Week 4 - Story Telling

Interviewer: So I see you were a private in this group, yes? Can you tell us what happened down there?

Anonymous:Yeah I was. Is this thing recording?

Interviewer: Yeah it is. Start whenever you feel like it.

Anonymous:Well I don't really even remember when it happened but I think it was around the forties. The damn Nazi's just invaded France and we were behind enemy lines in a small town in Germany. We were led by two men, Captain Jackson and Sergeant Cooper. These men...I don't know if they were related but they acted like brothers. However, Captain Jackson was unlike any man I have ever seen. He always strongest, the fastest, and smartest out of all of us.

Interviewer: So what were you guys suppose to do?

 Anonymous:If I remembered correctly we were tasked with meeting up with some Private. I think his name was Ryan. Captain Jackson planned to jump from town to town and at the same avoiding as many skirmishes as possible.

 Interviewer: Did every thing go as planned?

Anonymous: Of course not, nothing goes according to plan. After all war is war, that's when you will see how people really act.

Interviewer: So what went wrong?

Anonymous: Hahaha everything. It started just fine. We were going over which towns to go to first. There were about fifty of us and we had two tanks. So as the twenty year old, testosterone filled men we were, we thought nothing could hurt us. Under Cpt. Jackson we felt invincible. That's when everything went down hill. Between the first and second town, there was an open field. If we were caught in that we would be slaughtered by enemy infantry. We sent scouts out, but Sergeant Cooper said that in their in report. they spotted no infantry but remnants of a battle. Cpt. Jackson decided it would be safer to go through at night. When we we went out half way through we heard snipers firing. There was nothing we could do. We were like fish in a barrel.  So we just ran...we ran.... and ran. If you fell you were a goner. You got hit, you better keep running or you would never run again.

Interviewer: How many men did you lose?

Anonymous: Uhh I don't even know. I wanna say around a third of our group. So we lost like....uhh

Interviewer: 17?

Anonymous:Yeah yeah.... that sounds about right.

Interviewer: What happened next?

Anonymous:Well it just repeated itself over...and over. Hey can I say something really quick?

Interviewer: Yea sure go ahead

Anonymous:I do not why I'm saying this but i just want to say it. After all this shit happened, Death....like a person's life fading. It did not really...matter to me anymore....I saw it happened to often....so close to me. When they say war changes a man....it does. Getting back to the interview though. Eventually after a couple of towns our tanks broke down and after losing most of mechanics. We had to leave them and walk. A couple of us got injured. I got a bullet through my left arm.

*Raise his sleeve over his shoulder*

Interviewer:Did it go straight through?

Anonymous:Yea it basically went in on one side out the other.

Interviewer:Did Jackson or Cooper get injured?

Anonymous:Well Jackson...no. I cant even imagine someone hurting him in a fair fight. Cooper got hit twice. The second shot cleaned his arm right off. I don't know how but he manage to survive despite all the odds. We finally made to the town were Private Ryan was located. I may not be the most patriotic man but this man was not worth the lives we had to sacrifice to get there. It was too late to turn back now. He handed a manila envelope to Jackson.

Interviewer:What was in there?

Anonymous:I don't know. Some men thought it was money but I know the captain would never do that.

Interviewer:So what happened after that?

Anonymous: Well....we took a days rest....fortified the ruined town and called HQ to tell them that we received the package. I think it was noon when I heard the scouts screaming about 50 infantry and a Tank coming through. They knew where we were going. We didn't have enough time, men, or ammo to defend against it. We rigged traps that would only hold them off for so long. When they drove through they tossed rocks, searched houses all we could do is wait till the tank was close enough. We managed to immobilize it but it take two of our men. For every one our men about three of theirs was taken out. Well we were down to three men. It was the captain, Sergeant Cooper, me and another private. We were surrounded. Jackson covered told me to hide and cover me in the bodies of our fallen brothers. He told me to not make a sound so that our story could heard. I don't know if he saw it coming or what but I saw that bastard Cooper pulled a gun on the captain. He shouted for the file.....and shot Cpt Jackson in the twice once in the hand and the other in the leg. He grabbed the file from Jackson and walked away.

Interviewer: Did you every see him again?

Anonymous: No, I'm glad I haven't. Hell would be paradise compared to things I would do to him....

Interviewer: What happened next.....

(Saving Private Ryan, Websource: Wikipedia)

Author's Note:

Well I took the story far from its original plot. Since most Indian epics play a lot on the concept of brotherhood that is were I wanted to take it. In our readings, Vibhishana betrays Ramayana . I changed the setting and placed it in the WW2 era. I also took out most characters except the two main characters of this story. Captain Jackson played Ravana and Sergeant Cooper played Vibhishana. World War 2 was picked because it is one of the most infamous events in Human History. I also took a little plot and setting from Saving Private Ryan because it is one of my favorite movies. From that movie i only used, the character Ryan, the setting of behind enemy lines, and idea of jumping town to town. I thought the interview style would give my story a hook and make it different. To match with the interview style, I wanted the person interviewed to have a backstory to life changing event. i Never gave him a name because an his character had little development in the story. The growth mindset wanted us to try different writing styles,  This story was a way to write differently. I thought that interview style was something uniquely my own

Bibliography

"PDE Ramayana: Vibhishana" (2013) by Laura Gibbs, Websource: http://ouocblog.blogspot.com