LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN EXPRESSION IV I.S.F.D N° 30 STUDENT: ANDREA OLAZABAL TEACHER: BLAS BIGATTI INDIVIDUAL ESSAY
BLEEDING SINK : An exploration based on some topics related to adolescents.
“ Conflicting values and roles can be explored through stories, because storytelling is a problem- solving activity”. (Gail De Vos, 2003)
The values that stories contain are very important in the reader´s construction of reality. As Gail De Vos (2003) points out, “Characters in the stories are faced either with crisis situations or with common everyday concerns”. Taking into account that storytelling can be of great relevance by the readers, this essay will particularly focus on adolescents. According to Pedak ( 1978, 45), he defines a young adult as “ a member of the public who is in transition from childhood to adulthood usually between the ages of thirteen to eighteen”.
It is important to consider that there are some situations that teenagers undergo during the adolescent stage such as the construction of their value system and the searching for identity.( Gail De Vos, 2003)
BLEEDING SINK, an urban legend retold by S.E Schlosser (2010), deals with the issues mentioned before. This story is about a boy who lives with a roommate in a dorm, where the fourth floor bathroom is closed. According to townspeople, the cause of the locked room is an urban legend. In the 1960´s a sad accident happened when a drunken man passed out in the bathroom and hit his head on the sink, for this reason, he silently hemorrhaged to death. For decades, the bathroom´s door remained locked since townspeople still believe that the man is lying on the floor and his blood is spread all over the sink. The boy completely discounts the story of the bleeding sink since he thinks it is just an urban legend
students circulate to explain the locked door. As he disbelieves of what is said about the fourth door bathroom, he enters in it in order to have a look. The second time he goes there, he finds the drunken man groaning and pleading for help. He runs away and he gets to the conclusion that the urban legend is real.
Taking into consideration the decisions and feelings of the main character of the story is that in this paper I will explore the ways in which “BLEEDING SINK” may be appealing for young adult readers since it might make them feel identified with its character. It will also be proposed that the story can be used in EFL classes in order to make students reflect upon their own attitudes and decisions.
During the adolescent stage, young adults are constantly questioning the rules imposed by adults in order to take their own decisions. Angela Oswalt (2010) suggests that “ A mature understanding of oneself and one´s emotions include some understanding of one´s values. Some teens actively explore their own individual value system rejecting the values of their family, community and culture”. Considering Angela Oswalt´s quotation, it can be seen in the following extract that the main character of BLEEDING SINK disobeys what he is told not to do, the boy does not care about the townspeople´s beliefs about the haunted room and he takes his decision to investigate the bathroom:
“ I´m sick of sharing a bathroom with you disgusting a lot, I grumbled to my roommate. I´m going to break into the fourth- floor bathroom”
The previous extract shows that the main character of the story takes the risk of doing the opposite of what townspeople say. It is helpful to recognize that rules and values are closely linked. So, if the main character intentionally challenges townspeople´s rules, he is also challenging the values those rules represent. In this way, the boy is constructing his own value system. Another important task confronting young adults is the development of a sense for personal identity.” This search involves deciding what is important or worth doing and formulating standards of conduct for evaluating one´s own behaviour as well as the behaviour of others” ( Gail De Vos, 2003).The following extract from BLEEDING SINK can be considered as an example of the issues mentioned before:
“My granny lives in a haunted castle in Scotland with ghost stories that would make your hair stand on end. She’d laugh at me if she found out I ignored a perfectly good bathroom because of a few bloodstain… Oh how my granny would laugh if she knew her big brave grandson was too scared to go back inside a haunted dormitory. It was the thought of granny that got me back onto my feet and upstairs to my room. But I didn’t care what granny or anyone else thought of me. I was never going back to the fourth floor bathroom. Once was enough.”
The previous extract can be taken for young adults as an example to develop their personal identity since teenagers tent to disregard adult´s opinions in order to make their own decisions. For instance, in the story, the boy decides to behave confronting his grandmother´s expectations. He does not care his granny´s opinion and he decides not to be as brave as she wishes.
After reading BLEEDING SINK, young adult readers may think about situations that could happen to them. Stories can be taken as a vehicle to help teenagers reflect upon their own attitudes and decisions and the consequences of their elections.
It is suitable to suggest that BLEEDING SINK may be appropriate for young adult readers since it can help them reflect about their own acts and decisions against adult´s rules. Teenagers can feel identified with feelings such as rebellion, risk taking, beliefs, emotions and fears. The story can also be used in EFL classes as a problem- solving activity since it can help students solve real life situations. As Fitzgibbon and Wilhelm (1998) point out, “storytelling is a pedagogical tool with many advantages. The most frequently mentioned advantages in the research literature are affective benefits: storytelling interests students, lowers affective filters, and allows learning to take place more readily and more natural within a meaningful, interactive communication context”. Taking into account the advantages storytelling has, teachers can use it as a starting point to make students reflect about their own lives, acts and feelings. Young adults can also fell involved with the story in order to take advantages in the E.F.L classes.
After reading BLEEDING SINK, teenagers can feel identified with the experiences the main character undergoes in the urband legend and not only it may help young adults in the construction of their own value system and the search for personal
identity but it also can be a good tool to take into consideration for teachers to use in their E.F.L classes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY S.C. Schlosser.(2010). Bleeding Sink. Fitzgibbon & Wilhelm. (1998). Storytelling in E.S.L/ E.F.L classrooms. Gail De Vos. (2003). Storytelling and the Young Adults. Angela Oswalt. (2010) MSW edited by C.E Zupanick, PSY.D.