Journal Response The Epic Of Son-Jara
Journal response the epic of Son-Jara
After reading the epic of Son-Jara, I was interested but, a little confused. The basic story line is very entertaining although it is so broken up by these magical, mystical creatures and spells that I found it hard to read. When I read it the first time, I felt that I could identify with the character of Son-Jara because (removed “of”) some of the obstacles that I have had to face in my own lifetime seemed to parallel the ones that his character in this story endured. Commencing with his birth, Son-Jara was immediately hated by most of the people in his community because of his birthright and his accursed affliction. Maybe I identify with the underdog in the stories that I read. Maybe it is because,
usually, the underdog finds the strength to overcome their personal weaknesses and also the external obstacles that life hands them too, that so endears them to me. In the epic of Son-Jara, Son-Jara is a hero born (remonve “out”) of the ugly Konde woman. He is lame, hairy and called the “Lion Thief”; no one can believe that he could make a real and great king. Even without the support of these neighbors, who at first hate him, Son-Jara not only overcomes his inability to walk, but he becomes a great ruler by overthrowing the tyrant, Sumamuru. When Son-Jara (no comma) trained to be a wizard, he showed his people that he would allocate all the resources he could gather, from all directions, to help him in his quest. Son-Jara, though prophesied to become the great ruler of the West African Manding people, had plenty of battles to win to prove himself to his people. The fact that he never gave up, and he never gave in to the forces that opposed him, showed him to be the true fulfillment of the prophesies. Son-Jara’s fortitude and his ethics as a ruler are still honored and revered, even as they were in his own times, by the bards, by his own countrymen, and by this humble reader as well.
After reading the epic of Son-Jara, I was interested but, a little confused. The basic story line is very entertaining although it is so broken up by these magical, mystical creatures and spells that I found it hard to read. When I read it the first time, I felt that I could identify with the character of Son-Jara because (removed “of”) some of the obstacles that I have had to face in my own lifetime seemed to parallel the ones that his character in this story endured. Commencing with his birth, Son-Jara was immediately hated by most of the people in his community because of his birthright and his accursed affliction. Maybe I identify with the underdog in the stories that I read. Maybe it is because,
usually, the underdog finds the strength to overcome their personal weaknesses and also the external obstacles that life hands them too, that so endears them to me. In the epic of Son-Jara, Son-Jara is a hero born (remonve “out”) of the ugly Konde woman. He is lame, hairy and called the “Lion Thief”; no one can believe that he could make a real and great king. Even without the support of these neighbors, who at first hate him, Son-Jara not only overcomes his inability to walk, but he becomes a great ruler by overthrowing the tyrant, Sumamuru. When Son-Jara (no comma) trained to be a wizard, he showed his people that he would allocate all the resources he could gather, from all directions, to help him in his quest. Son-Jara, though prophesied to become the great ruler of the West African Manding people, had plenty of battles to win to prove himself to his people. The fact that he never gave up, and he never gave in to the forces that opposed him, showed him to be the true fulfillment of the prophesies. Son-Jara’s fortitude and his ethics as a ruler are still honored and revered, even as they were in his own times, by the bards, by his own countrymen, and by this humble reader as well.