Week One

Reading One: "The Elephant in the Village of the Blind"

1. This story talks about a stranger coming into a village with an elephant. The village is only made up of blind people. The People of the village use all their senses, except sight, to figure out what a elephant is, since the village people have never heard of an elephant before.

2. While reading this short story, I felt a sense of sorrow. I was filled with sorrow for the village people; the villagers were in the dark of knowing what an elephant really is. Growing up I always saw pictures and heard the name 'elephant' by having the sense of sight. I felt as if I should appreciate my senses more.

3. The characters in the story were blind villagers in a mountain. The villagers have only lived in the land of the hill sides of the mountain. The villagers had a role as wonders and learners within the story. The villagers used what senses and knowledge the villagers had to discover a mystery in the villagers home land.

4. The main focus while reading this short story was the descriptions and analysis of the villagers impression of what the elephant felt like and the elephants movements. For example: "An elephant is a rough, hairy pillar" (Norton, pg. 14).

5. My view of the story compared to other students may differ from what emotions each student experiences while reading the short story. 

6. This short story can easily be related to all blind individuals. The story gives individuals with the sense of sight to understand the life of blind individuals. The short story gives individuals with the sense of sight to appreciate the sense of sight.

7. The villagers mystery to what an elephant is reminded me of the book "The Great Gatsby". At the being of the story, Gatsby is a mystery to all the people that attended his nightly parties. All the guest that attended Gatsby's party had no idea who Gatsby was or any information on the man. The guest used swarming rumors to describe what the guest believed that Gatsby was like. The connection between these two pieces of literature is the mystery from the villagers and the guest. Also, the villagers and guest used what they knew already (knowledge and rumors) to explain what the mystery object was.

I believe, the speculate about the meaning and importance of the text "The Elephant in the Village of the Blind" was to express the importance of imagery literature. The short story consist of how the villagers came together to make a definition of an elephant through what the villagers heard, smelt, and felt. The villagers used knowledge of what the villagers already knew to explain what the elephant was like, for example: "An elephant is a water pipe" (Norton, pg. 14).

There could be many ways to interrupt the literature of the short shorty "The Elephant in the Village of the Blind". As the Norton book states, "The different versions of such a tale, like the different descriptions of the elephant, alter its meaning" (pg. 14). There can be minor alters of the story which then can alter the whole meaning and understanding of the story. The importance with this short story is how the literature was laid out and said to tell the story "The Elephant in the Village of the Blind".