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| Bhima and Duryodhana (Wikimedia) |
DEAR ABBY:
I have a problem with my cousins. I am the son of a king, the eldest of one hundred. I should be the heir to the throne, but my father has named my oldest cousin his heir instead. It's not fair. My cousin doesn't deserve to be the king and neither do any of his brothers. They are the sons of gods, for one thing, not the sons of kings. Besides, even though their father used to be king, my father is older. By all rights, the kingdom should be mine! Also, all of my cousins are jerks, especially Bhima. When we were children, he would torment me and my brothers mercilessly. It was cruel. He's incredibly strong, so it was difficult to fight back. He would mock us, kick us, and laugh at us. Once, while we were training as warriors, one of his 'practical jokes' ended with the death of my best friend. Bhima never even apologized! He claims that the death wasn't his fault, even though it wouldn't have happened if Bhima hadn't been playing such a mean spirited prank. Everyone acts like my cousins are the most wonderful people, but they're cruel and selfish. I keep getting conflicting advice about what I should do, so I'm asking you. Would it be right for me to kill my cousins? They don't deserve the kingdom, and they don't deserve to live.
HOPPING MAD IN HASTINPURA
Dear HOPPING MAD:
No, it is right for you to murder your cousins. I'm very sorry that they were cruel to you when you were children. Perhaps if you talked to them you would be able to work out your issues. Does Bhima know how much pain you felt when your friend died? You should try to work out your issues with your cousins peacefully. You may not feel that your cousin deserves to be king, but killing him wouldn't make you deserve to be king more. You should sit down and have an open and honest conversation with your family. If you show yourself to be a good man, maybe you can show your cousins how to better themselves.
Author's Note: In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana is the eldest of the Kauravas. He is the instigator in the conflict between the Kauravas and their cousins, the Pandavas. Duryodhana hates the Pandavas, especially Bhima, with a passion. He strongly believes the he should be the heir to the throne for many reasons, and is angry about the pranks that the Pandavas, especially Bhima, played on he and his brothers throughout their childhood. I wanted to express Duryodhana's point of view a little bit and try to explain some of his hatred. I created an incident in which a friend of Duryodhana's is killed during one of Bhima's childhood pranks. I thought this would help to explain the strength of Duryodhana's hatred. While reading the Mahabharata, I didn't feel that Duryodhana's hatred was sufficiently justified. I had Abby give the advice that should have been given in that situation. If the Kauravas and the Pandavas had respected each other, talked to each other, and been open with each other they might have been able to settle their differences.
Bibliography: Mahabharata by Narayan. Web Source.
This is so great! I never would've thought in a million years to do an advice column. It was so cool, too, to see the story from the view of someone besides the Pandava brothers. This totally captures the distress of letting the crazy demigods(?) run amok. This reminded me of later in the story when the five brothers are sneaking into the city and Bhima is told he can't hit people with a tree because then they'll know who he is. His strength is a real problem, honestly. Great story!
ReplyDeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way you chose to tell this story. It really focuses on Durydohana's perspective, which isn't seen in the epic very much. It's a nice alternative from the Pandava's point of view.
My only suggestion would be to go over the reply to the advice. I believe your first sentence is a typo (I assume you meant it is not right).
Other than that, you did great!
Hello Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of rewriting the story like a letter or email. You were able to zoom in on what Durydohana's perspective. I could also feel how upset Hopping Mad about how his childhood went. I was a little confused on the first sentence. I would suggest maybe rewriting it or clarifying what you mean in the first sentence.
Other than that you didi a great job with retelling the story.
Hey Nancy! Your retelling of the story was super unique. Out of all the stories I read thus far in this class and last semester when I was in Mythology and Folklore, I have not seen anyone write a retelling this way. It also help get a new perspective on Duryohhana and why he hates his cousins so much. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Nancy! First off, this approach to the story was REALLY creative! I think it's so funny to be having him write to an advice column, and it followed the story very well.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing is that I believe the first sentence in the reply is a typo, but I think it's funnier for Abby to say it's totally cool for him to kill his cousin. I think he should.
Nancy, this is a really interesting way of retelling a story! As Miriam said, I haven't read any retelling like this ever before and it's great. I really got the gist of your story and your author's note explained it very well. I was a tad confused towards the end when Hopping Mad mentioned for Abby to 'kill or not kill' his cousins. I got it by the end, but didn't know for sure at first. Other than that, it was greatly told! Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Nancy,
ReplyDeleteThat was a cool concept to the story! I would have liked it if the kauravas and Pandavas made up just by talking about their issues. I was also little confused by the story. I did not get the concept of Hopping Mad in Hastinapur. Did Duryodhana end up killing the brothers or what happened? Overall, I do like the concept of the story just missing few details.