Week 5 Story: Ravan and Shurpanahka's "What Would You Do?"
Author's Note: I read "The Divine Archer" by F.J. Gould which is just a creative retelling of the Ramayana. He didn't change much of anything from the original, but I was very interested in the part of the story where Hanuman goes to visit Sita. He shrinks himself down to a gnat! I thought this shapeshifting ability was so cool, but I didn't know how to incorporate it into an actual story so what I did instead was create a high school talk show featuring all of the characters you know and love. Your narrators are Ravan and Shurpanahka who attend Sri Lanka High and are going to discuss a question asked to the high schoolers about college student, Hanuman. As to the narration style, it doesn't matter which person you envision speaking which parts. You could even just imagine them both speaking at the same time or playing off from one another. I tried to make their responses as accurate to the characters as possible but a few of them did end up being quite silly. I really just had fun with it and wrote a silly piece so I hope you enjoy! Now, welcome to Ravan and Shurpanahka's talk show. Here's the link to my Portfolio: Riley's Portfolio.
Ravan and Shurpanahka's "What Would You Do?"
Hello and welcome back to our daily talk show where we ask the question What Would You Do? As always, you're listening to this broadcast right here at Sri Lanka High with your hosts, the twins, Ravan and Shurpanahka.
This week, we're delving into the minds of you teenagers. We gathered together fifty of you filthy animals and asked: "If you could shrink yourself to the size of a gnat like Hanuman from Rama Uni, what would you do?" Here are some of your responses!
Sugriva says, "Huh, I'd probably, like, fly into the girls' locker room or something, ha ha." Excellent response, Sugriva. We can tell it took you a while to think of that. Very imaginative, bud. Here's an idea, maybe you should stop skipping classes.
Sita says, "Ew, who would want to be a gnat? Can I choose to be something prettier?" Well, yes Sita, you can. You could choose to not be superficial. Ha ha, just kidding girl, we kid.
Dasharatha responded with, "If I was a gnat, I'd fly into a bug zapper." Yeesh, that's dark there Dashy. You know, there's always counseling in room 222 if you need it. Someone make sure that guy doesn't have access to any bug zappers.
Lakshmana's response was, "I wouldn't want to be a gnat unless my brother could also be a gnat. Oh, and my girlfriend. And her girl friend. And my cat... and my girlfriend's cat. Okay, could everyone else just be a gnat with me?" Easy there, man. It was a hypothetical question. You can leave your cat at home for this one.
Finally, the last response we'll have time for today and our personal favorite is from star quarterback, Rama whose answer was, "Why would I be a gnat when I can be a god?" Excuse us while we contain our laughter. Is this guy serious? He's too much. Here's a question for you, Rama. Why be a god when you could just be a good guy? Answer that one for us next time.
Anyways, catch you later on "What Would You Do?" As always, we are wishing you hell. Ravan and Shurpanahka signing off. Bye!
Bibliography: The Divine Archer by F.J. Gould. Website: Internet Archive.
Hi Riley! Your story was super easy and comical to read. I can tell you had a lot of fun with it! I did not read the original version of this story so the only thing I would suggest for you to do is add a little background on each of the characters so that we understand why each of them responded the way they did. Having read the Ramayana, I understood a bulk of this talk-shows content, however, I did not remember this specific section super well so it came across as a little confusing at times. This was an awesome writing style to use and it is definitely inspiring for me to see this type of variability to the stories!
ReplyDeleteWow Riley! Turning a part of The Ramayana into a talk show, now that's some outside the box thinking. I love it! I think the comedy works well for the talk show like environment and setting. The story is also easy to read and digest, which is a solid accomplishment. I also like how you incorporated the personalities of the characters that we are familiar with into their answers. Really cool stuff!
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