The Wretched Stone

ChrisVan Allsberg


Literal Comprehension
 Chris Van Allsberg is an American writer of children’s books, often presents the world as it is. He shows the demerits of TV from the present tale. This tale has taken from the log of Rita Anne. The ship captain Randall Ethan Hope has maintained that log. After the supplies had been brought into the ship, the Rita Anne started her voyage in fine weather with some good sailors. When they were not on duty, the sailors passed their time reading, playing instruments, singing, dancing and telling stories. After four weeks, they found an island. It was full of plants, but none of them bore any fruit. The water of the spring was bitter to drink. Besides, there was no sign of animal life. The sailors also found a stone and brought it on board. It was two feet across and gave out a glowing light which fascinated the sailors. When they were free, they passed their time gazing at the stone. They were so much glued to the stone that they stopped doing the creative activities they used to do before. Their behavior was changed dramatically. They even stopped speaking. The captain of the ship thought they had contracted some kind of fever that had come on board with the stone. So he planned to throw the stone the next day. When the sailors came to know his plan, they locked themselves in the room where the stone was kept. A powerful storm broke out and they were in danger. When the captain went to the room to ask for their help, he was shocked to find that all of them had turned into hairy beasts. Now they could not understand the language of the captain. The captain thought the ship would sink and all of them would die. But the ship did not sink; she just lost her masts and rudder. The stone went dark because of lightning. So the sailors were sad and helpless. The captain played the violin and read to the sailors so that they would return to normal. His idea worked and the sailors returned to normal after a few days. Finally, they were rescued by a ship and the captain set fire to the Rita Anne to destroy the wretched stone.




 POINTS TO REMEMBER:
 (Metaphorical story - stone stands for a TV. Before they engage in creative works, TV makes them dull, they become like an animal without a tail, lack of proper education makes people animal, when TV was thrown they became creative.  There are many useful things learned from the story, however, some points are not praiseworthy. How can a person become hairy ape if he watches TV, doesn’t his creativity get influenced positively by TV, TV watching is not always bad in itself, it gives us information but why should we throw it?)




Interpretation
 In this allegorical tale, the writer talks about the corrupting influence of watching television. He seems to say that TV is like the wretched stone of the story. So we should stop watching it. Television-viewing affects the humans very badly as it makes them forget their duties and responsibilities. The writer might also be advising us to engage in creative activities like singing, dancing, playing instruments, reading books instead of being glued to television.



Critical Thinking
Television has benefits as well as a detriment. The author of this story only highlights the negative aspects of it. The author of this story seems biased as he has only talked about the negative aspects of watching television. He does not seem to know that television-viewing has also a great many positive sides. We can get a lot of information through it. Besides, it can also be used for educational purposes. Can we call TV wretched stone? Do humans turn into beasts just because of watching TV? Can a person change the beasts to normal human beings by reading and playing a musical instrument to them?




Assimilation: The wretched stone is informative and suggestive which is presented in a metaphorical way. It tells us that happen in each house. Watching TV, we forget our duty and lose our creativity. It has taught me to use and not to misuse TV. By reading this lesson, I have come to know that, TV is the only means which doesn’t determine the bad effect of it. We human beings should be able to utilize it. Now, I have determined to watch only informative and fruitful programs on Television.