The Kite

By Jesse Sookram To: Miss Morton

Title: The Kite

Author: Barnabas J. Ramon-Fortune – He is a Trinidadian and has been writing short stories and poetry for a number
of years. Several of his short stories and poems have first received recognition over B.B.C on the programme
Caribbean Voices. On October 1971 he was employed in the Civil Services, but retired on that same year to devote all
of his time on writing. He is married and has twelve children and much of his work has to do with children and their
problems. In recent years some of his short stories and poetry have been appearing on school textbooks being used
in the Caribbean and abroad countries as well.

Genre: Drama – for its action and battle of the kites.

Tragedy: for Philip’s loss of his first kite and his anger towards the freckled-face boy.

Realistic fiction: for its stunning realism and the fact that it can very well happen in reality even though it is fiction.

Short story: because of the fact that that the story was short.

Content: The story is about a young boy by the name of Philip, he had a dream of one day having a kite so much
that when he got older he attempted to assemble one but was discontinued by his mother but once his father had
heard of this he allowed Philip to continue making his kite but bought one from him instead. After the purchase of
the kite Philip had went in the savannah to fly his kite, the kite had soared in the sky majestically but it was all over
when Philip encountered a freckled-face boy with a yellow kite called the dragon, there was a raging brawl in the sky
but the battle had come to an end when the boy with the yellow kite had severed Philip’s string from his kite and
then drifted away into a tree, Philip was so angry and distraught at the freckled-face boy that he threatened to kill
him but upon realizing that he was bigger and taller than him he ran to his father for help and then his anger was
then let out then his father took him inside their house talks to Philip about what happened in the savannah. Shortly
after Philip had gotten a new kite but his time the kite was enhanced to face the dragon, Philip’s father has been
giving some encouragement by telling him that he will have to make his own kites with his father’s help and will he
buy Philip a new from a shop when he has defeated the dragon. After some time the dragon had downed six of
Philip’s kites and Philip has learnt to accept defeat but one day he had made a red kite which is to face the dragon,
Philip went to the savannah to face the dragon and there was extremely fierce battle between the red kite and the
dragon but Philip has emerged defeated once again by the dragon, Philip ran to his kite but still ashamed of being
defeated however he realized that it was an honourable defeat and so then has the kite hanged up on a wall in
commemoration for its elegance in battle.

Characters:
Philip – Philip is the primary protagonist of the story, he has a dream of one day flying a kite and his dream became a
reality when he reached the age of seven, but his dream was thwarted by a freckled face boy with a yellow kite to
whom he called the dragon, the freckled face boy had cut down Philip’s first kite and Philip has develop a certain
anger and hatred towards him but over time Philip has learnt to accept defeat a number of times but it all ended with
the last face off against the dragon and hung the red kite in commemoration of his honourable loss.

Philip’s Father – Philip’s father is a supporting protagonist of the story, when he was first described by Philip he
seemed somewhat menacing at first but when the story progresses it is shown that he deeply cares about his son and
seems to be a smoker. When Philip had lost his first kite to the dragon he had supported him by helping build his
kites and encourage him to beat the dragon.

Philip’s Mother – She is also a supporting protagonist but hasn’t been showed or mentioned much in the story but
she is one that first had discontinued Phillip’s first kite project.

The freckled-face boy – He is the primary antagonist of the whole story, he has a yellow kite to which he calls it the
dragon, he is the one who took down Philip’s first kite and all the ones after and his kite the dragon so claimed has
dominated the skies has assumed to taken down a large number of kites before Philip’s kite he also still has won
against Philip in many battles and still has emerged victorious.

Mr. Ramdeen – He only been mentioned in the story and seems to run a kite shop.

Setting: The setting is apparently in a town or village close to a savannah and has strong winds blowing there.

Events: Philip stole some his mother’s items to make a kite

Philip came back every time his kites were defeated

Got punished from his mother

Almost got punished by his father

Time: The time was possibly about morning between the 1950s and the 1970s.

Idea: I believe the idea of the story was to tell the readers to accept loss when the defeat was honourable and not to
overcome defeat so easily.

Personal Response: I believe that the story was very interesting because it was filled with drama, tragedy and all
the things that a story needs and the characters were very creative and intriguing.
 Table of Contents
Title
Pg. 1

Author
Pg. 2

Genre
Pg. 2

Content
Pg. 2

Characters
Pg. 2-3

Setting
Pg. 3

Time
Pg. 3

Idea
Pg. 3
 Personal Response
Pg. 3