POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

STA. MESA, MANILA

REFLECTION
PAPER
Taraka’s
Ghost:
by Stanley a. freed and ruth s. freed
Submitted By: Rona Mhae Catacutan
ABM 12-25
Submitted To: Sir John Daniel Gonzales
 As a child we are all afraid of ghosts. Our relatives scares us, that when we do not go
to sleep nor avoid what we should not do, that a ghost will appear and take us. But as we grow
older, we realized that bullying us with that concept is just their way to fool us and make us do
what they said. Some are believing that ghosts exist but some don’t.

The article “Taraka’s Ghost” that occur in North India stated and has given me
information about ghost possessions that takes place in some individuals. At first, as I read the title
“Taraka’s Ghost”, it was compelling and intriguing for me as a reader specifically with the term
“ghost”. The article was about an Indian girl Sita who was experiencing moments that she will
suddenly become unconscious of the things around her while being possessed by a ghost. One of
the statements in the article said that not only one ghost is possessing her body but Taraka’s ghost
was her main tormentor and oppressor. Taraka is Sita’s cousin and also a close friend. She
committed suicide after she has been rejected by his fiancé’s family and also by her own family.
It is also mentioned in the article on how the dead’s soul go through a cycle up to the time that a
soul can possess an individual.

There are so many information given in the article but I think Taraka’s ghost
possession was just the tip of the iceberg. The article has given me more realizations and
conclusions. The discourses that I have seen in the article are caste discrimination and
hierarchy, family pride, arranged marriages, virtue of daughters in one family, caste
discriminations, and the most powerful of them all is the stress and anxiety of an individual.
The first is the caste and hierarchy. Caste is the system of dividing society into hereditary classes.
Because of this, the community in the North Indian village, where the article focuses, had a
hierarchy between caste classes. Then caste discrimination comes in between. Just like in our
society today, one classifying and degrading someone as poor is like caste discrimination. In the
article, Sita has been suffering from caste discrimination from her maternal family since the day
she left her home. Because of this, there comes a family pride between caste classes. The family
is concern with what caste they belong and I think because of the pride of one family to become
one of the high-caste family they are arranging marriages for their children to get married with
other family’s child in order for them to have a good reputation and to push them up above other
families. An example of this is the citation in the article. It is said that Sita’s family is in the low-
caste class and his husband’s family belongs to a high-caste class. This possess caste
discrimination. Each family wanted to arrange marriages for their children to become a member
of a high-caste family in order for them to be a high-caste too. Because of this concept and
arrangement ideas, they wanted the arranged couples to have a child so that they can assure that
their children is officially a member of a high-caste family. That’s the reason why the virtues of
daughter in a family is really important. A situation in the article represents this concept. Taraka
already has a fiancé when she got pregnant by someone else making the family of his fiancé to
reject her as well as her own family. It is such a disgrace in a family if a women became pregnant
with someone else. Taraka’s father rejected her by saying that she should just commit suicide.
Another situation in the article is where we can see that Sita is extremely stressed about the
obligation of having a sexual relationship with her husband. This situation linked me to the most
powerful discourse in the article, the anxiety and stress. I believe that the article is trying to reach
the readers with the awareness with stress and anxiety. The characters in the story has undergone
extreme stress and anxiety. Taraka that is rejected by her own family committed suicide because
of the stress. I also believe that Sita is capable of being possessed by ghosts because she is suffering
from stress and anxiety. She have faced multiple situation that her siblings died when they are still
a baby. Her mom also pulled her out from school because of a murder situation inside the
institution which hinder her to reach her dream to become a teacher. Her obligation to have sexual
relationship with her husband and the discrimination that she get from her maternal family. This
only states when a person is weak bad spirits and situations will more likely to come in a person’s
life. Relating to the article, which happened years ago, today many people has been suffering from
loneliness, stress and anxiety that triggers them to do something bad to themselves like cutting
themselves, committing suicide and abandoning the people that truly cares for them. We should
be faithful that loneliness, stresses and anxieties are just to challenge us to know how we are strong
and faithful to surpass this challenges. We should look at the bright side that rather than being
boxed in our worst situation, we should look for other things that will make us happy and positive.
In the article, Sita has overcome the possessions with the help of other members of the society and
because she is free from stress and anxiety. She is now a matured mother and confidently taking
care of her children. As for the ghost possessions, other countries might have been believing in
that and we should respect on what they believe as for they do not judge our culture as well. We
have different cultural beliefs and we should respect each other.