The Brothers
Once upon a time there was a happy family who lived in a small city in Oregon: a mom, dad, and two brothers. They had lived in Oregon their whole lives, and Mom and Dad were thinking about moving to the east coast in North Carolina. The brothers were older now: Vali was twenty years old, and Sugriva fifteen. Vali was a tall, strong, and outgoing young man who wasn't afraid of anything. Sugriva, on the other hand, was more reserved than his brother, and he liked to keep to himself. Either way, both were excited about moving to the other side of the U.S and experiencing a whole new lifestyle. Over the next few months it was decided. The dad got offered a nice job, and would begin within a week. The family would move out after Vali took care of some things with his friends in northern California.
“I will be back in a couple of days, Mom, Dad, and Sugriva,”
said Vali. “I am excited to move out, and when I get back we can go."
“Alright, bye, Vali! See you soon,” Mom and Dad said while giving
him a hug and returning back into the living room. Vali approached the door
and was on his way out.
He turned around right before he left and saw Sugriva standing
there. He said, “Make sure you don’t leave without me! I will be back within a
few days. One week max. “
Sugriva replied, “Okay, okay. I get it, bro. See ya soon.”
And with that Vali went through the door and was gone. Anxious to
leave, the family decided to finish packing everything up and load it up in
their truck. After only one day, the family was sleeping on the floor in anticipation
of Vali returning soon. After four days Sugriva became worried about his
brother. Vali was not answering his cell phone, so they couldn't get in contract with him.
“Come on, Sugriva, I’m sure your brother is fine,” Mom said. “We gave
him directions to get to North Carolina before he left. Besides, he is
taking way too long and your father has to start his new job next week.”
Sugriva angrily said, “We cannot just leave him! He said that he
would come back. I know it has been later than expected, but we cannot just
leave him to be alo-“
Dad interrupted him, “Look. He is a growing young man. He knows
his way there. Remember that we are meeting in Ohio on our way to North
Carolina to visit your aunt for a week. Vali will be able to meet us there if
worse comes to worse, so don’t worry about it, okay?”
Unsure of himself, Sugriva reluctantly replied, “Okay… But I still
feel weird about it.”
And with that the family left the next morning without looking
back. Vali would return the same afternoon that the family left. He couldn’t believe
that his family decided to leave him behind, and especially after talking to
Sugriva. He became enraged and went to find his family again.
After searching for his family for days, Vali ended up at the address his parents gave him before. It was their new North Carolina house. He entered the house to find Sugriva sitting there, all alone, like he was waiting for someone to come home. Some of Vali's anger cooled of by now, but when Sugriva mentioned that Mom and Dad were not coming back he became confused. Sugriva further explained that after they arrived in North Carolina, Mom and Dad were involved in a horrible accident on a trip to the store. They didn't make it. When Vali heard this news he did not know how to feel anymore. His first choice of emotion was rage. He was mad at the fact that he never got a chance to say goodbye or spend those last couple days with his parents like Sugriva got to. Vali then wrongfully took his anger out on his little brother. Sugriva tried to explain, but Vali would not listen. Sugriva ran away from home, and Vali yelled to never come back or he would kill him.
After searching for his family for days, Vali ended up at the address his parents gave him before. It was their new North Carolina house. He entered the house to find Sugriva sitting there, all alone, like he was waiting for someone to come home. Some of Vali's anger cooled of by now, but when Sugriva mentioned that Mom and Dad were not coming back he became confused. Sugriva further explained that after they arrived in North Carolina, Mom and Dad were involved in a horrible accident on a trip to the store. They didn't make it. When Vali heard this news he did not know how to feel anymore. His first choice of emotion was rage. He was mad at the fact that he never got a chance to say goodbye or spend those last couple days with his parents like Sugriva got to. Vali then wrongfully took his anger out on his little brother. Sugriva tried to explain, but Vali would not listen. Sugriva ran away from home, and Vali yelled to never come back or he would kill him.
Gumpy Hill, Oregon
Taken by: McD22
Author's Note:
Hello.
This is my first story for my writing portfolio. I
chose to make a writing portfolio instead of a storybook for this class. Last
semester I did a storybook for the Mythology-Folklore class, but this time
around I wanted to have some more freedom with different stories. I wanted to
be able to work with a broad variety of stories that were not necessarily connected
as well as work on my storytelling skills/revising.
I decided to
write my story based off the story of Sugriva and his brother Vali. I chose to
write about this because I enjoyed this part of the Ramayana. The story wasn’t
really that long, but I think that it sends a big message. Sometimes you cannot
let rage consume and control you from seeing the truth. Sugriva loved his
brother deeply, and would never do wrong toward him. He was driven to a decision
that was better for everyone during the time of Vali’s rage. I didn't tell the
whole story, but there are some major changes I would like to note. First off I
did not include Rama. I just wanted to get the main point of the story across
exclusively with the two brothers. I
also changed the reasons for Vali to become angry at his brother. I wanted to
try and make it more modern. I know that Vali and Sugriva's parents were gods, but I wanted to include them more into the modern story and have prominent roles. It is hard to give a god a main part into a story when you can't talk to them.
Another major change that I added into my story is the reason for Vali's anger. In the original story Vali becomes angry because after a year, Vali returned to find that a stone was barricading the cave he entered. Also Sugriva was the king. He thought that he was trying to take over his kingdom. Vali took Sugriva's wife and vowed to kill him if he ever stepped foot in the city again. In the end Sugriva gets Rama to help him and Vali is struck down by one of his arrows, finally realizing his wrong doing.
In my story I felt as if the parents had to die in order for Vali to truly be angry enough to take his rage out on Sugriva. His anger is not justified, but the parents' death makes it to where Vali cannot just blame his parents for leaving. Instead he can pin everything on Sugriva.
The Story that inspired my own came from Narayan's version of the Ramayana.
Narayan, R. K. (1972) The Ramayana.