Village by the sea worksheet

A fairy tale(How does it follow the fairy tale pattern?)

1.Protagnist in unhappy situation
(Cinderella's story): Cinderella's mother died, and her father remarried. After her father died, her stepmother was in-charge of the family.They dismissed all of Cinderella's servants, and made her their slave, depriving her of freedom.

2. The situation worsens
(Cinderella's story): One day, a prince held a ball, and Cinderella wanted to attend it. However, her step-mother and step-sisters refused to let her go.

3.Protaganist receives unexpected help, usually of a magical creature
(Cinderella's story): A fairy god mother empathised with her plight, and decided to help her. She turned rats into horses, pumpkin in carriage, changed raggedy shoes into glass slippers, on one condition. That was, she had to leave before midnight, as they would revrt back to their true form once the clock struck 12.

4.Protaganist is rescued from the initial unhappy situation
(Cinderella's story): When she was dancing with the prince, she discovered that it was going to be 12 already. In her hurry to leave, she left behing one of the glass shoes.The prince took a liking to Cinderella, and the next day, he announced that whoever could fit into the glass shoe would be his wife. Many have tried, but none could fit in perfectly. When he arrived at Cinderelaa's house, the step sisters had a go, and failed as well. They refused to let Cinderella try, but the prince insisted, and found out she was the one dancing with him the day before. They married and lived life happily ever after.

B. What parts of the book are ignored in the fairy tale pattern?

In the story, Hari embarked on a journey to Bombay, and this incident is not part of the fairy tale pattern as the fairy tale pattern does not consist of a part where the main character goes on a journey to solve his problem. The main character, usually receives unexpected help. This part can only be seen when Lila, the other main character of the book, manages to earn a living when Sayyid Ali Sahib lived in the Mon Repos during the monsoon season, which is the period of time when there were hardly any people to live in the Mon Repos. From this, they managed to earn their keep after the de Silvas left and had money to sustain their daily life.

C. The village by the sea has also been described as an adventure story. How far do you agree with this description? Why?

I agree to the village by the sea being described as an adventure story to a large extent, while I disagree with it to a certain extent.

As a typical adventure story usually goes according to this pattern: [Character faces problems--> character embarks on an adventure in an attempt to solve problems--> character faces problems in the process of adventure--> Character receives helps or solves problem by himself,] this pattern clearly reflects that Hari is the character who embarks on his journey to Bombay, in search for a job to solve his family problem.

The story goes like this. Hari’s frustration with his family led to his leaving home. Originally, his trip to Bombay was to protest against the government for building factories in Thul on their land. However, after a series of events which happened in Bombay, he got lost and was separated from the villagers who had come along with him to the protest. Being unfamiliar with Bombay, Hari decided to look for Mr de Silva, who would employ him whenever he went to Thul for a vacation to take care of the family while they were there. Upon reaching there, he was told by the watchman, Hira Lal, that the de Silvas were on a vacation at Thul, and would not be returning until next month. Unexpectedly, Hira Lal turned out to be Hari’s saviour when he brought Hari to the Sri Krishna eating house, which led to his employment and coincidental meeting with the watch mender who offered to take him in as apprentice during his rest time. After the courses of events, Hari returned back to Thul, and in the end, his family situation had altered tremendously, ending on a happy note.

However, I feel that The village by the sea is not an adventure story, because adventure stories usually have scenes whereby the character has close encounter with death and peril, whereas Hari, in the village by the sea, only had his life in Bombay, and how he struggled with his jobs to earn money in written in the story. Also, in most adventure stories, there would be a clear antagonist, whereas there was not a clear one in the story.