Skip to main content

A most Forgiving Ape

Summary:

We do not very much about the gorilla but we think that we know him well.
Our source of knowledge is horror films and adventure books. We don’t have his really satisfactory photograph.We do not know anything about his life cycle and social structure.
We know a little about the animal. An eighteen month old gorilla may try to trace the outline of his own shadow.A male gorilla helps a female to climb up a steep rock-step. His love for the female and the family is quite human.The family members eat together and sleep making their beds. A full-grown male rises to six foot and weighs six hundred pounds.He is strong that he can remove the head of a man with his hands. But the female is much smaller and lighter.They have a strong smell, a mixture of human sweat, manure and charred wood. They can see clearly, but they are probably deficient in both hearing and smelling.They appear to be talking to each other in high- pitched voices. When they are in danger the male makes a frightening show giving a chance to his family to get away.This show is like shadow boxing. The gorilla is a gentle, kindly creature. He is a very growing ape. He lives at peace with all other animals.We don’t know how many gorillas are there but their number is very small. Nowadays they can’t be legally killed,but the local tribesman kills them when their crops or beehives are destroyed by the gorillas.
              Once Moore head suddenly made a plan to see the gorilla in the sanctuary, the narrator with his companion and guides headed towards the mountain with a faint hope of seeing the gorilla.
Although the journey was very difficult for him and although he had given brief thoughts to wild gorilla, he felt it necessary to see one.The two guides were experts. Their seeing, hearing and smelling powers were extraordinary. They were untiring as the gorilla.By following the foot mark they could find the gorilla’s used nests. The guides asked others to keep complete silence.This silence was broken by a single high- pitched scream. The narrator was shocked and one of the guides pulled him up holding by the arm.Then they saw a wonderful sight. The gorilla was a huge shinning male. He was very black. He was a great pillar of shining blackness.There was black crew-cut hair on his head. His black deep- sunken eyes were looking to them. His nostrils and beard were black.
He changed his position a little but looked fixedly to them. He had the dignity and grandeur of prophets.
           He was the most special and great animal the narrator had ever seen. So he had only one desire at that moment to go forward towards him,to meet him and to know him; to communicate. But if we see a lion, an elephant or a rhino in wild Africa, we feel that we should run away.
The beast is savage, hostile, a murderer. But with the gorilla we want to make closer relation.
The narrator did not like to see him through the binoculars or take a photograph. He did not like to lose sight of him even for a few seconds.He wanted to see him naturally and whole. The gorilla rose, gave a terrifying scream and disappeared. He moved away faster.This shows lasted for a couple of hundred seconds. This was the narrator’s most exciting encounter.Then he came down the mountain happily and without feeling tired.

Four levels:

1. Literal comprehension:
There are many things we have yet to know about the gorilla. Our knowledge of him is based on imaginary horror films and adventure books.The little knowledge we have about him makes us learn more. His artistic instinct and care of the family make him closer to human beings than any other animals.The gorilla is a peace-loving animal and his species is in danger of extinction. Once the narrator went to Africa to see him in a wild state.It was surprisingly black. His shining blackness and huge body impressed the narrator very much.He had a desire to go to him and to communicate instead of running away from him.He didn’t like to miss his sight even for a second by using a camera or binoculars. Seeing him in a natural state, he came back happily.

2. Interpretation:
This essay might be trying to say that one should see the wild animals in its natural habitat.
Then only one can make the correct picture of him in one’s mind.The knowledge based on second-picture is not reliable.The sight of the gorilla in its wild state is a great source of pleasure.

3. Critical thinking:
The writer seems impartial in describing the gorilla. His enthusiasm, difficult in climbing, drowsiness and happiness look real.But I don’t agree when he says that he wanted to go closer to get introduced.Could he really go closer if the gorilla had stayed longer? In short this is an excellent essay.

4. Assimilation:
By reading this essay I learned a lot about the gorilla. My knowledge of him was based on horror films.I used to think that he was a monster. I came to know that he is really a most forgiving ape.The writer’s description of the huge shining gorilla is so powerful that I read the lines stopping my breath.I visualized everything he described and was so happy.I also knew that the wild species all over the world are at the point of extinction.If we don’t do anything right now, we shall miss the natural beauty forever.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thinking as a hobby

Summary: As a boy Golding found that there were three grades of thinking, but later when his hobby was thinking that could not think at all. His headmaster first brought the subject of thinking before him. There were three statuettes in his study. One was an armless lady in bath towels worried about the slipping of the towel. Next to her, was a crouching leopard ready to jump down at the top drawer of filling cabinet labeled A-AH. Beyond the leopard was a naked muscular man. He sat looking down with his chin on his fist and his elbow on his knee. The statutes were the symbols of the whole of life to the headmaster. To him the lady was the Venus (beauty) of Milo. She was love. She just wanted to be beautiful. The leopard was Nature and was being natural. The man was Rodin’s Thinker, an image of pure thought. Golding was punished for not obeying the teachers. He was taken in the headmaster’s study and was asked to think the thinker. But Golding did not understand him because he was no...

Eight o’clock

Summary: The protagonist (maim character) stood and heard the bell of the church tower. In the morning the bell was heard all over the town and it reminded the people of their task and pushed them out.After every fifteen minutes the clock hit the bell- one, two, three and four. An unpleasant event was about to happen. The hour was quiet near against desire. He stood and counted the quarter strike.It was four. He therefore cursed his luck because he could do nothing to protect himself from the unhappy thing.Then the clock gathered all its strength and struck eight. Four levels: 1.  Literal comprehension: The main character in the brief drama stood and heard the clock tower striking the quarter bells every fifteen minutes.It was heard all over the town in the morning.It pushed the people out people remarking them of their day.As the unavoidable hour was coming near, he stood and counted four and cursed his luck because the unpleasant event was about to take place.When the c...