Week 4 Story: The Effects of Gossip
The Effects of Gossip
Just as the final buzzer sounded, John swished a three-pointer to raise the score from 79-81 to 82-81. The Bulldogs defeat the Penguins, their rival school! This is not the first time John has made a game winning shot, he is the school's star player. His arch-enemy just so happens to be the Bulldogs star player as well, Tom. John and his teammates were ecstatic and celebrated on their way back to the locker room. Once they got back, the adrenaline and energy began to slowly fade away as they showered and got dressed to head home for the night. Despite the exciting win happening on a Friday night, they had practice the next morning. All of the players arrived nearly an hour early for practice that morning as they always did to talk to one another. John asks the team "what's the talk of the school after that win last night, guys"? One of his teammates replied "they're pumped man, they can't stop talking about your game winning shot over your biggest rival, Tom"! This made John smile. After all, he is proud of all of his hard work that led up to him making that shot. However, this answer was not enough for John. He then asked his teammates to not only tell him the good, but the bad also. There was a prolonged and rather awkward silence that followed. Another one of his teammates replied "well, everyone is saying that the only reason that we won and you scored so many points is because the referees were treating you way better than they treated Tom and the other Bulldogs". This bothered John deeply. He felt as if all of his hard work was being disregarded because of how the referees did their job. He felt that he didn't deserve to win so immediately put on his basketball shoes and ran to the gym where he practiced until he began to develop blisters on his shooting hand!
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| John's Buzzer-Beater - Via USA Today |
Author's Note: This is my version of "Gossip Spreads" from Tiny Tales of the Ramayana. The original story is about how Rama was laughing and having a good time with his friends when he asked them "what is the talk of the town these days"?. They responded with how the citizens are talking about his victory over Ravana. He further asks them to tell him more, "not just the good, but the bad also". They respond with how some of the men complained that Rama allowed Sita to come back into his house and wondered if they needed to do the same for their wives. Of course, Rama was bothered by this deeply. Rama dismissed his friends and summoned Lakshmana. So as you can see, a lot has changed. Including: Rama became John & Ravana became Tom. The setting became a high school basketball game. The gossip that bothered Ravana became gossip about the referees of John's game. Lastly, instead of Rama leaving his friends and summoning Lakshmana, John left the locker room to practice in the gym.
Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from the Ramayana
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ReplyDeleteYour story was rewritten very well, I couldn't even tell it was originally a tale from the Ramayana! It was definitely a more realistic scenario too, and one that I could see playing out in any high school sports setting. It's amazing how easy it is to apply ancient tales from the Ramayana into educational stories today. Nice job writing this!
ReplyDeleteNathan, I enjoyed the part of the story in which you spoke about how John reacted to his teammate’s responses. It made me feel empathetic that their “bad” responses really got to him. I wonder why the referees sided on John and his team, rather than their rivals? What was their motive to treat the Bulldogs better than the Penguins? Maybe rather than John asking the team what their feedback is, maybe John finds out a different way and asks the team if what he is hearing is true. While reading your story, I understood the familiarity of the theme compared to the original in the Ramayana, but with a much different twist. I liked how you focused on the one scene where Rama is seen receiving both good and bad feedback, and how he reacts to it. I enjoyed how you applied the original into a story like this – very creative!
ReplyDeleteCool story Nathan. I am a big basketball fan, so I though it was really cool that you were able to incorporate that into your story. I liked how you introduce John and Tom and state how they are rivals, and I especially like how the schools they play for are rivals as well. This helps to raise the stakes of the story. I also thought it was funny how the main complaint with the way The Bulldogs were able to win was because of the refs as this is a common theme in not just basketball but sports as a whole. I think a way you could improve this story is if you explain the history between Tom and John. You state how they are arch-enemies, so maybe there is more to their rivalry than just being on opposing basketball teams. Maybe they have been enemies for a long time. But maybe adding that would get away from the spirit of the story. Other than that I thought you had a great and entertaining story.
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ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome story Nathan! One thing that really stuck out to me was the part of the story where John asked to hear about more than just all the praise. This gave an image of someone who is a great athlete, because praise is great but criticism makes you better. While reading your story one thing I wondered about was the history between John and Tom. Were they simply "enemies" because they were both star player or is there some unknown background between them that was not mentioned in the story? In the original story, before Rama returns home in victory, he was exiled from the city, so what if in your story John had previously been suspended and this was his first game after returning to the team? I think this would give you another small connection between the two stories.
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