Sunday, February 1, 2015

Sita in Lanka: Styles of Brainstorming

Topic:  My storybook will take place during Sita's Captivity and will coincide with events in the Ramayana but from her perspective.  My goal is to do a Storybook with Sita meeting Persephone, and thus combining two epic legends of abducted goddesses.  The Story of Persephone is about a girl that is kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld.  She is then forced to marry and live with him in the underworld 6 months out of the year.  Both Sita and Persephone were daughters of nature who were kidnapped from loved ones by someone who intended to marry them.  They were both forced to live in dark kingdoms with Ravana being a demon and Hades being god of the underworld.  

Bibliography: 
1. Sita in Captivity, from Rāmāyaṇam: As Told by Vālmīki and Kamban, by K. S. Srinivasan (1994).
2. Story of Persephone, from For the Children's Hour, by Carolyn S. Bailey (2006). 

Possible Styles: 

Sita's Experiences.  It would make the most sense for my Storybook to be told from Sita's point of view.  She could meet Persephone somewhere in the garden of Lanka and they could relay their tales to each other.  Sita making a friend and having something to bond with Persephone could add another layer to her abduction since Persephone ended up becoming Queen of the Underworld.  I hope to split my storybook in half with the two of them meeting in Lanka and each telling the tales of their capture and captivity.

Hidden Journal.  Maybe instead of both of the women meeting and discussing their lives, Sita could find out about Persephone through a lost journal.  Instead of making it about Persephone and Hades, the story could have Ravana fill Hades's role.  Sita could find a diary written by Persephone and be attracted to the similarities of their situations.  This would be something she would have to hide from the asuras because they would not want her to take any solace while she is still living outside the palace.  This could be interesting because Persephone has a very different ending than Sita's, so once she reaches the end of the journal it could be devastating to her.  

Queen of Lanka.  This Storybook style would do a combination character of Mandodari and Persephone.  Ravana's wife would appear before Sita in an attempt to convince her to leave Rama behind and come live in the palace.  I feel like Persephone's story could be used as a horror story for Sita to fear Ravana, but it also could be used as coercion since in the end it worked out for Persephone to give in to Ravana.  So maybe it could be Sita's best interest to forget about Rama and move on.  

Third Person.  All of the previous styles would be told from Sita's point of view, but this story could also be told from a third person narrative.  I would really want a third person narration to highlight the similarities of their birth and the parallels their lives lead.  This style would be very similar to the first style, but it would be told from a third person omniscient narrator.  
(Image of Hades and Persephone from Wikipedia.)

No comments:

Post a Comment