Thursday, September 10, 2015

Week 3 Storytelling: Things are not always what they seem

One day, a man named John traveled to a new city. He parked his car and started walking down the sidewalk when he came across a person sitting down on the ground. The person was wearing torn clothes and looked as if he hadn't eaten for days.

John was feeling bad for the guy and decided to help him in any way he can. He approached the person as he wanted to help and also because he was curious as to why that person was sitting on the ground when there was a perfectly good bench ten feet away from him.

He decided to inquire, "Good day sir. I was curious as to why you are sitting on the ground when you can sit on the bench over there?"

The man answered, "The bench is not up to my standards. Too many people sit on the bench and I don't want to be one of them as I don't associate myself with those people-- commoners."

John didn't know what to say right away, and started to talk to himself, "Who is he calling commoners when his attire is worse than everyone else's".

After some time, John replied, "Are you not a part of the commoners?"

"NO! Of course not," answered the person. He continued, "But you are probably wondering why I am in this state"

He continued, "I happen to be the CEO of Stardeer, but I do not like to spend my money as that would make me poor and a commoner."

John still did not understand why this person spends way less than him even though he earns way more than him. He left scratching his head as the CEO looked more like a homeless person rather than a CEO of such big coffee stores. He kept walking, thinking this must be how everyone in this city lives.

After some time, he came across another person sitting on the ground. He was more curious about this person than the last one as this person had a suit on. John thought to himself, "He must be rich as well, living similar to the CEO, but not as badly it seems".

He decided to inquire as he was very curious, "Good day sir. I know it is not any of my business. But I was curious as to why you are sitting on the ground with such good clothes on. Will they not get dirty?"

"I will answer your question if you give me 5 dollars," replied the man.

John thought this request was odd as he seemed to be doing well for himself. He took out a $5 bill and handed it to the man in order to satisfy his curiosity.

The man started to speak, "Very well then. These are not my clothes. I got them from the charity store down at the corner. They give free clothes to people like me who cannot afford them otherwise. Dirty or clean doesn't really make much of a difference to me".

The man continued, "Thanks to you, I can now go get something to eat as I haven't eaten in a while".

John was left speechless again. He didn't know what to do. So he took out some more money out of his wallet and handed them to the man and said, "Get yourself a better lunch and some dinner".

The man was very thankful. He said his goodbyes as he got up and started walking toward McKing, the big fast food restaurant.

John left in a very confused state. He started wondering why things were not always what they seem. He finally understood the saying, "Appearances can be deceptive" and the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover".

The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing picture from a blog.
Source: Liberty Carter Blog

Author's Note. This story is based on the fable "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" found in The Fables of Aesop book. This book was written by Joseph Jacobs (1894). In that story, a wolf finds some skin of a sheep. Which he wears to deceive the shepherd and other sheep. He is successful as he gets inside the herd and eats many of them. In my version, I changed everything, including changing the characters to people, but I kept the important lesson intact: Appearances can be deceptive. I wanted to write the story in a real life situation, that's why I made the changes from animals to people in a society. The picture I found is from a blog and represents how things are not always what they seem and how appearances can be deceptive. The image is from the original story, but the symbolism it provides ties it to my story. I chose this story because it seemed interesting and I wanted to see how I can write my own version of it. The story was coming to me while I was writing so it may not seem like a good story, but I hope it gets the message across as that was my main goal.

Bibliography: "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" by Joseph Jacobs, from The Fables of Aesop (1894). Web Source: UnTextbook.

5 comments:

  1. Hi again, Farhan! What a great twist from the original story and I think it's interesting that you completely changed it. You really made this one your own by creating an entirely different scenario all the while maintaining the same lesson. In contemporary society, it is hard to not judge a book by its cover, but after reading your story, I will keep that in mind!

    The picture included in your story scared me a little since I imagined the wolf being inside REAL sheep skin. *shudder* haha.

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  2. Good twist to the story making it all your own. It takes more creativity to manipulate a classical story so heavily and bring it into a modern context, so good job on that. I prefer twisted stories. On the physical structure of the text I am glad you broke it up. We are a society with little patients now and big blocks of text are intimidating so your breaking it up and comfortable spacing makes the story more inviting and more comfortable to the viewers eyes in the end. I'm also a design major so I think about that kind of stuff and hierarchy way too much haha. Dope pic that you found to end the story as well. I like how twisted that is, and the expression on the wolfs face, and his eyes are all very interesting and intimidating. His eyes say it all, and the cut out darkness of the sheep missing eyes say the rest. Good job bro.

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  3. Hi Farhan!

    Your twist on the original story completely surprised me! You did a really good job keeping the theme from the original story though.

    The format of your story is really helpful. The way you space out your paragraphs and how they are sectioned makes them easy to read and enhance your story. I think it makes it easier for people to stay interested in the story because it is broken up into little chunks of text, therefore it is less overwhelming.

    You picture just aded a whole new level of eeriness to the original text. Much like Phoi, I imagined the wolf in real sheep skin. I am going to have to agree with Michael, the wolf's eyes say it all. He looks like he has an evil agenda and the sheep's head with missing eyes adds to the intimidating and eeriness of it all. You did a really good job with the image if that was the effect you were going for!

    I look forward to reading more of your stories this semester!

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  4. Hi Farhan!

    Great job with the story! I could not even tell that it was based on one of Aesop's fables. I like how you kept the concept that appearances can be deceiving and then made it to a scene like you would see in NYC.

    A couple of critiques, for future writing endeavors. One, I think that a stronger photo choice could have been made. I know that the photo is meant to illustrate the original story that it is based on, but it does nothing to help the reader paint a picture of the story you are creating with your words. Two, I would do a quick grammar check before publishing your work. It helps to smooth out the story to make it easier to read, along with it making more sense. Things like punctuation and tenses are areas that are often overlooked.

    But I do have to say bravo to your story! It really is a good piece overall.

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  5. I enjoyed reading your story and how you took a different story and completely changed the characters and setting of the story to your own in a contemporary type of setting. Your story was quite creative because of the same lesson to be taught while changing aspects to your own choosing. I also like the picture you chose to depict the original stories meaning and characters.

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