8eng Fal t3 Project Task 6 Short Story Final
8eng Fal t3 Project Task 6 Short Story Final
STORY)
MARKS MODERATED
STAGE 1 20
STAGE 2 30
TOTAL 50
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What is a Creative Writing Project and what is it all about?
The creative writing project is a fun way for students to improve their writing skills by making
up their own stories, poems, essays, or plays. It helps students think creatively and write about
their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. The project includes activities like coming up with ideas,
writing drafts, sharing with classmates, and making changes to improve the writing. This helps
students learn to write better and feel more confident about their writing.
A short story is a work of prose fiction that can be read in one sitting—usually between 20 minutes to an hour.
There is no maximum length, but the average short story is 1 000 to 7 500 words.
The setting of a short story is often simplified (one time and place), and one or two main characters may be
introduced without full backstories. In this concise, concentrated format, every word and story detail have to work
extra hard!
Short stories typically focus on a single plot instead of multiple subplots, as you might see in novels. Some
stories follow a traditional narrative arc, with exposition (description) at the beginning, rising action, a climax
(peak moment of conflict or action), and a resolution at the end. However, contemporary short fiction is more
likely to begin in the middle of the action (in medias res), drawing readers right into a dramatic scene.
While short stories of the past often revolved around a central theme or moral lesson, today it is common to find
stories with ambiguous endings. This type of unresolved story invites open-ended readings and suggests a more
complex understanding of reality and human behaviour.
The short story genre is well suited to experimentation in prose writing style and form, but most short story
authors still work to create a distinct mood using classic literary devices.
(Adapted extract: Blurb. (© 2005—2021). What is a Short Story? Available: https://www.blurb.com/blog/what-is-a-short-story/. Last accessed 20210623.)
Read the whole short story ‘The Son’ by Hermann Hesse before you begin your
project.
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The Son
Hermann Hesse
Timid and weeping, the boy had attended his mother's funeral; gloomy and shy, he
had listened to Siddhartha, who greeted him as his son and welcomed him at his place
in Vasudeva's hut. Pale, he sat for many days by the hill of the dead, did not want to
eat, gave no open look, did not open his heart, met his fate with resistance and denial.
Siddhartha spared him and let him do as he pleased, he honoured his mourning.
Siddhartha understood that his son did not know him, that he could not love him like a
father. Slowly, he also saw and understood that the eleven-year-old was a pampered
boy, a mother's boy, and that he had grown up in the habits of rich people, accustomed
to finer food, to a soft bed, accustomed to giving orders to servants. Siddhartha
understood that the mourning, pampered child could not suddenly and willingly be
content with a life among strangers and in poverty. He did not force him, he did many
a chore for him, always picked the best piece of the meal for him. Slowly, he hoped to
win him over, by friendly patience.
Rich and happy, he had called himself, when the boy had come to him. Since time had
passed on in the meantime, and the boy remained a stranger and in a
gloomy disposition, since he displayed a proud and stubbornly disobedient heart, did
not want to do any work, did not pay his respect to the old men, stole from Vasudeva's
fruit-trees, then Siddhartha began to understand that his son had not brought him
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happiness and peace, but suffering and worry. But he loved him, and he preferred the
suffering and worries of love over happiness and joy without the boy. Since young
Siddhartha was in the hut, the old men had split the work. Vasudeva had again taken
on the job of the ferryman all by himself, and Siddhartha, in order to be with his son,
did the work in the hut and the field.
For a long time, for long months, Siddhartha waited for his son to understand him, to
accept his love, to perhaps reciprocate it. For long months, Vasudeva waited,
watching, waited and said nothing. One day, when Siddhartha the younger had once
again tormented his father very much with spite and an unsteadiness in his wishes and
had broken both of his rice-bowls, Vasudeva took his friend aside in the evening and
talked to him.
"Pardon me." he said, "from a friendly heart, I'm talking to you. I'm seeing that you are
tormenting yourself, I'm seeing that you're in grief. Your son, my friend, is worrying
you, and he is also worrying me. That young bird is accustomed to a different life, to a
different nest. He has not, like you, ran away from riches and the city, being disgusted
and fed up with it; against his will, he had to leave all this behind. I asked the river, oh
friend, many times I have asked it. But the river laughs, it laughs at me, it laughs at
you and me, and is shaking with laughter at out foolishness. Water wants to join water,
youth wants to join youth, your son is not in the place where he can prosper. You too
should ask the river; you too should listen to it!"
Troubled, Siddhartha looked into his friendly face, in the many wrinkles of which there
was incessant cheerfulness.
"How could I part with him?" he said quietly, ashamed. "Give me some more time, my
friend! See, I'm fighting for him, I'm seeking to win his heart, with love and with friendly
patience I intend to capture it. One day, the river shall also talk to him, he also is called
upon."
Vasudeva's smile flourished more warmly. "Oh yes, he too is called upon, he too is of
the eternal life. But do we, you and me, know what he is called upon to do, what path
to take, what actions to perform, what pain to endure? Not a small one, his pain will
be; after all, his heart is proud and hard, people like this have to suffer a lot, err a lot,
do much injustice, burden themselves with much sin. Tell me, my friend: you're not
taking control of your son's upbringing? You don't force him? You don't beat him? You
don't punish him?"
"No, Vasudeva, I don't do anything of this."
"I knew it. You don't force him, don't beat him, don't give him orders, because you
know that 'soft' is stronger than 'hard', Water stronger than rocks, love stronger than
force. Very good, I praise you. But aren't you mistaken in thinking that you wouldn't
force him, wouldn't punish him? Don't you shackle him with your love? Don't you make
him feel inferior every day, and don't you make it even harder on him with your
kindness and patience? Don't you force him, the arrogant and pampered boy, to live
in a hut with two old banana-eaters, to whom even rice is a delicacy, whose thoughts
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can't be his, whose hearts are old and quiet and beat in a different pace than his? Isn't
forced, isn't he punished by all this?"
Troubled, Siddhartha looked to the ground. Quietly, he asked: "What do you think
should I do?"
Quoth Vasudeva: "Bring him into the city, bring him into his mother's house, there'll
still be servants around, give him to them. And when they aren't any around any more,
bring him to a teacher, not for the teachings' sake, but so that he shall be among other
boys, and among girls, and in the world which is his own. Have you never thought of
this?"
"You're seeing into my heart," Siddhartha spoke sadly. "Often, I have thought of this.
But look, how shall I put him, who had no tender heart anyhow, into this world? Won't
he become exuberant, won't he lose himself to pleasure and power, won't he repeat
all of his father's mistakes, won't he perhaps get entirely lost in Sansara?"
Brightly, the ferryman's smile lit up; softly, he touched Siddhartha's arm and said: "Ask
the river about it, my friend! Hear it laugh about it! Would you actually believe that you
had committed your foolish acts in order to spare your son from committing them too?
And could you in any way protect your son from Sansara? How could you? By means
of teachings, prayer, admonition? My friend, have you entirely forgotten that story, that
story containing so many lessons, that story about Siddhartha, a Brahman's son? Who
has kept the Samana Siddhartha safe from Sansara, from sin, from greed, from
foolishness? Were his father's religious devotion, his teachers warnings, his own
knowledge, his own search able to keep him safe? Which father, which teacher had
been able to protect him from living his life for himself, from soiling himself with life,
from burdening himself with guilt, from drinking the bitter drink for himself, from finding
his path for himself? Would you think, my dear friend, anybody might perhaps be
spared from taking this path? That perhaps your little son would be spared, because
you love him, because you would like to keep him from suffering and pain and
disappointment? But even if you would die ten times for him, you would not be able to
take the slightest part of his destiny upon yourself."
Never before, Vasudeva had spoken so many words. Kindly, Siddhartha thanked him,
went troubled into the hut, could not sleep for a long time. Vasudeva had told him
nothing that he had not already thought and known for himself. But this was a
knowledge he could not act upon, stronger than the knowledge was his love for the
boy, stronger was his tenderness, his fear to lose him. Had he ever lost his heart so
much to something, had he ever loved any person thus, thus blindly, thus sufferingly,
thus unsuccessfully, and yet thus happily?
Siddhartha could not heed his friend's advice, he could not give up the boy. He let the
boy give him orders, he let him disregard him. He said nothing and waited; daily, he
began the mute struggle of friendliness, the silent war of patience. Vasudeva also said
nothing and waited, friendly, knowing, patient. They were both masters of patience.
At one time, when the boy's face reminded him very much of Kamala, Siddhartha
suddenly had to think of a line which Kamala a long time ago, in the days of their youth,
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had once said to him. "You cannot love," she had said to him, and he had agreed with
her and had compared himself with a star, while comparing the childlike people with
falling leaves, and nevertheless he had also sensed an accusation in that line. Indeed,
he had never been able to lose or devote himself completely to another person, to
forget himself, to commit foolish acts for the love of another person; never he had been
able to do this, and this was, as it had seemed to him at that time, the great distinction
which set him apart from the childlike people. But now, since his son was here, now
he, Siddhartha, had also become completely a childlike person, suffering for the sake
of another person, loving another person, lost to a love, having become a fool on
account of love. Now he too felt, late, once in his lifetime, this strongest and strangest
of all passions, suffered from it, suffered miserably, and was nevertheless in bliss, was
nevertheless renewed in one respect, enriched by one thing.
He did sense very well that this love, this blind love for his son, was a passion,
something very human, that it was Sansara, a murky source, dark waters.
Nevertheless, he felt at the same time, it was not worthless, it was necessary, came
from the essence of his own being. This pleasure also had to be atoned for, this pain
also had to be endured, these foolish acts also had to be committed.
Through all this, the son let him commit his foolish acts, let him court for his affection,
let him humiliate himself every day by giving in to his moods. This father had nothing
which would have delighted him and nothing which he would have feared. He was a
good man, this father, a good, kind, soft man, perhaps a very devout man, perhaps a
saint, none of these were attributes which could win the boy over. He was bored by
this father, who kept him prisoner here in this miserable hut of his, he was bored by
him, and for him to answer every naughtiness with a smile, every insult with
friendliness, every viciousness with kindness, this very thing was the hated trick of this
old sneak. Much more the boy would have liked it if he had been threatened by him, if
he had been abused by him.
A day came, when what young Siddhartha had on his mind came bursting forth, and
he openly turned against his father. The latter had given him a task, he had told him
to gather brushwood. But the boy did not leave the hut, in stubborn disobedience and
rage he stayed where he was, thumped on the ground with his feet, clenched his fists,
and screamed in a powerful outburst his hatred and contempt into his father's face.
"Get the brushwood for yourself!" he shouted foaming at the mouth, "I'm not your
servant. I do know, that you won't hit me, you don't dare; I do know, that you constantly
want to punish me and put me down with your religious devotion and your indulgence.
You want me to become like you, just as devout, just as soft, just as wise! But I, listen
up, just to make you suffer, I rather want to become a highway-robber and murderer,
and go to hell, than to become like you! I hate you, you're not my father!"
Rage and grief boiled over in him, foamed at the father in a hundred savage and evil
words. Then the boy ran away and only returned late at night.
But the next morning, he had disappeared. What had also disappeared was a small
basket, woven out of bast of two colours, in which the ferrymen kept those copper and
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silver coins which they received as a fare. The boat had also disappeared, Siddhartha
saw it lying by the opposite bank. The boy had ran away.
"I must follow him," said Siddhartha, who had been shivering with grief since those
ranting speeches, the boy had made yesterday. "A child can't go through the forest all
alone. He'll perish. We must build a raft, Vasudeva, to get over the water."
"We will build a raft," said Vasudeva, "to get our boat back, which the boy has taken
away. But him, you shall let run along, my friend, he is no child any more, he knows
how to get around. He's looking for the path to the city, and he is right, don't forget
that. He's doing what you've failed to do yourself. He's taking care of himself, he's
taking his course. Alas, Siddhartha, I see you suffering, but you're suffering a pain at
which one would like to laugh, at which you'll soon laugh for yourself."
Siddhartha did not answer. He already held the axe in his hands and began to make
a raft of bamboo, and Vasudeva helped him tie the canes together with ropes of grass.
Then they crossed over, drifted far off their course, pulled the raft upriver on the
opposite bank.
"Why did you take the axe along?" asked Siddhartha.
Vasudeva said: "It might have been possible that the oar of our boat got lost."
But Siddhartha knew what his friend was thinking. He thought, the boy would have
thrown away or broken the oar in order to get even and in order to keep them from
following him. And in fact, there was no oar left in the boat. Vasudeva pointed to the
bottom of the boat and looked at his friend with a smile, as if he wanted to say: "Don't
you see what your son is trying to tell you? Don't you see that he doesn't want to be
followed?" But he did not say this in words. He started making a new oar. But
Siddhartha bid his farewell, to look for the run-away. Vasudeva did not stop him.
When Siddhartha had already been walking through the forest for a long time, the
thought occurred to him that his search was useless. Either, so he thought, the boy
was far ahead and had already reached the city, or, if he should still be on his way, he
would conceal himself from him, the pursuer. As he continued thinking, he also found
that he, on his part, was not worried for his son, that he knew deep inside that he had
neither perished nor was in any danger in the forest. Nevertheless, he ran without
stopping, no longer to save him, just to satisfy his desire, just to perhaps see him one
more time. And he ran up to just outside of the city.
When, near the city, he reached a wide road, he stopped, by the entrance of the
beautiful pleasure-garden, which used to belong to Kamala, where he had seen her
for the first time in her sedan-chair. The past rose up in his soul, again he saw himself
standing there, young, bearded, hair full of dust. For a long time, Siddhartha stood
there and looked through the open gate into the garden, seeing monks in yellow robes
walking among the beautiful trees.
For a long time, he stood there, pondering, seeing images, listening to the story of his
life. For a long time, he stood there, looked at the monks, saw young Siddhartha in
their place, saw young Kamala walking among the high trees. Clearly, he saw himself
being served food and drink by Kamala, receiving his first kiss from her, looking proudly
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and disdainfully back on his Brahmanism, beginning proudly and full of desire his
worldly life. He saw Kamaswami, saw the servants, the gamblers with the dice, the
musicians, saw Kamala's song-bird in the cage, lived through all this once again,
breathed Sansara, was once again old and tired, felt once again disgust, felt once
again the wish to annihilate himself, was once again healed by the holy Om.
After having been standing by the gate of the garden for a long time, Siddhartha
realised that his desire was foolish, which had made him go up to this place, that he
could not help his son, that he was not allowed to cling him. Deeply, he felt the love
for the run-away in his heart, like a wound, and he felt at the same time that this wound
had not been given to him in order to turn the knife in it, that it had to become a blossom
and had to shine.
That this wound did not blossom yet, did not shine yet, at this hour, made him sad.
Instead of the desired goal, which had drawn him here following the runaway son,
there was now emptiness. Sadly, he sat down, felt something dying in his heart,
experienced emptiness, saw no joy any more, no goal. He sat lost in thought and
waited. This he had learned by the river, this one thing: waiting, having patience,
listening attentively. And he sat and listened, in the dust of the road, listened to his
heart, beating tiredly and sadly, waited for a voice. Many an hour he crouched,
listening, saw no images any more, fell into emptiness, let himself fall, without seeing
a path. And when he felt the wound burning, he silently spoke the Om, filled himself
with Om. The monks in the garden saw him, and since he crouched for many hours,
and dust was gathering on his gray hair, one of them came to him and placed two
bananas in front of him. The old man did not see him.
From this petrified state, he was awoken by a hand touching his shoulder. Instantly,
he recognised this touch, this tender, bashful touch, and regained his senses. He rose
and greeted Vasudeva, who had followed him. And when he looked into Vasudeva's
friendly face, into the small wrinkles, which were as if they were filled with nothing but
his smile, into the happy eyes, then he smiled too. Now he saw the bananas lying in
front of him, picked them up, gave one to the ferryman, ate the other one himself. After
this, he silently went back into the forest with Vasudeva, returned home to the ferry.
Neither one talked about what had happened today, neither one mentioned the boy's
name, neither one spoke about him running away, neither one spoke about the wound.
In the hut, Siddhartha lay down on his bed, and when after a while Vasudeva came to
him, to offer him a bowl of coconut-milk, he already found him asleep.
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STAGE 1: RESEARCH
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Choose one of the following topics to conduct your research on and submit a report:
(Your teacher may allocate a specific topic to different learners)
1.1 MESSAGE
Hypothesis:
A writer writes a direct story with a message to it. Writers of stories can sometimes also leave
an explicit message which doesn’t take much for the reader to understand. On other occasions
it is very well disguised and intrinsically placed in the writing. It takes for the reader to reflect on
what is being said and review the implicit underlying meaning to fully grasp the message.
Question: What is the message of this story ‘The Son” by Herman Hesse and how does Hesse
convey that message?
Consider the following:
● What are messages that Hesse conveys?
● What literary devices does he use to place those messages subliminally?
● Are there moral lessons that you can detect in the story? What evidence do you find
thereof?
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1.2 PARENTING
Hypothesis:
Having access to both parents is crucial for the development of a child.
Question: How does Herman Hess in the story “The Son” disprove or affirm the importance of
parenting by both a mom and dad?
Consider the following:
● What was the relationship like between Siddhartha and his son?
● What caused the friction in the relationship?
● Siddhartha received advise from his friends on how he should manage the boy. Do you support
Siddhartha’s actions?
● How did the boy try and mend or destroy the relationship he had with his father?
Make notes about the relevant aspects of the research that is related to your chosen topic.
This must be handed in with the Writing Stage to your teacher.
Compile a bibliography according to the Harvard Method of Referencing. Include this with your notes.
Minimum Requirements:
* A Cover Page
* A Table of Contents
* Text divided into paragraphs/sections with headings and sub-headings.
* Pictures, Photos, Diagrams and Graphs may be included
* Include a Bibliography using the Harvard Method of Referencing
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Harvard Method of Referencing:
http://www.harvardgenerator.com/references/online-image
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Smith, A. (2011). Environmental Issues. Green Earth. 5 (2), p. 179-314.
WEBSITE
Smith, A. (2009). Pollution! Available: http://www.greenearth.com/. Last accessed 10 June 2021.
EMAIL
Smith, A. water@love_our_earth.co.za. Cleaning Up. 22 March 2021.
INTERNET IMAGES
Leonid Gabelko, (2018), Cardboard Box On Wheels [ONLINE]. Available at:
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-cardboard-box-wheels-recycled-paper-delivery-goods-
image56150001 [Accessed 2 July 2021].
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Stage 1: Research will be marked according to the following rubric:
Research
Criteria Descriptors
/20
Variety, Comprehensiv Applicable The required Limited The learner
number and e research on resources number of number and is unable to
quality of the topic given used from a resources variety of relate
resources is evident. variety of used. resources resources
used. More sources used (e.g. used to the
resources than which spoke only final product,
required were to the topic. Wikipedia or but the
consulted. only the product is
novel/text still
10-9 marks used in produced.
8-7 marks 6-5 marks class.)
2-1 marks
4-3 marks
Bibliography/ Bibliography/ Bibliography/ No
References/ References/ References/ Bibliography/
Resources Resources Resources References/
are given are given but Resources
and it is do not relate given.
evident that to the topic
they relate to and/or the
the topic and final product.
the final
product.
2 marks 1 mark 0 marks
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STAGE 2: WRITING
INSTRUCTIONS:
Write a descriptive essay about the topic on which you conducted your research.
1. Planning / Pre-writing
Follow the instructions and/or decide the following: Style, point of view and any other
requirements. Use a mind map to outline the main ideas of each paragraph.
Introduction
Conclusion Paragraph 1
TOPIC
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 3
Compile a list of appropriate nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives that comes to mind when
thinking about the topic. Check the rubric according to which your essay will be marked to
ensure you understand what is required of you.
2. Drafting
Write a first draft by using the structure above that you created. Make use of the word list to
add substance to your paragraphs. Establish the tone and language appropriate for the topic.
3. Revising
Read your draft through critically and make notes on your essay aspects you want to revise
e.g. elaborate on, shorten, consider different arguments, statements, adjectives etc. Ask
someone to read the draft and make suggestions.
4. Editing
Decide and finalise the revisions you want to make. Check all grammar and spelling and
ensure all punctuation is complete. Ensure paragraphs follow each other in a logical sequence.
5. Proofreading
Read through your essay one more time – only small changes can be made at this time as it is
the final check before presentation.
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6. Presenting
Present your final essay in neat and readable handwriting!
HINT: Write short sentences! Subject + verb + Object. Rather combine two shorter sentences
using appropriate conjunctions than writing long, rambling sentences where the message is lost.
Minimum Requirements:
● A Cover Page
● A mind map
● Rough Draft
● Final Draft
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Stage 2: Your essay will be marked according to the following rubric:
/ 30 5 4 3 2 1
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