Short Story - The Interview by Gopal Baratham

1. According to Mason, “Deprivation is largely an attitude of mind”. Discuss this quote by Mason and describe what deprives you?

From my opinion, what Mason means by ”Deprivation is largely an attitude of mind" is our mind plays a very important roles when someone or himself faced with hardship, especially when you're been a Japanese prisoner of war where all your needs were taken away from you. It can be say also as our mind set when we face with difficulties and suffers like our freedom, foods and etc that were taken away from Mason by the Japanese army. On that kind of situation, we must thinks positive, be patient and do not easy surrender or give up because we need to stay calm and strong to keep on our life even though you’re not very sure about your future or your life after this whether you’re going to die or been released by the Japanese or not. It is because when something that you needed in your life like foods were taken away from you, it makes your mind weak and or can be said that it’s controlled your mind. So, it makes you can’t think wisely and rationally because you don’t get the energy and power to keep on your life and keep thinking on how you’re going to survive from that place. So, I think that are what Mason mean by that sentence.

2. Mason also realizes that “how little is really absolute necessary for life and even happiness”. What “necessary” for Mason’s life at that time? What is necessary for you to have in life?

From my opinion, “necessary” here means your needs in life such as foods, drinks, clothes, living, freedom and etc or can be said as a lifestyle. It is because in the real life, I mean not during the war period of time, we’re sometimes don’t think about the important of those things in our life. Sometimes, we as a human never felt grateful of what have been given or rewarded to us. For example, me, myself sometimes like to waste my foods when I eat it. So, the situations become very different when you’re in the war or prison when all those things were taken away from you. Then you’ll realize how much you need and important of those entire things in your life on that time. For me, the necessary in my life are as usually that people needs likes foods, drinks, clothes, living, peace, freedom and etc. For me, all those things are really important because we do really need all those in this century. As we all know, we needs foods and drinks because we needs energy to keep on our live. Other than that, we need living because of we need a place to live in to avoid us from danger. We also needs peace and freedom, so that we can perform or carry out our daily activity as a human being in this world to make sure that we get a good or better life for ourselves or our family. We also free to do anything and go everywhere that we want if there is peace and freedom in our life. For example, like what had happened in Iraq, people there live in scared and suffered because there’s no peace in their country. So, they can’t do their daily activity likes going to job because afraid that they might be killed while they’re on their way to their office. So, from here we can see that it is really important or necessary to have peace and freedom in our life nowadays.