The following sample essay on ‘Overcoat’ and ‘The Blue Donkey’ are about how people tend to stereotype people by their outward appearance; societies see the outer shell of people and immediately make a judgement without looking deeper. People are rejected because of their appearance; both stories are about how appearances can be misleading. The story ‘Overcoat’ is about a young man who dresses smartly, neatly and is well groomed in order to conform with the society. In contrast, ‘The Blue Donkey’ is about a blue donkey that lives in the neighbourhood of the Red Bridge Society, where she is rejected because of her bright blue skin.
We can recognize ‘Overcoat’ is a fable since the characters in ‘Overcoat’ do not have names, only the names of the street are mentioned. For instance, ‘Charing Cross, Lawrence Garden, Mc Leod Road’ etc, are used to make it sound more like a true story. The young man is walking through some Asian city, we can recognize this by the people n the story such as, Tonga-wallas, Pan wallas etc and the money used in India and Pakistan is ‘Anna’.
I think the fable is supposed to be set in Lahore because the writer comes from Lahore.
In comparison, we can identify ‘The Blue Donkey’ as certainly a fable as it begins with ‘Once Upon A Time’. They usually illustrate a proverb or a well known saying. ‘The Blue Donkey’ is more obviously a fable since the central character is an animal that talks. The red bridge society in ‘The Blue Donkey’ could be anywhere in the world there are no details of background at all or the names of the characters.
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These two stories are fables. They are stories with a moral behind it, which teaches us about human nature.
The settings and backgrounds of both stories are very vague because the moral message is more important than the characters or background. In both stories the characters are extremely isolated, they stand out from the society around them. In ‘Overcoat’, the young man’s smartness and elegance stand out from the society around him. ‘His hair was sleek and shining and he wore side burns. His thin moustache seemed to been drawn with a moustache. He had on a brown overcoat with a cream coloured half opened rose in his buttonhole and a green felt hat which he wore at a rakish angle.
A white scarf was knotted at his neck. One of his hands was slipped into a pocket of his overcoat while in the other he held a short polished cane which every now and then he twirled jauntily’ In comparison, in ‘The Blue Donkey’ the donkey’s blueness stands out and troubles the red bridge society although the blue donkey herself thinks she is a fine donkey. The citizens say to her: ‘Your blueness troubles us’ ‘Overcoat’ starts positively although it ends negatively. Which is in direct contrast to the’The Blue Donkey’. The young man in ‘Overcoat’ is first treated respectfully, courteously and with consideration.
Traders are eager to sell their wares and render their service to the young man. Tonga wallas on catching sight of him raced towards him as they thought they would get some business from him as he looked rich, however the young man turned away from them. The young man later on went to a western music shop where he lifted the cover of the piano and played a few notes as if he was an expert. A salesman came up, ‘Good evening sir’ he said courteously, ‘Can I help you sir? ‘ The young man is treated courteously and respectfully.
If he came in as his real self, beneath the overcoat, the salesman would not have spoken to him politely, he might not have allowed him in the shop let alone touching the piano. When the young man went into the Persian carpet shop, the carpet dealer greeted him warmly and this shop dealer also addressed him as ‘sir’. The carpet dealer offered to take the carpet off the wall and he was prepared to reduce the price of the carpet to the minimum. However, the young man walked away and told the carpet dealer that he would come some other time. As the young man was injured by the truck full of bricks.
Two or three people who witnessed this shouted: ‘Stop him . . . take the number’ The witnesses were concerned and eager to help the young man. When the young man was taken into the operating theatre, there was blood all over his clothes. Someone with sympathy put his felt hat on his chest so he would not lose it. The nurses feeling remorseful said: ‘All togged up for Saturday night, poor chap. ‘Did they catch his driver? ‘ ‘No he got away’ ‘What a pity! ‘ Now the nurses were taking the young man’s clothes off. They exchanged glances after taking the young man’s scarf off.
Beneath the scarf there was neither a tie nor a collar… not even a shirt. ‘ When the overcoat was being taken off there was a sweater full of holes, through the holes a dirty vest was seen which was worse than the sweater. It was as if the young man had not had a bath for at least two months. Layers of dirt covered the body. Only the part that could be seen by the public was well powdered and clean, the rest was filthy. After the vest, it was the trousers turn to come off. ‘Again the eyes of the nurses met’ The trousers were securely bound at the hips by an old cloth that looked like an old tie.
The shoes and the socks had to come off now. The shoes were old but were polished clean. As for the socks, they were different in colour and pattern from each other. There were holes in the socks from which the filth could be seen. Before the clothes had been taken off, his face was toward the ceiling but slowly it had turned toward the wall as his clothes had been taken off as if in shame for what he really was under his mask.
‘Was it perhaps for the shame of this dual nakedness of body and soul that now he dared not face his fellow beings? ‘ The story ends pathetically with the few items in the young man’s pocket, A small black comb, a handkerchief, six annas and a few pies, a half smoked cigarette, a little diary in which the names and addresses of a few people were noted, a list of gramophone records and a few handbills which distributors had thrust upon him during his evening promenade. ‘ In contrast, ‘The Blue Donkey’ starts negatively and ends positively. Both parties first reject her. Her skin colour was different and so they rejected her. The councillors who governed the town said: ‘A donkey who lives by our bright red bridge has to be of the purest and silkiest white or we must request that the said donkey be required to move on’.
The second party thought it was unfair asking the donkey to be the silkiest white because she was never white and she could never be white. However, this party thought it would be better if she turned herself grey, as it would be better so no one will be offended. The first party thought the donkey was being blue on purpose. The two parties use various arguments to cover up their intolerance and racism. Both parties went to the blue donkey and asked her to turn into an inoffensive grey, the donkey did not moan that she was blue but instead she said: ‘Can’t and won’t’ The first party barked out that she was being stubborn.
The donkey confused then said: ‘I am a perfectly good donkey’ The donkey didn’t mind being blue and eating pink carrots although this troubled the red bridge society as the carrots clashed horribly with the bright red bridge and they spitefully told the blue donkey that they didn’t want a bright blue donkey living near the red bridge. Although most of them got used to the donkey being blue and they did not notice it any more. There were still a couple more who thought the donkey was being blue on purpose. Sometimes there were those who brought her blue flowers as they thought, That the blue donkey was herself therefore beautiful’ They finally admired her difference and they respected it. The story ends positively with acceptance unlike ‘Overcoat’. The young man in ‘Overcoat’ has a poor self-image. He knows he will not be accepted so he changes his identity. He does not like being different he spends a lot of time on being smart he plucks his moustache so carefully that it looks as if it is drawn with a pencil. The young man is ashamed of being his true self. He is not self confident. In direct contrast, ‘The Blue Donkey’ likes herself just as she is.
She is self-confident ‘The Blue Donkey’ does not hesitate to say she does not want to be blue but instead she says, ‘can’t and won’t’. She knows she is a perfectly good donkey and she does not change because of what the society says and what she looks like from the outside. The Blue Donkey’ likes to flaunt her blueness as she is different and she does not mind been solitary and inferior. The blue donkey does not hide her blueness she would rather be blue than be with the crowd. The style of each story is different. The story ‘Overcoat’ has a plot as we follow his promenade through the town meeting different traders and different people.
We listen to some of the conversations the man has with some of these traders. It reaches a climax with the accident and there is a lot more action at that point. There is a lot of description ,adjectives and adverbs to describe people’s apperance. ‘The owner of the shop, wearing a long robe and a silk turban, greeted him warmly. ‘ There are many people the young man meets. There is a mixture of long and short sentences and a mixture of long and short paragraphs too. There are two parts to the story first where he is accepted by the traders and people before the accident. Later on in the operating theatre he is rejected by the nurses.
In ‘The Blue Donkey’ there are very few descriptions of people and there are very few adjectives the only adjectives. The only adjectives used are to do with colour, ‘A donkey who lives by our bright red bridge must be of the purest and silkiest white or we must request that the said donkey be required to move on’ The story itself is plain and brief. There are very few adverbs and the story itself has simple style. No plot develops and there are arguments rather than actions. The language of the political parties is pompous and formal because they are superior being white or think they are.
There are only long paragraphs in the entire story in which the longest is twenty-five lines long. This story has also two parts, first where she is rejected and told to move on if she is not of the purest or silkiest white and later on when she is given blue flowers, as she was beautiful because she was herself. Societies should not judge people for what they look like on top without looking deeper, like the people in ‘Overcoat’ who judged the young man to be wealthy as in the end he was a pauper who just wore an overcoat so he could fit in with the society and so he would not be rejected.
I think this story resembles the saying, ‘All that glitters isn’t gold’ The young man in ‘Overcoat’ deceives himself by judging others by their outward appearance when he is covering his true self just like the society around him, ‘It was their clothes rather than their faces that attracted his attention. ‘ The donkey in the story represents old aged pensioners, disabled people, ethnic minorities, poor people, foreigners, coloured people as the story is about prejudice and the refusal to accept people for what they really are.
In the end the blue donkey is accepted, she did not mind looking different from the society. She didn’t do what the society said but she did what she thought was good for her. I think this story resembles the saying, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover. ‘ Like the red bridge society, we tend to jump to conclusions and stereotype. People are too quick to judge and reject anyone who is different. This discrimination and intolerance can easily lead to war.
'Overcoat' By Ghulam Abbas and 'The Blue Donkey' By Suniti Namjoshi. (2017, Nov 24). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/paper-on-overcoat-ghulam-abbas-blue-donkey-suniti-namjoshi/
