A Devoted Son

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Recommended: Traditional and modern literature

Anita Desai, an exceptional writer, wrote a many stories. One that is referenced in the text book, A Devoted Son, is a short story simply about a boy in India who had won a scholarship for a college career in which he proceeded to do. However, with that said, the son in the text becomes a type of doctor. With this young man’s schooling he will have to make a choice in the story, which will lead to taking care of his father. Between the original planning of A Devoted Son and the final product, written by Anita Desai, she in fact has a different outcome then what she had expected. In Fact, when Desai plans her writing, it was far different than what she was used to. A short story, like A Devoted Son, was something that was very difficult, but was a present day story that will probably be used in the texts to come in the future. Again, between her original text, A Devoted Son and the final product there are many difference and similarities in which the story was written: the old man had lost his mind, the son staying to take care of his father, and finally the old man embarrassed his family by wondering the streets.
First, in the text A Devoted Son, Rakesh’s old man had lost his mind. Throughout the text, there is an understanding that as his old man ages he becomes weaker every single day of his life. A great analogy to think of is, often it is thought of as our parents taking care of us; however, in many cases it is the complete opposite. In fact, we take care of our parents, that is usually how it works as our parents age. However, in the text A Devoted Son it states, “Of course these conversations, bawled across the hedge by two rather deaf old men conscious of having their entire households overhearing them…” (Prentice Hall Lite...

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...opy” of her story A Devoted Son. With this said, this intelligent, smart lady is able to contrast ideas between the two stories to add a dramatic thought into the process of reading this. While you read the prewriting of this story, compared to the final copy, you are able to make distinct accusations on something’s that happened compared to something that she added. Yet, this is not something that is wrong; however, this is something common among the most creative writers. Again, throughout this text there are some similarities and difference in the text but the three that could in fact be the same throughout both the prewriting and the final writing would be the fact of the old many becoming insane as he ages, Rakesh taking care of his old man, and finally the fact that the man has embarrassed his family in a way.

Works Cited

Prentice Hall Literature Volume Two

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