Reading report of a short story named “The Woman on Platform 8”.

English II

Reading report

Esteban Rodríguez

217205973

Group 01

04/09/2018

625 words

Reading report of a short story named “The Woman on Platform 8”.

Summary

The short story that was written by Ruskin Bound, an Indian with British ascendance writer. It tells the time when Arun, the main character, waited for a train on platform number 8 to go to school at Ambala station in India when he was in second grade of middle-school. In that platform he met a woman, which he had not seen before, that invited him to get some food while he waited for the train. They had a good talk about the things that he liked, his friends, how he was going in school, but never talked a single thing about the woman. Then, after a while, the time for the train to arrive came. They returned to the station to see one of Arun’s friends, Satish, waiting for the same train too. Satish was with his own mother waiting for the train, not like Arun that was alone with the unknown woman. Then Satish’s mother introduced herself to the unknown woman thinking that she was Arun’s mother as she had never met Arun’s mother before. The woman for some reason didn’t deny not being Arun’s mother. Arun was so impressed that he could not speak a word and did not say anything afterwards. The train arrived and Arun and his friend jumped up to it finally going to school. As the train was leaving, Satish waved at his mother speaking out loud “Goodbye, mother!”, and the woman waving to Arun as if she were really his mother made Arun feel tranquility. Then, at the last minute, Arun said too “Goodbye, mother!” to the woman.

Evaluation

1. Why do you think the author chose that title for the text?

Because the story was about the woman the main character met in Platform 8 of a train station.

1. Do you have any other information about the topic that is not mentioned in the text?

No, as what I read was a short story that needed no other extra information.

1. Write three important or relevant aspects of the text that you did not know about.

• Some students from middle-school must take a train at midnight to go to school.
• Many students need to take more than one train to get home from school.
• I did not know that India had train stations.

1. Do you think the publishing of this text was worth it? Why?

I think that if you like short stories this is a good one because it is based from a different cultural point of view. So, implicitly you are learning of another culture besides yours.  

1. Do you agree with the author’s point of view?

Since it is a short story there is no actual point of view on which I can agree with. But I really liked and enjoyed the story.

1. Choose at least five unknown words from the text, define them, and use them in a sentence.

1. Gazing.

Definition: to look steadily and intently, as with great interest or wonder.

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