After months of existing in that place, feeling
miserable, and living in fear, I was reunited with him. From fourteen years of exile to
months of abduction and war, we were together again. I received a message to dress in my
finest clothes. I had never
been so excited in my life. It
reminded me of the first day I met Rama. My stomach dropped. I felt weightless but so intense at
the same time. I couldn’t wait any longer to be in his
embrace. Just to be in his presence was enough to satisfy my ache at the
moment.
Once I arrived, I saw him. The biggest smile flew across my face.
My eyes even started to sting with raw tears. I just couldn’t wait any
longer to be apart from Rama. Before I approached him, I told myself that
we would never be apart again. I wanted to run and leap into his arms but
I knew that would be inappropriate. Instead,
I walked slowly and hated every second of it. When I finally stood before Rama, I
couldn’t wait for him to hold me. All I
wanted was his touch.
Instead of Rama holding or kissing me, or even him
lightly touching my arm, Rama looked at me without emotion. At that
moment, my world collapsed. I threw myself at his feet, begging for him
to love me as he did before. But he said nothing for several
minutes. Then the cruelest words came from his mouth. He couldn’t
trust me. Rama accused me of doing the worst possible thing to any
husband. I had stood by his side through all these years and all these
trials, but he needed me to prove myself again. I didn’t understand why
this was happening to me. I did everything I could do to impress Rama.
Rama was the only reason why I wanted to live, but he threw me away
without hesitation. I didn’t want to live anymore. My soul died in
that very moment. I had lived for Rama for so long that I didn’t know how
to live for myself. The only thing that I could do next was prove myself
or die.
Once the fire was started, I was fully prepared to
leave this life or prove to Rama that I was still virtuous. After I came
out of the fire, I thought everything would go back to normal for Rama and me,
but it didn’t. I didn’t feel the same. I would have never
questioned Rama if he had been the same situation, but he questioned me.
He immediately took me into his arms and declared me pure, but I never felt the
same about him. I thought I wanted to die without him, but now, I never
wanted to live my life for him as I had done before. Everything had
changed. He wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with, and I wasn’t the woman
who had dedicated her entire life to him.
Author's Note
Sita is on trial because Rama must
declare that her purity and virtue are not tarnished due to living with Ravana.
Ultimately, the trial is done to stop the doubt that everyone must have about
her living with another man. Within the original story, Narayan describes the
trial from a third person perspective. He also includes that it is the god Agni who stops her from being burned. I left this out because I wanted to make the story realistic. I wanted to focus on Sita’s perspective through the whole ordeal.
I didn’t want to include dialogue within this story because I wanted the sole
focus to be on Sita’s feelings of being betrayed by a man that she has devoted
her life to. I felt that dialogue would take focus away from her thoughts. Of
course, I understand that within the Ramayana this trial was done to appease
the doubts of everyone else, but surely, Sita would have felt a bit sad. Aside
from changing the point of view from this section, I also added Sita feeling
hurt by this ordeal. Within the original, Sita and Rama’s relationship never
changes due to this situation. However, within my story I wanted to show that
she is so hurt by this that she is changed forever from being completely
devoted to Rama. Other than these major changes, the rest of my story is true
to the plot.
Bibliography
Narayan,
R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.
Kristen, I also believe that the story was a bit out of place. I liked that you told your story from Sita's perspective. I really like hearing other perspectives because when stories are told they are told from one side, so when we are retelling a story I like how we get the chance to tell them from another perspective. I could definitely understand being hurt by Rama's assumptions if I was Sita. Good story, I really enjoy how you retold it from Sita's perspective!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I think you told your story in am interesting way, but more realistic. In my opinion, If I were Sita than I would have my feelings hurt like how she did in your story. All she did was wait for Rama and never submitted to Ravana. She shouldn't have to be punished by passing a trail. Great retelling of the story.
ReplyDeleteI love this perspective and how you emphasized on how Sita would possibly feel in this situation. What you have written correlated with some thoughts I had when I came across this section of the Ramayana. Sita was portrayed to be in distress, in Narayan's version, but the author did not provide dialogue about how she felt. If he was going to test her anyway, I wonder why Rama had her dress in the finest clothes that she could find. How does he know that the rakshasa's hadn't confiscated all of them? I'm hoping that when we move onto Buck's version that we will see if he included more details about Sita's feelings.
ReplyDeleteHI Kristen! I really enjoyed your story. I like that you took Sita’s perspective throughout her trial. You did a wonderful job of displaying her emotions throughout your story and it made me feel bad for Sita that Rama of all people was questioning her virtue. I would suggest adding description about the setting and including dialogue. When Sita’s said, “Then the cruelest words came from his mouth,” I was curious what exactly it was that he had said.
ReplyDeleteYour photo link works and it goes to where the label said it would! The picture size is perfect; it is not too big and not too small either. Your white text really stands out nicely on your blog against the charcoal background. The size of the text and the font was easy to read. Your links are easy to find and I was able to navigate your blog easily.
Overall, great story! I am looking forward to reading more of yours as the semester continues!
Hi Kristen! I'm glad you decided to write a story about Sita's perspective during this part of the epic because I also feel like it kinda came out of nowhere! You wrote it as an inner monologue but some dialogue could have helped illustrate Sita's emotions in the story. I especially loved the final line of your story, "He wasn’t the man I had fallen in love with, and I wasn’t the girl who had dedicated her entire life to him." This really captures how out of character this is for Rama, who had usually been described as perfect.
ReplyDeleteYour font was easy to read and you did a great job of breaking up the story with your paragraphs. I really liked how the fiery picture you chose popped against your blog's grey layout. All the links in your story work as well. Overall, I think you wrote an awesome story and I love the format of your blog. Happy blogging!!
Hello Kristen! I really like your retelling of this story. Mainly because it reminds me of the way that women truly are treated here in India. They have to go through so many hoops and deal with so many issues, whereas men really don't have that problem. Not to say that men have it easier...but here in India they do! I think your story definitely has modern undertones and it really speaks to me as far as it goes with living in a misogynist society.
ReplyDeleteI really like the layout of your site and I think it is easy to see and read off of. I think the image that you picked reflects the overall message of the story well.
Overall, I think your story was great, and it really shows the strength of your writing skills. I am looking forward to reading more of your stories as you publish them.
Hi Kristen! Sita is my favorite character in the readings that we have done so far! I really like that you told the story of Sita’s trial from her perspective. You did a wonderful job of conveying her thoughts and emotions throughout your story! You also did a great job with the detail.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to make a suggestion, it would be to add dialogue to your story. You did a great job explaining what was happening at each point in your story, but I would have loved to hear what Rama had said to Sita when he told her that he could not trust her. I also wish that you would explain why Rama didn’t trust Sita so that those who read your story who haven’t read the books understand what is going on.
Great job on your story! I am looking forward to reading more from your portfolio as the semester continues!
Hi Kristen. Your introduction paragraph was fantastic. It was very vivid and detailed which really drew me in to read more. I really liked how you kept from adding dialogue in this story. It gave insight into how Sita might have been feeling through this whole ordeal. I am glad you showed how Sita changed the way she felt about Rama after he put her through the trial. You did a great job of showing how cold Rama was acting when he first sees Sita again. Personally I thought the trial by fire in the book was dumb. Rama shouldn't have tested Sita because it’s not like it was her fault she was stolen. That’s just one aspect I didn't like from the original story in the book. Overall I thought your story was fantastic and it shed some light on a different perspective that wasn't depicted in the book. I look forward to reading your next story.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin. First, you did a great job explaining clearly what you wanted to accomplish by writing this story in your author's note. It is great. I really enjoy these so that I can understand where you are coming from. There are a few spelling and comma errors I would try to review and correct. Sometimes reading back through and looking at sentences to decide whether all the words in it are necessary for clarity, If they all aren't necessary then there should be a comma around both of them. You did a great job using descriptive language to explain how Sita was feeling. The image you used gives a visual for the events you are describing. Sita is my favorite human character in The Ramayana. I couldn't believe that Rama turned on her at the end. She is such a pure being. Overall, you did a really great job on this stroytelling. I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteKristin,
ReplyDeleteI think this is my first time visiting your portfolio, and I enjoy the stories that you have included in then. The portfolio guide is set up perfectly. I like how you have a quick, one line description of what each story would be about. If I had to pick a favorite story, it would have to be the one from week 3 called “Sita’s Trail” the reason why I chose this as my favorite is because I like what you did at the end of the story. It was a twist, sort of, from the original, but it answered a big question that I am sure many of us were wondering while we read through this part of the story. Why is Sita walking into a Fire? What was Rama thinking? Those to questions were my first impressions. I am not sure about anyone else, but in your story I think that you did an excellent job explaining Sita’s feelings and her thoughts in her head. No matter what the cause is, being tested like how Rama made her must have taken a toll on Sita. I think that you told a more realistic ending of the story. Great job!