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TSL 420: Literature in English Assignment 1: Bachelor of Education (Tesl) Cohort 4

The boy experiences an awakening during his encounter with an injured buck being eaten alive by ants. [1] This shocking event makes him realize that the world is not always under his control and can be cruel. [2] He learns feelings like pain, anguish, and misery for the first time. [3] The boy's perspective changes from seeing the world as a place he can easily control to realizing the true nature of reality and mortality.

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3K views3 pages

TSL 420: Literature in English Assignment 1: Bachelor of Education (Tesl) Cohort 4

The boy experiences an awakening during his encounter with an injured buck being eaten alive by ants. [1] This shocking event makes him realize that the world is not always under his control and can be cruel. [2] He learns feelings like pain, anguish, and misery for the first time. [3] The boy's perspective changes from seeing the world as a place he can easily control to realizing the true nature of reality and mortality.

Uploaded by

xierra21
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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BACHELOR OF EDUCATION ( TESL )

COHORT 4

TSL 420 : LITERATURE IN ENGLISH


ASSIGNMENT 1

Name : Noor Nui Nadia Bt. Sadri Sham


IC No : 870921-12-5326
Lecturer : Mdm. Rose Patsy Tibok
TOPIC
“SOTV” is a story of a young boy’s awakening. Discuss.

Teenagers are the ones who usually experience the new things and have a
different and sometimes immature perspective when they view things as a whole. During
their mid-teens, they feel that they are mature enough to decide for their own decision
and have their own perspective regarding certain issues. This is due to their
preconceived ideas that they are adult in a younger version and the license given by
other adults such as parents and teachers have given them extra self- confidence that
they are acknowledged to enter adulthood. Doris Lessing who had written the short
story, “A Sunrise on the Veld” introduces us to the idea of how the main character, “the
boy” experiences the significant situation of which he learns to view life in a different
angle.

The title of the story can also be associated with the boy’s awakening. The word
“sunrise” generally stands for the beginning of the day but, it can also represents the
beginning of a man’s life and in the story, it is related to the beginning of the boy’s life as
a fifteen years old teenage. The word “veld” in the other hand, is a flat open land with
grass and no trees and in the story, it represents the savannah or the world and the
boy’s outlook regarding it. As a whole, the two significant words, relate the subject of
human life and the world through the eyes’ of the boy. The early stage of a teenage is
usually equipped with interesting incidents that are responsible in igniting the awakening
of one’s inner-self. As we all know, young people tend to view things immaturely.
However, they can change by going through significant exposures and expand their
knowledge and experience which help them in improving their character building and
learn to consider and judge certain matter wisely and rationally. This is what happen to
the boy and it affects him greatly.

The boy experiences significant changes due to his awakening incident. Before
the boy found the suffering buck, he is a young boy clouded with confidence and self-
empowered. He is arrogant as he knows that he is able to control his body and outwitted
the norms of the basic human systems such as sleep. He manages to be awake by 4
o’clock without the help of the alarm clock and stay awake for three days working without
even resting or sleeping. His determination makes him feel that he is in control and
eventually, it heightens his self-assurance. However, his failure of being on time to hunt
the guinea-fowl and controlling himself from being too excited and exhilarated during his
hunting moment showed that he is still immature, innocence and lack of experience.

Things change as the boy confronted the suffering buck that is eaten alive by an
enormous swarm of black ants. The situation has awakened his inner realization of the
true colours of the nature as well as the reality of the world. His perspective of seeing the
world as an unchallenging place that he can control easily changes to a world that
consist of cruel, uncontrollable and dangerous reality. It makes him confused and he
cannot define the mixture of feelings he felt for the first time. However, he actually learns
the feelings of pain, anguish, rage as well as misery
The transition from childhood to manhood happens at this very moment as he
witnesses the injured buck being victimized by the carnivorous ants. Facing the first
fatality in his life enables him to obtain a new way of viewing life of which is never
constantly trouble-free and positive to deal with. He realizes that not every problem he
can handle and avoid. Slowly, he grasps the fact that certain matter such as mortality is
God’s business and as human, the boy can only hope for the best and leave the rest to
Him. We can see the evidence after he realises that the buck is no longer conscious and
he says,” It was right ---- that was what he was feeling. It was right and nothing could
alter it.” He is aware of the significant of the subject of mortality especially death and
each of every living thing that is created by God is dependent to one another to maintain
the ecosystem. Though certain situation might be seen as cruel and unfair, but He has
decided what the best is for us.

As he analyzes the reason for the helpless buck’s injuries, he comes up with a
couple of hypothesis but eventually, he realizes that he too is included in the picture.
Even though he tries not to admit to the fact or the possibility that he is the cause for the
buck’s misfortune. The feeling of guilt clouded his mind and eventually, he feels that he
is responsible for the death of the innocent buck. Evidently, he has released a shot to an
unsure target a few days before and he is facing a difficult time to own up for his own
mistake. He never thought that his action would cause such effect to any other living
thing.

Now, the boy no longer feels arrogant or invincible like the time he just woke up
the few hours before. The mixture feelings of vulnerability, lonely, defeated, abject and
insecure has overwhelmed him, which makes him feel small as he is powerless in
matters that are beyond of his control. He realises that the death of the insignificant buck
has actually concerned him. The awakening of his inner-self regarding the true nature of
the world and human’s life makes him learn the new skill of reflecting a situation beyond
the shallow surface.

As a conclusion, our significant confrontation of the real situation in life may


affect us in various aspects of life just like what the boy has experienced. We would
learn, analyze, experience a mixture of feelings that sometimes can be unbearable and
try to understand the new unfamiliar situation in a relevant attitude by grasping the fact
that God is handling His work in a specialize manner. The awakening of a man’s leads to
a positive change of inner-self and Lessing has succeeded in conveying her ideas
interestingly through the view point of a young boy.

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