Engelsk terminsprøve
Opgave B
Summary
The story is about a man called Ramesh and his grandmother. They are on a plane, on their way to England to visit Ramesh´s sister, and her family. Ramesh is studying to be a doctor, but he doesn´t want to. He would like to be a telephone salesman. He breaks the news to his grandmother, and she does not like it. She tells him how disappointed she is, and asks him how she could ever look her neighbours in their eyes again. Ramesh falls a sleep in the plane, but when he wakes up, almost everyone is sleeping. Except his grandmother. She is dead. Ramesh calms him self down, and asks the stewardess for help. They say they want to move her, so Ramesh and his dead grandmother moves up to first class, because there are a lot of seats empty. Ramesh finds a letter in her purse that he wrote her, when his grandfather died.

Characterize Ramesh
Ramesh is a nice man from India, who puts a lot of honour in to his family. He loves his family and wants to give them a good life. He is not the traditional Indian man, who does what ever his family wants him to do. He does what ever he likes to do. For example. His family wants him to be a doctor, but he wants to be a telephone salesman, so that is what he is going to do. He is a man, who can put ice in his veins. When his grandmother dies, he stays calm, and does what he is supposed to do. He thinks a lot about what his family think of him. He is a single guy, but is easily caught up in a lot of feelings. Like when Sonia approached him, he blushed, and almost fell in love with her. He hopes to find love one day. He is a man of respect.

The grandmother
Ramesh´s grandmother is a traditional old Indian woman, who of course want the best for her family. She would love for him to get a great education, like a doctor, and she wants him to have a good life. She is very outgoing, and that can sometimes be annoying for Ramesh. Like when she talked and talked to they guy, sitting next to her. She is easily disappointed, and she gets angry, when she doesn´t get her will. She is a woman who puts a lot of honour in to her family, like Ramesh. The family name has to be a good and well-known name. Her expectations to Ramesh are huge. She expects him, to become a great doctor. She expects him to do what he is told by his family to do. And if he doesn´t she will be very disappointed. She puts a lot of pressure on Ramesh. Like when she died, Ramesh thought it might have been his fault. That shows what kind of pressure she puts on his shoulders. She expects him to be married and have a family at the of 26. Side 1 af 2
She even expects it so much, she talks to strangers about it. She has so many great expectations to Ramesh, that he maybe even can´t live up to them. He feels pressured.

Essay
Young people have a lot of opportunities. Times have changed, and when time changes humanity changes. We are not living in the same community, as we were 75 years ago. Today we are free, we make our own decisions and choices in life. Well, the most of us are. Here in Denmark, and generally Europe, we don´t have to follow in our father´s footsteps. If my father was a farmer, I do not have to be a farmer. I don´t get pressured by my family, to do something I don´t want to do, just because they want our family name, to be a great and well-known name. I do what I want to do, and so did you probably when you had to make your choice of life. We are all free human beings. Ramesh doesn´t have that opportunity, because he is from a different part of the world. A different culture than ours. But he have his rights. He have the right to say no. Just like we do. His consequences may be different from ours. His may be, he loses his family, when ours is that we make less money than we want to. But at some point, we are all free to do, what we want to do. And that´s what´s important, and that´s what shapes our identity. So there is no limit, that says: “Stop! From here on now, you can not live your life, as you want to!” So all in all. We are all free, and we can do what ever we want. There are choices, and there are consequences.

Casper Hvid Rasmussen

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