think the stories I write could be a little more cohesive and not be as rushed.

NA. (April 3, 2016)

NA. Source: Pixabay