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Week 12 Reading Notes: More Jatakas A

Reading Jatakas is one of my favorite things to do in this class because they are such easy reads and they remind me of all the stories that I would hear as a child. One of the stories that I read today that stuck out to me was "The Empty Lake." there was nothing of significance as far as people surprising or out of the ordinary, but I loved how it took personification to the next level. It gave things such as wind, rain, and thunder life and I pictured them in my head that way. When Mother Earth's came down to drink the water away, I actually pictured Mother Earth as a human, coming and drinking the water from the lake. When Queen Rain began to fill back up the lake with King Thunder, I saw both of them working together to try and refill the lake.

If I were to write a full story with this as my source material, I would try an elaborate on the King Fish. They did not give him as much insight to him as they did the other characters. I dislike when a character is made a savior but without any personality to go behind it. I want to like a hero, but I want to like them for more than saving the day.

The second story I read was "The Master's Task." During the first page of this story I was extremely confused. This master wants his pupils to steal? I was not that surprised though, for some of the Jatakas I have read to not have the best morals to them. Then, it started to make since. I actually really liked the message it gave with "my self is watching." It is very deep to think about stuff that way, but it is just another way of saying to think before you making decisions. You would not steal or do something wrong in front of others, so why would you do it in front of yourself. Honestly, that does not sound like a bad tattoo either. I doubt I will get one, but just a thought. If I were to rewrite this story, I may make the master actually be a bad guy, and the smart pupil expose him for what he is truly doing. Sort of like a mystery.

(Pupil to Master. Source: Babel)

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales
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Comments

  1. Asha ChandrasekarNovember 11, 2019 at 12:12 AM

    Hi Jacob! I like how you picked some jatakas which most people didnt use as it allowed me to read some new topics and see your take on the stories. I agree with you that having an individual or a character as the protagonist in the story without having a personality or meaning of them being in the story is useless. If there is going to be a protagonist running the story, I feel that they should have a say and have some meaning to why they are where they are in the story, otherwise, there is no point in my opinion. I like the example you gave for wanting to be a hero but having no purpose or use to it when you are a hero for a single day. Good job on this assignment, I am really looking forward to reading many more :)

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