The Legend of Pulau Ubin
The story I chose to consider was about one of the small islands that surround Singapore, Pulau Ubin. This is a small island whose main industries are mining and tourism, including trails for biking and hiking. The island has an interesting past, and as a result it now has many legends and myths revolving around it. During the occupation of the Singapore by the Japanese, it was said to be where they had brought soldiers to be tortured. That is a significant reason why people believe it’s haunted.
The person from whom I heard the story is one of the students who lives across the hall from me on the 7th floor in La Plata. His family comes from India, but he lived in many places since birth, one of them being Singapore, and now his family lives in New Jersey. Also, he is nineteen years old. I collected the story on the afternoon of October 14th, it was right after we had all finished classes. When I asked the storyteller if he knew any ghost stories or urban legends and myths, he first attempted to respond with, “Casper”, but I told him no I need real things you have heard. After that he jumped right into the story from Singapore about Pulau Ubin:
Ok, when I lived in Singapore, its an island and there were all these surrounding islands, and one was Pulau Ubin. Like it’s not ghetto, but not with fancy resorts. People would go there for hiking and biking, stuff like that. Before, there used to be animals, like tigers, but now there aren’t any. So you would hear about every year, no every two years like you hear of a family disappearing while they went there for hiking, the whole family. They would send search parties and stuff out, and later they would find pieces of meat, like human meat. They’ve searched the island many times for any signs of animals, but they never found any.
Pulau Ubin is the site of many supernatural activities from what I gathered, ranging from ghost sightings, to hunts for spiritual burial grounds and graves. Singapore is a place with a great deal of concentrated wealth. Along with this is a massive wealth gap, which often leads to many interesting beliefs and ideas. The way the person I interviewed, told the story with such seriousness that I could tell he believed it.
What is in a story if you can’t take something out of it and relate to your everyday life? The book “Typical American” by Gish Jen, gave me something that I never fully, and I probably still don’t, comprehend: foreigners, and their struggles in making a new life in another country. I have been on my share of trips, both domestic and abroad, but was never in a distant land long enough to feel the effects of the unknowing these people felt every day. The manner in which this story was presented has given me a new insight into, not only foreign nationals, but more importantly, how one goes about presenting emotional feeling not just through words, but setting, characterization, point of view, conflict, and theme.
The next story I'm going to be talking about is A Women Who Went To Alaska. This story is mainly about the narrators' or characters' opinion too. The narrator talks about the effect of the gold mine on the growth of the country she lives in. And how people try and lie about how much money they get from mining gold because ten-percent of the money goes to the Canadian government and
When one usually thinks of a hearing a ghost story, the setting is dark with flickering light (such as around a campfire or in a basement with bad lighting) and, of course, it is nighttime. Needless to say, when I heard this story during the middle of the day on a Friday, I was a little taken aback. When prompted for any urban legends or ghost stories a white, female friend of mine immediately responded with, “Have you ever heard of de Sales Academy?” With my negative response, the nineteen year old student jumped into her story:
"Investigation of the Lodge." Southwest Ghost Hunters Association. 07 Aug 2001. Retrieved 5 Apr 2005 http://www.sgha.net/lodge.html.
Edgar Allan Poe is known for some of the most horrifying stories ever written through out time. He worked with the natural world, animals, and weather to create chilling literature. Two most notable thrillers are “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Poe was infatuated with death, disfigurement, and dark characteristics of the world. He could mix characters, setting, theme,and mood in a way that readers are automatically drawn into reading. Both of these short stories have the same major aspects in common.
Give a brief summary of what your story might be like. These should be meaningful and relevant to the author’s purpose.
Wilson, Kathleen, ed. Short Stories for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context and Criticism on Commonly Studied Short Stories. Vol 2. Michigan: Gale Research, 1997.
The story was told to me by one of my high-school classmates, who is a resident of the town of Atco. The nineteen year old young man is currently a sophomore at Clemson University and describes himself as being a Roman Catholic of half Italian-American and half Irish-American decent. The young man also noted that he is normally very socially conservative and a staunch Republican. His father is employed as a general contractor and his mother runs her own catering company. He describes himself as a “self proclaimed expert of all things related to the Atco Ghost.” He cannot remember the specific date when he first heard the story, but stated that he can remember knowing most of the details to the story for most of his life. He also claims to have attempted to see the ghost on only one occasion and after what he saw, he refuses to ever go back to that area of town at night. The following is an almost word for word account, which he checked to ensure its accuracy, of the lengthy story as he retold it to me ...
The story takes place on a deserted island that is somewhere near the Pacific Ocean. The island on which the characters land is unique in that it has a small mountain on it and plenty of wildlife and food. The island influences the main character very much and influences the other characters as well. The setting of this story causes the main character to act the way that he does; he puts forth many rules and actions that help the others on the island to deal with what they are living in.
Chinese culture has many interpretations ghosts. One way they are seen as is people who have disgraced their family or country. An example of this in the novel is Maxine's aunt. She is considered a ghost because she disgraced her family by having a baby outside of marriage. They call her "Ghost! Dead ghost! Ghost! You have never been born." (Kinston 14) She drowns herself in the well to become one of the most feared ghost, the Shui Gui or watery ghost. These ghosts are said to be waiting for their victims, to pull them into the water to take the drowned ones place. In the novel another example of what the Chinese consider ghosts are American people. Sometimes they feel haunted by this unfamiliar culture, just as a ghost would haunt. "But America has been full of machines and ghosts- Taxi Ghosts, Bus Ghosts, Police Ghosts, Fire Ghosts, Meter Reader Ghosts, Tree Trimming Ghosts, Five-and-Dime Ghosts." (Kong 96) These examples are American people of any ethnicity. They are called ghosts because the Chinese are not familiar with the culture. Another example of the unfamiliarity is when, "Her husband looked like one of the ghosts passing the car wind...
1. When and where was the story written or told? What historical, social, or cultural background might be needed to understand or explain what the story is about?
I chose to write about the short story "A&P." The story takes place in a small town in the late 60's, in a vacation town of sorts with a general store, few residents. What I received from the setting, was a very low maintenance town where "everybody knows everybody" (very tight community) most likely old school beliefs and structures (religion, dress code, ethics, morals, ext strict) and for a short time tourists come to live for a while, and in a sense shake up the foundation of the town a bit with their outside beliefs and values.
In my narrative, I wrote about the Khmer Rouge in the perspective of my grandma. I chose this topic because it has made a huge impact on my family. None of us would be the person we were today if this event had not taken place. My family was lucky to have survived, but it has also made our bond stronger as a whole.
The story, “South of the Slot” by London is the strongest because of the usage of the various elements of fiction that have been used most effectively as compared to the way the same have been used in other two short stories. The main elements of fiction used in this story where characterization, setting and plot. A great example of characterization shown happens when the working person is impersonated for the purposes of gaining understanding. The two
The urban legend that I have collected was told to me by an 18-year-old sophomore at college. She was born in Ohio, but was raised in Maryland, for the majority of her life. She is pre-med, with a concentration in physics. The telling of the story occurred one morning during breakfast at the Campus Dining Hall. She claims to have heard the story from her friend’s friend, who is a resident of the city where the story takes place.