The short story The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame takes place about a hundred years ago. A boy finds out there is a dragon in a cave. When the boy talks to the dragon, he realizes the dragon is a lot like him and unlike the typical dragon; he is nice. After a while, a knight named St.George comes to slay the dragon because the villagers did not like the dragon. Everyone tells him how evil the dragon is although the dragon did nothing. The knight makes a plan with the dragon and the boy so that the dragon will fake fight with the knight and the dragon will seem dead but won’t be. The next day they do that and the villagers are filled, the dragon is happy and the knight is too.
Prejudging is a very unfair action based on your own thoughts and opinions which leads to rumors and biased decisions. It develops into hostility between groups and will eventually cause harm. The villagers were against the dragon so much that they decided to call in St.George to fight the dragon. Just because the villagers wanted a fight and thought the dragon was a threat even though the dragon did nothing. The villagers were labeling this dragon as the stereotype of other dragons but every dragon is different and you can’t treat everyone the same because different people have different personalities. We shouldn't stereotype people because of what we see or think, we need to actually meet the person and get to know them before making the judgment.
Don’t believe everything you hear and believe half you see. If you hear or see something, it’s not always going to be true, it could be made up to make you think so. When St.George came, everyone crowded around him and told him about how the dragon had attacked them although the dragon had stayed in the cave. When the knight was “fighting” the dragon, people all thought it was real but the dragon and knight had planned out how to fight instead of real fighting. All the villagers were telling lies to make the knight fight the dragon. In order to please the villagers, the knight also showed the people something that they thought was real but was actually planned out. This shows that you should not trust anything you see or hear until you've verified the information.
Friendship can be built between people based on respect, trust and mutual interest; you can rely on true friends during hard times. This means you need to take time to know and understand the person without others’ opinions. When the boy met the dragon, he was not afraid even though his father described him as scary. Then he talked to the dragon and found out that the dragon was special because he was peaceful. When the boy found out the knight was going to kill the dragon, he went to the knight and persuaded him to make a plan so there would be no bloodshed. The boy took the time to really understand the dragon instead of listening to his father’s opinions. When the dragon was in danger the boy helped the dragon because he was a loyal friend, and he tried his best to make the villagers accept that the dragon was not scary. Real friends can understand your feelings and accept your differences. They will also always stand by your side to help you through hard times.
The short Story The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame is very fascinating because this story introduces us to a very unique character-the dragon who is not accepted by the villagers. This tells us that when you see people you can’t label them as a certain type of group, but instead you need to find out what the person actually is. Trusting everything you hear or see is not what you should do. It’s also injustice if you use them to make your own opinions against people. Someone you can trust is your friend. In order to meet future friends you can’t be prejudiced and you need to take the time to truly understand your friend. They will be by your side to help you no matter what type of situation it is.
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