Week 3: Reading Diary A

Jumping back into the story, I think it's a little absurd that Ravana thinks that eventually Sita will give consent and he would be able to touch her without instantly dying.  I don't think that by abducting her he has given her any reason to trust him further.  It's so ironic that Ravana claims that it's too unfair for him "to confront a mere human being," but he has no problem abducting an innocent woman against her own will.  After Ravana defeated Jatayu and he carried Sita off on his shoulder, why didn't he die?  I would assume Sita would not give consent to be carried off by Ravana...?  Skipping ahead, I wonder why Rama felt "an instinctive compassion" towards Sugreeva as soon as he laid eyes on him.  Regardless, perhaps Sugreeva mentioned his own exile as a way to console Rama and show him that he's not alone in his suffering.  After reading Sugreeva's story, I feel really bad for him.  Like Lhakshmana, he had the right idea in mind and was heavily persuaded by others to do differently and then faced negative consequences as a result.  It's nice to see how Hanuman and Sugreeva are going to help Rama- is this only because Rama is helping them as well?  I wonder why Rama's mission gets priority considering if Sugreeva leaves the mountain he will supposedly be killed right away.  Oh, never mind. Hanuman says on the next paragraph that tey will vanquish Vali first. The description of Vali as he hears the call for battle is frightening to some degree.  Is he in the form of a human or what?  He sounds massive! Oh, he's a giant monkey...duh.  During the fight when it mentions the god of death (Yama)- was he actually there/watching from afar or is this meant to be more figurative?  The last exchanges between Vali and Rama are quite moving- I sympathize for Vali in a way but also understand Rama's side of the story.  I hate that another wife (Tara) will be without a husband now.  I'm glad that by the end, Vali and Rama come to some sort of understanding.  Any death is sad, but it is better that it was made in a peaceful way at the end regardless of the initial stimulus to death.  Skipping forward, upon describing the end of the rainy season, it refers to a "rare creeper known as vanji"- what is that?  I don't know...  Then, Rama makes so many threats...would he actually destroy every monkey in the world or is he just saying that?  I certainly believe he's capable, but I also hope that he would know better than that.