Four Levels/Summary of the Story 'The Wretched Stone' (For BBA | BBA-BI | BBA-TT | BCIS | BHCM | BHM First Semester and BA First Year.)

The Wretched Stone

- Chris Van Allsburg

Literal Comprehension/Summary:

The allegorical story, ‘The Wretched Stone’ written by the writer Chris Van Allsburg talks about the negative aspects of watching television. In the story, the ship indicates the earth, and the stone indicates the television set. The story begins when a team of five crew members starts a voyage led y the Captain Randall Ethon Hope sailing Rita Anne on a fine beautiful day on the 8th of May. The members are good at reading, singing, dancing, telling stories and playing music. On June 6, they reach an island which is not in their map. Everything is strange in the island. There are plants without fruits, there is no sign of human life and there is an unpleasant odor everywhere. In the desolate land, they find a strange big stone with glowing surface. Then they bring the stone in their ship. From that day, everything starts happening wrong. The members forget reading, singing, dancing, telling stories and playing music. They start gathering around the strange stone forgetting their jobs and duties and rarely talk with one another. They also become completely indifferent towards the captain. They even believe that the captain can sail the boat by himself. But on the 14th of June, a great storm occurs there and nearly sinks the ship. Since the crews are hypnotized by the shining stone, they do not help the captain. They become like apes and beasts. But later, the apes come back to their normal condition when the captain starts playing the violin and reading books. Then the captain decides to set fire in the ship and let the ship sink. Finally, they are rescued by another ship.

Interpretation:

The metaphorical story may be trying to show us the negative aspects of modern TV culture. Though science and technology has given us TV as a scientific present, it has become a curse for us. It is because with improper and insensitive use of TV, it has brought great disturbance into our lives. As a result, we are unable to play our roles effectively. More, it tells us that we stick around TV all the time, so it has spoiled our imaginative power as well as creative ability. Thus, it is telling us that TV culture is unproductive and non-creative activity because it aliens us from our practical, responsible, social and rational world.

Critical Thinking:

The story being a critique of modern TV culture it talks about the disadvantages of watching TV. So, I agree with the essence of the story that if we become regular viewers of TV, we lose our responsible, social, practical and rational life. But there are some unconvincing ideas and events in the story. So, we can raise some questions regarding them. The questions are:

- Is it true that TV is a curse for us?

- Can we really become careless and irresponsible by watching TV?

- How do we become apes by watching TV?

Assimilation:

After reading this symbolical and praiseworthy story, I came to know that we should watch TV properly, wisely and sensitively. If we stick around TV for a long time without any care, it can take our life towards declination spoiling our knowledge, creativity and imaginative power. More, I also realized that if we watch TV improperly and unwisely, it can bring social and cultural problems in our lives.