Rewriting the Story “War of the Ghosts”
One night two young men from Egulac went downstream to hunt for seals. The weather was foggy and calm. Suddenly, they heard some chanting and drumming coming from up the river. “This is a war party.” – one of them said as they both hid behind a large log. They expected there to be many boats, but there was just one. The men in the boat invited the two men to join them in a battle ahead.
“I would join you, but I have no arrows.” – said one of them.
“There are arrows in the boat.” – the men in the boat responded.
“I cannot join you because I might get killed, and my family does not know where I have gone. But my friend could go.” – the other one said.
And so, the boat continued its journey, with one man going and the other one – staying behind. There was a great battle, and many people were slain. Despite being hit many times, the warrior did not feel pain or look hurt. So, he figured out these were ghosts. When he returned home, the man told the story to his family, saying that he fought alongside ghosts in a great battle and was not hurt despite them saying he was. But when the morning came, the man started bleeding from his mouth and died.
The Discrepancies Between the New Version and the Author’s Version of the Story
When comparing the story to the original, there were some discrepancies between the two. First, my version of the story appears to be abridged, with many thematic descriptions of the voices, the actions, and the surrounding environment stripped away. I think it happened because my memory attempted to retain only the essential facts, such as the river’s name, the number of main heroes, and the general idea of what happened. I did not retain the number of men in the canoe because it served no practical purpose in the story (Akhmedjanova & Shodmurotova, 2021). I found no religious or cultural bias to color my perception of the events. Some facts were misunderstood; however, I wrote that the man who stayed to fight was hit many times when he appeared to have been shot (“War of the Ghosts,” n.d.). I think these discrepancies stem from the imperfections of human memory, which adapts its perceptions of information based on its capacity to retain accuracy and reconstruct the parts it forgot with what appeared to be more appropriate at the moment.
How Such a Rewriting Exercise Will Help When Teaching Children
Exercises similar to these can help children in various ways during studies. First, they get to practice memorizing and retaining information on the go. The second skill they will acquire involves condensing and summarizing critical information from the text in question. Students need to discern important elements from less important ones and prioritize their memory space (Akhmedjanova & Shodmurotova, 2021). Finally, the exercises allow for one to practice operating with incomplete information (Akhmedjanova & Shodmurotova, 2021). Enriching one’s experience and vocabulary pools help reconstruct information more accurately without losing the gist of the main points in the text. In addition, the exercise allows a student to explore one’s own biases by comparing their writing to the original text, seeing the discrepancies, and analyzing how they were misinterpreted (Akhmedjanova & Shodmurotova, 2021). This skill is particularly valuable for literature and culture studies, where one’s own cultural and educational background colors the perception of certain events, people, and actions (Akhmedjanova & Shodmurotova, 2021). Recognizing these biases is important for continued learning and a deeper understanding of the subject.
References
Akhmedjanova, D. A., & Shodmurotova, S. J. (2021). Effective ways of improving memory in learning process. Academic Research in Educational Sciences, 2(5), 167-170. War of the ghosts. (n.d.). Web.