The Wretched Stone : Four Levels ....

 

The Wretched Stone – Chris Van Allsburg (1949-)

Literal Comprehension

"The Wretched Stone" is a story. It is written by Chris Van Allsburg. The voyage of the Rita Anne started in a clear sky. There were interesting and skilled sailors who enjoyed singing, dancing, reading and telling stories. That’s why they’re not any sign or boredom in the earlier days. On their way, they saw an island where they saw a rock and brought it in their ship. It was two feet across. The portion missed music and storytelling and sat near the stone. They were in the feverish state, so they locked themselves in the room where the stone was kept. They didn’t care about the strong wind that was heading and they didn’t understand what he had said. Later the stone became dark when there was lighting. The captain attracted the sailors by playing the violin and reading books. In the end, they were rescued and he set a fire to destroy the ship with the terrible stone.

Interpretation

The story is metaphorical. Here, the shining stone stands for TV and apes stand for modern non-creative people. The story has tried to show us that TV makes people passive and just like hairy beasts. According to the writer people crazy about TV, people are careless to their duties and responsibilities. Watching TV is unproductive and noncreative work. There are other ways to get entertainment like singing, dancing storytelling. Before the stone was brought into the ship, the sailors enjoyed by singing, dancing, playing and telling stories. But later, those things were missed and the sailors became passive and like abnormal animals. So, metaphorically, the writer is trying to show great haired towards the TV.

Critical Thinking

Although the story is interesting to read, there are still some points with which I don’t agree. Here, the writer is one-sided. He doesn’t talk about the positive aspects of TV. Is TV as useless as the writer has described? How can human beings become apes when they watch TV? Can we really become careless and duty-free watching TV? Can we destroy your TV thinking that there are some disadvantages? Can’t we get good information and interesting and useful things form TV?

Assimilation

After reading this story, I have come to know that TV makes people dull, passive. So, I would not go on watching TV all the time. I would choose only certain information programmes and watch them.