Nihal Ali RJ1

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Nihal Ali

ID no. 900 123 163


RJ1:"The second prize" By George Layton ,9th Feb,2013

The greatest conflicts are not between two people,but between one person and '
himself',by Garth Brooks. In the second prize, George Layton draws a new definition
to the concepts of self blame and inner struggle,these two dreaded traits that are
automatically associated in the back of our heads with disgrace,human pain and
failure. Through out the story,these two concepts beautifully flourish to be
considered ,by myself at least,one of humanity's supreme luxuries as they turned out
to be the main reasons that drove our little boy to maintain a correct sense of values at
the very end.In the second prize, Layton introduces us to a boy who was stuck with an
unappeased conscience after winning the second prize in 'The National road safety
competition' for a drawing that he was given 'a bit of a hand ' in it from his
neighbour,Mr Carpenter.The writer conveys his message in a very convincing and
well supported approach.Firstly,the boy compared 'the prize giving ceremony' on
different occasions to his uncle Matyy's funeral. It triggers my thoughts how this little
boy mentally connected the physical death of his uncle with the moral death of his
believes and conscience if he was to remain silent and accept the award.It is funny
how, during these two occasions, he will get into trouble with his mother over actions
committed by others.For example,in uncle Matty's funeral,he got into trouble because
of 'Antie winnie's fault' of ruining his new suit.And in the prize giving
ceremony,because of Mr Carpenter's participation in his drawing.Secondly,it is
compelling how the writer reflected constantly the boy's mental turmoil on his
physical state,This was clearly seen in lines such as ''I was sitting at the top of the
stairs listening to my stomach churning'',and also in having to immediately go to the
bathroom when they arrived at the town hall because of feeling 'Sick' whenever he
thought about the 'Rotten' prize.At the very end,the sense of inner unrest and self
.questioning drove the boy to admit on stage that the drawing didn't belong to him

The second prize is a very simple ,yet rich piece of writing. Layton succeeded in
grasping the true essence of many divinely favoured human qualities, connecting
them together and finally presenting them in a very kid friendly setting.when
analyzing this story,many questions were raised,from which the most important was
how integrity,self discipline,pride,unease and guilt are so closely related?. It riddled
my mind how qualities that seemed to be from two opposite sides of the rainbow felt
so connected and similar at a certain point?. I came to the conclusion that it's because
their negatives provide the keys to their positives.I realised that it is okey to suffer. It
is okey to tremendously blame yourself.It is okey to sometimes fail at disciplining
yourself '.It is okey to disappoint those who invested their blood,sweat and tears in
you.All these previously mentioned 'negative' traits should ,in fact, be singled out as
humanity's most important values,because this is the only way Integrity and inner
peace shall be reached.Bottom line is,any 'expensive' trait won't be achieved
easily.You will have to experience the ups and downs of the process of bettering
oneself first.It attracted me how Layton's story highlighted this complete
journey.Firstly,the writer illustrated how much pride was invested in the little boy.This
was clearly shown in how the mother kept bragging about her little boy,and also when
the headmaster said 'This boy has brought great honour to the school'.As the amount
of pride increased,the amount of guilt followed,making it harder and harder for the
boy to confess.He was'praying like mad' and 'felt more sorry for himself'.At the very
end,it was those stressing emotions that made him reach a very high level of
discomfort and eventually forced him to tell the truth .Only then ,he said ,'I felt
.'happier than I had done for weeks

Having integrity and self blame as one of the main concepts discussed in the second
prize,I couldn't help but immediately recalling 'Frost/Nixon' the movie.It was a
dramatic retelling of the post Watergate television interviews that took place between
the British talk show host 'David Frost' and president 'Richard Nixon' .The Watergate
scandal that the interview revolved around was a political scandal that took place in
the United States when it was discovered that president Nixon was spying on his
political opponents which resulted in his resignation on Aug.9th ,1974.It is interesting
how these two forms of art seem similar to me.The main characters in both pieaces
were about to win something they didn't deserve.For the little boy.it was the 2nd place
in the National competition,and for Nixon,it was winnig the re-ellection campaign of
1972.Both at the end confessed their dishonesty.The boy refused the prize,and the
.president resigned

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