Literacy Blog
"Ma Boonruen's Restaurant", a story written by Minfong Ho. The story starts with Ma Boonruen roasting chicken in her grill, wondering about the customers she was going to feed. She was distubed by the presence of the Bottle-Woman, who is disturbing her because of her scarred face and bony structure. The bottle-woman asked Ma Boonruen if she wanted to buy her duck eggs, Ma Boonruen however was still annoyed, was being sarcastic and rude to the bottle woman and denied the duck eggs, saying it is worthless to her since all her customers preferred chicken eggs until she gave the bottle woman 22 bottles in exchange of the duck eggs to make her go away. When the transaction ended, a young man driving a truck stopped by and asked Ma Boonruen how much the bottles costed. Ma Boonruen at first, said it was not hers until the young man offered her 22 baht bills for the 22 bottles, Ma Boonruen gave the bottles to the driver, before the driver left, he looked at the duck eggs of the bottle-woman and shook his head. After the young man took off, Ma Boonruen gave the duck eggs back to the bottle-woman, the bottle-woman then walked away. Ma Boonruen offered a grilled chicken to the bottle-woman, but the bottle-woman even if she heard Ma Boonruen, she gave no sign of it and continued to depart. Ma Boonruen then felt guilty and said that it is just business and reminded herself of the sign of her restaurant.
Minfong Ho, the author of "Ma Boonruen's Restaurant" is an award-winning Chinese-American writer. Her stories are fiction yet they are always set on real-life events which are popular to children and young adults.
Reflection:
What Ma Boonruen did was just business, but the transaction was finished, meaning the bottles belonged to the bottle-woman yet the bottle-woman did not fight for her bottles, because she did not want to lose her pride against Ma Boonruen. This situation can happen in this time, however it is normal for a person to be ambitious like Ma Boonruen yet there is no need to be rude. It is okay to accept a bigger offer if it came second or so on yet, make sure the transaction is not finished as if doing what Ma Boonruen did can result to serious trouble these days. The story had a good plot due to it being realistic and a lesson, do not allow your ambition to drive other people away.
