Only Ten
Only Ten - Alan Baille
SUMMARY
The short story has a main idea about acceptance and fitting in. The main character, Hussein, is referred to as ‘The Shah’. You can infer that he was a boy soldier at age only ten, which gave the text its title. The Shah has to learn how to adjust to a newer lifestyle and learn to live among people and get accustomed to a different way of life. He is amazed simply by a mandarin tree, which shows he is adjusting to things he wasn’t previously exposed to. He works together with people and they all learn to get along, be friends, live the moment and forget the past because the past is history, the future a mystery, and now is a gift – which is why it’s called the present.
MAKING CONNECTIONS – Connecting what I know with what I am reading
From the text we could infer that Hussein was uncomfortable at first, and was finding it a bit hard to fit in. He not talking to anyone as can be seen by the quote, “He didn’t talk much” or, “And he’d look up and say nothing.” Another example of Hussein’s uneasiness was when Mr. Henney shot the pistol into the air for the swimmers for dive in on the mark. Hussein shriveled into his chair looking franticly for a bullet hole. You could assume from this that Hussein was relating actions and sounds to his past and getting worried about things. Hussein began to avoid people more after the encounter with Bruce striking his ruler at him and when he told Bruce that he was a soldier. People don’t like bringing up the past if it is negative, especially things like war – it can seem like opening up old wounds to them.
1) The more time you spend with someone, the more you understand them
In the story ‘Only ten’ Hussein is quickly judged to be an outcast and nicknamed him ‘The Shah’ because he was a bit dark, sounded funny and had a very stern look on his face. They judged him without even talking to him or understanding him.
SUMMARY
The short story has a main idea about acceptance and fitting in. The main character, Hussein, is referred to as ‘The Shah’. You can infer that he was a boy soldier at age only ten, which gave the text its title. The Shah has to learn how to adjust to a newer lifestyle and learn to live among people and get accustomed to a different way of life. He is amazed simply by a mandarin tree, which shows he is adjusting to things he wasn’t previously exposed to. He works together with people and they all learn to get along, be friends, live the moment and forget the past because the past is history, the future a mystery, and now is a gift – which is why it’s called the present.
MAKING CONNECTIONS – Connecting what I know with what I am reading
From the text we could infer that Hussein was uncomfortable at first, and was finding it a bit hard to fit in. He not talking to anyone as can be seen by the quote, “He didn’t talk much” or, “And he’d look up and say nothing.” Another example of Hussein’s uneasiness was when Mr. Henney shot the pistol into the air for the swimmers for dive in on the mark. Hussein shriveled into his chair looking franticly for a bullet hole. You could assume from this that Hussein was relating actions and sounds to his past and getting worried about things. Hussein began to avoid people more after the encounter with Bruce striking his ruler at him and when he told Bruce that he was a soldier. People don’t like bringing up the past if it is negative, especially things like war – it can seem like opening up old wounds to them.
1) The more time you spend with someone, the more you understand them
In the story ‘Only ten’ Hussein is quickly judged to be an outcast and nicknamed him ‘The Shah’ because he was a bit dark, sounded funny and had a very stern look on his face. They judged him without even talking to him or understanding him.