MIDTERM PROJECT

Own Short Story: Could Have Been Nice Guide Answers for the following

Study

selections: The Dolls House by Katherine Mansfield

The

Train

From

Rhodesia

by

Nadine

Gordimer

The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez

The New Dress by Virginia Woolf

 Hills

Like

White

Elephants

by

Ernest

Hemingway

COULD HAVE BEEN NICE

She sat at the front porch of her uncles two-storey apartment, staring at nothing in particular. Her mind wandering to the bullying she incurred during lunchtime from her schoolmates. A voice calling, brought her back to reality. It was her mother, ordering her inside for dinner. With eyes downcast, she set off and covered the remaining steps to their house, a dilapidated structure across a modest two-storey apartment building. Hurry and wipe that dirt off your face! said her mother while setting what scarce food she can prepare on their scarred, wooden table. And dont you ever come near the table without scrubbing your hands. The tiny, shuffling feet stopped next to a small opening that served as their only window. To the right, a broken sink covered with soot was horizontally projected, attached to their unpainted wall. Mommy? she called out. What? replied her mom. How come its not fun to study? she asked. Her mother stopped what she was doing, placed her hands on her hips, and faced her.

How come I dont feel good in school? I dont think they like me there. she followed. How ungrateful youve become! Wouldnt you rather be at school than stay here do the dishes, scrub the floor, and feed the chickens? She shook her head in silence, sat at their wooden chair made out of a tree stump, and ate from a glass bowl with bare hands. Morning came; and even if she dreaded going to school, went she did. School ended, thankfully without infliction. On her way home, she came across a group of girls in school, mostly of her level. While having trouble deciding if she should keep moving ahead, one of the girls the smallest, with front teeth that seems to stick out of her mouth, whispered

something to the others that made all of them approach her. Surrounded, she got terrified and blurted out, Whats the matter with you? The girls, sensing her fear, moved in closer, poked at her, pulled at her hair and stomped at her feet. She just closed her eyes and cried all the while they were hurting her. When they were done, they left her sprawled on the dirt, full of bruises and scratches that it took her time to get up, gather her things, and walk home. That night, she lay in bed sleepless from the pain, and also from contemplating how she can put a stop to the bullying she is getting. Her bare, little mind developed the only solution she could come up with - wherein she can freely express herself without insult or interference from anybody. Her mother has not shown her, her value and has not made

her feel loved anyway. So, she left their house at dawn, when the streets are dark and the people are sound asleep. She set about; retracing the steps she takes every time she goes to school, and stopped at the particularly spot she chose to carry out her plan. She pulls the ropes attached to the flag pole, bound herself to it and sung herself to tears from the realization of what she has done, and from all the hurt caused to her by the people around her. Her body went numb from the cold, of that one winter evening, that she can barely move her fingers or feel herself anymore. Smiling at herself, by forcing her muscles to do so; at last, it would be the last time that she would hurt. This time, not from anybody who showed her nothing but rejection, but at the pain her body felt when she went stiff all over and her heart finally stopped beating. All the students, parents and teachers will never forget what they saw that morning; a body tied to the flag pole with words written at the cemented floor of the platform, saying:

THEME: Oppression SYMBOL: The protagonist of the story represents indigent children in any
part of the universe who experiences bullying from children that belongs to middle and upper classes of the society. It is evident how children, at their early age are already aware of discrimination.

Name: Jeflyn C. Rastrollo 31, 2011 Prof.: Alma Jallorina I4C3

Date submitted: Aug.

Subject Code: