PERSONAL RESPONSE ON THE SHORT STORY:HOW TO WEIGH AN ELEPHANT

INTRODUCTIONThe story of my choice is How to Weigh an Elephant, I chose this story because the plot is interesting and easy to understand. The language used was simple and not dangling.

THEMEThe wisdom of a little girl solving a big problem that is hard to be solve by the adults. For example, one little girl named Little Tsao can solve the problem on how to weigh an elephant whereby there is no weighing machine at that time.

the attitude of some people that does not trust the ability of a little girl who is considered weak, even though they did not know the real abilities of that little girl. For instance, when Little Tsao says she knows how to weigh an elephant, someone said that she is only a child. We can see that those people look down towards the child.

characterLittle TsaoKeep on trying: she tried to think very hard on how to weigh the elephant even though all the people have met a dead end.Persistent: she said that she knows how to weigh the elephant and she has told it to the people for two times. Smart: she was able to think out the method to weigh the elephant that people cannot think of.

The rich man Optimistic: he was being optimistic to Little Tsao. Even though all the people laughed at her, he let Little Tsao to say her opinion on how to weigh the elephant. The peoplePessimistic: they were being pessimistic towards Little Tsao and they laughed at her when she said that she knows how to weigh the elephant. They also looked down towards ones ability.

plotExposition A rich man wants to give an elephant to the Emperor. He asked a boatman, Tsao Tsao to take the elephant in his boat to the Emperor. Rising actionThe rich man will pay the boatman according to the weight of the elephant. Unfortunately, there is no weighing scale that can weigh such a big thing like an elephant at that time. All the people try to find a way to weigh the elephant

Climax Tsao Tsaos daughter, Little Tsao told the people that she knows how to weigh the elephant. However, no one trusts her because she was only a child. Falling action The rich man asked her to tell how to weigh the elephant. Little Tsao explained to the people how to weigh the elephant.

ResolutionThey succeed to weigh the elephant according to the method that Little Tsao asked them to do. The rich man paid the boatman. The Emperor was so pleased with the elephant.

Literary devicesHyperboleHyperbole is overstatement or exaggerated language that distorts facts by making them much bigger than they are if looked at objectively.E.g: How can we weigh an elephant that weight million tons? The rich said that the elephant weight million tons. In contrast, an elephants weight will not reach to that amount.

simileA simile is a figure of speech that indirectly compares two different things by employing the words "like", "as", or "than". E.g: Little Tsao is very smart as sang kancil! The people compared Little Tsao to sang kancil.

conclusionWe as an adult should not look down towards people especially whom younger than us. We should let people to voice out their opinion.Last but not least, we should not judge people based on their age or their appearance