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Original: 6/27/2009 3:24 PM
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Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Alligator River Story

 

The Alligator River Story

There lived a woman named Abigail who was in love with a man named
Gregory. Gregory lived on the shore of a river. Abigail lived on the
opposite shore of the same river. The river that separated the two lovers
was teeming with dangerous alligators. Abigail wanted to cross the river
to be with Gregory. Unfortunately, the bridge had been washed out by a
heavy flood the previous week. So she went to ask Sinbad, a riverboat
captain, to take her across. He said he would be glad to if she would
consent to go to bed with him prior to the voyage. She promptly refused
and went to a friend named Ivan to explain her plight. Ivan did not want
to get involved at all in the situation. Abigail felt her only
alternative was to accept Sinbad's terms. Sinbad fulfilled his promise to
Abigail and delivered her into the arms of Gregory.

When Abigail told Gregory about her amorous escapade in order to cross the
river, Gregory cast her aside with disdain. Heartsick and rejected,
Abigail turned to Slug with her tale of woe. Slug, feeling compassion for
Abigail, sought out Gregory and beat him brutally. Abigail was overjoyed
at the sight of Gregory getting his due. As the sun set on the horizon,
people heard Abigail laughing at Gregory.

=====================================================================

THE EXERCISE: After reading the story, rank the five (5) characters in
the story beginning with the one whom you consider as the "most offensive"
and end with the one whom you consider the "least objectionable." That
is, the character who seems to be the most reprehensible to you should be
entered first in the list following the story, then the second most
reprehensible, and so on, with the least reprehensible or objectionable
being entered fifth. Very briefly note why you rank them in the order
that you do.












...

My Gemstone team participated in this exercise in our sophomore year of college.  There were ten of us, and after reading the story, we each came up with our own rankings.  It was a team building exercise meant to encourage us to share our ideas and values and come up with a common ranking.  I don't remember our final ranking as a group was, but I remember who I ranked as the "most offensive." 

In my five minutes of thinking about the story, I was convinced that Ivan was the worst because he could have done something to help, but he chose not to.  I was so convinced that there might have possibly been a happy ending, if Ivan, Abigail's so-called friend, had tried to help in some way.  They could have built a boat!  He could've told her to wait til the bridge was rebuilt!  He could've volunteered to distract the gators!  I don't know.  In that moment, I was just convinced that Ivan was terrible for not wanting to help.

The reaction of all my teammates - disbelief.  "What?!"  They all probably thought I was joking.  It was strange, because it seemed such the obvious answer to me.  I wasn't trying to be controversial.  It just made sense.  While I got some people to understand why I chose Ivan ("Yeah, I hate when people don't care and don't want to help"), we didn't end up saying that he was the worst. 

It's interesting, because stepping back, I can see that the other characters really did some pretty terrible things.  The exercise, more than anything, reveals my own assumptions and values.  I could actually argue any ranking of the people, as long as I come up with some good justifications.  But my eventual ranking is based on what I choose to believe are the problems/motivations behind everyone's actions. 


Ivan - because he had the most potential to change things, but chose not to do anything.
Gregory/Abigail - why didn't Gregory try more to assure Abigail that he loved her?  and why couldn't you forgive Abigail?  why didn't Abigail just wait til the bridge was rebuilt?  just a little more patience, woman!  and why did you laugh after your man got beat? 
Slug - he chose violence instead of mediation/reconciliation.  (war instead of diplomacy)
Sinbad - he could've helped out,...and he would have for a price.  maybe the price didn't seem so high to him. 
 Posted 6/27/2009 3:24 PM - 201 Views - 6 eProps - 5 comments

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5 Comments

Visit liljonnystyle's Xanga Site!
I think Abigail sleeping with Sinbad was not SO bad, but I put her at the top because she was overjoyed at the sight of her "love" getting a beat down. That's messed.

Sinbad is reprehensible obviously because of his terms... but at the end of the day, he's just a dude who wants some action.

Ivan is kinda bad cuz he didn't do anything, but I certainly wouldn't blame him for what happened.

Slug should learn to be not so pugnacious, but maybe he just doesn't know any better... and he was trying to be helpful.

I sympathize with Gregory and I probably would have done something similar (at least I would have been upset). Plus the dude got a beat down! Who knows, maybe the whole time he was building a boat and then he finds out his woman slept with the riverboat captain...

Abigail
Sinbad
Ivan
Slug
Gregory
Posted 6/27/2009 4:24 PM by liljonnystyle - reply

Visit mynameisstephen's Xanga Site!
ivan
gregory/abigail
sinbad
slug

(i wrote this from bottom to top)

possibly ivan's involvement could've changed everything
slug was moved to some sort of justice in his own hands
gregory couldn't get over himself/forgive her
abigail turned so quickly to hate and enjoyment of revenge and whatever
sinbad wanted to trade services, bad services

after writing that, i would switch sinbad and slug.

i wrote this without reading yours first.
then i did read it.
do your teammates read this?
Posted 6/27/2009 7:00 PM by mynameisstephen - reply

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wow steve. same exact ranking. it was hard for me to rank sinbad & slug....and i rank gregory just the slightest bit more offensive than abigail. but...i dunno...in a relationship, it takes two.

ahhahah yes, if gregory was building a boat, he'd definitely go to the bottom of the list (least offensive), cuz at least then i know he TRIED.

man, the more i read other responses, the more i'm like....all these people just suck, haha.
Posted 6/28/2009 11:35 PM by stephieng - reply

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haha. actually the more i read other people's post, the more I just think "I'm not surprised everyone overlooks Ivan. He's least mentioned. He does the least dispicable things in what we think of (buying sex, selling your body, violence, revenge, pride). People seem to forget indifference or whatever other reason they have to not get involved"
Posted 6/29/2009 12:37 AM by mynameisstephen - reply

Visit MiCheLLy789's Xanga Site!
Gregory
Abigail
Sinbad
Ivan
Slug

This is really hard to do. I find them all offensive. But if I had to:
1. Sinbad – Took advantage of a vulnerable woman.
2. Abigail – Laughing so joyfully at someone being brutally beaten. (I suppose if I were a guy, I might have put Abigail at the top of the list and Sinbad as #2.)
3. Gregory – He reminds me of Angel from Tess of the D’urbevilles.
4. Ivan
5. Slug – I feel like he may have been taken advantage of. (Who named these ppl? Slug???) He only heard Abigail’s perspective so of course he had compassion for her.
Posted 6/30/2009 12:25 PM by MiCheLLy789 - reply


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