Rituals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rituals - Essay Example One of the ghost stories that I heard at UC Irvine is a dance major who was obsessed with being the perfect dancer. She lived at one of the single rooms in Mesa Court. She was quiet and rarely went out of her room. One week had already passed, but she had not gone out of her room at all. People thought that she could be practicing hard for her upcoming performance, especially since they could see her silhouette in the curtain, dancing every day. However, the bad smell started creeping out into the whole floor. The RA knocked on the dancer’s door several times before she decided to forcefully enter it. She found the dance major hanging from a ceiling fan, with a rope around her neck. She spun around slowly, as if she just killed herself, although the autopsy revealed that she had been dead for 10 days already. People thought that she gave in to the pressure and committed suicide. Joseph Bosco says in â€Å"The Supernatural in Hong Kong Young People's Ghost Stories,† â₠¬Å"†¦many supernatural phenomena have natural explanations. The moral lesson of the story is to not yield to pressure and to remain sane with the help of one’s social support group, as well as to practice healthy rituals. She is a loner who thought she could make it on her own without friends or family to support her. At the same time, her ritual might have been too strenuous on her, mentally and physically. Perhaps she needed the magic of positive rituals that give a â€Å"sense of control, with that added confidence, at no cost†.