The timelessness of his voyage had come to an end. The crashing of waves upon the ship’s hull on the open sea had been replaced by the sound of lapping waves upon the shore of their destination. The bitter wind did not seem as harsh, and the sound of Lezos gulls ensured him that they had arrived at their destination. A calmness in the air seemed to seep into his heart, filling him with an unfair hope of peaceful days to come. Of course, he knew that was not to be the case. He had come to a land torn by war. It had all started three years past. Back then he had no intention of involving himself in the dealings of war. He had come to enjoy his life in his small village far away from the shores of Kellfast learning the healing arts from his mother. War and the horror that came with it was something that he had come to loathe. He reflected on that has he gazed upon the docks ahead and the land beyond it which would only hold promises of death and pain. Here he stood three years later, on the deck of a ship ushering him …show more content…
It had been given to him by his mother when he was a child. It was the one thing he had left of her. It reminded him that she taught him to never sit idly by while there are those who needed help. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, the cool air of the coming winter filled his lungs. He tried to remember his mother’s face, her calming and loving eyes reminding him that the measure of a man’s spirit can only be drawn by his ability to see his own potential, and act upon it. That was why he had come to this distant land, to use the good skills he had been taught to do some good in an otherwise ugly world. Clerics were in high demand from the southern continent of Bernadine since it had staked a claim in a conflict that was otherwise not theirs. Prelatoria had brought their fabled soldiers to Kellfast to aid the Kells which were finding themselves outmatched by the oppressive Kells of
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Show MoreDuring the war, people struggle to differentiate their enemies from friends causing people to act on fear. Survival is paramount and trusting someone can lead to the deaths of an entire village. Beah wrote,”Many times during our journey were surrounded by muscular men with machetes who almost killed us before realizing we were children just running away from war.” (Page 72, Chapter 8). War causes people to be on edge and trust is no longer a connection but a reason that could end a person's life. The major theme in “A Long Way Gone” is survival and acting based on an emotional concept can cost atrocities.
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
Later in the book, he again reflects on the war. He catalogs the proofs that he has been given — injured and half-starved countrymen — but persists in his existential doubt. He notes, “So we knew a war existed; we had to believe that, just as we had to believe that the name for the sort of life we had led for the last three years was hardship and suffering. Yet we had no proof of it. In fact, we had even less than no proof; we had had thrust into our faces the very shabby and unavoidable obverse of proof…” (94). Because he has not seen the battles, he has difficulty acknowledging the reality of war.
In Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, he talks about the “Monomyth,” otherwise better known as, the “Hero’s Journey”. This is the major theme throughout this book as well as the majority of Joseph Campbell’s studies. Campbell’s idea of the hero’s journey can be seen in many books, movies, television series, etc. That is an idea I will discuss at a later date. For this paper I would like to discuss and explain the hero’s journey, as well as give my opinions on the idea. This is a very interesting and eye opening idea that Campbell has presented us with and has made The Hero With A Thousand Faces one of the most important books of the past one hundred years.
A hero’s journey is an important aspect of any movie. Sports films give a good indication of how the hero’s journey is trying to be portrayed. In the movie “The Rookie” is a 2002 film starring Dennis Quaid as Jim Morris who is a small town teacher finds himself playing baseball for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays farm system after an open tryout. Directors go through the journey closely isolate each particular aspect giving clear indication from one transition to the next.
Before, he felt that he belonged among the community but now he fells alone, isolated, and different from everybody else. He becomes an outcast, mainly because he chose to stay longer and come back home years later after the war was over. It is unfair that his choices lead to evitable consequences. At first he did not want to talk about the war, probably because he was unsure if anyone wanted to listen. But when the time came that he felt safe again, nobody was there to listen to him. Imagine the feeling of alienation that he must’ve felt when he went to Germany and France, and now, he still feels the same way even though he is in his homeland. He had no choice but to lie to sound more appealing to people, but he felt disgusted with his self and began to think that his memories are just too pathetic to listen too. It’s interesting how society pressures us to be of the same level with others. He got stuck into a routine lifestyle, separated from people, physically and emotionally. It’s very hard to fathom that he couldn’t even able to relate with others to think that the main reason why we live is to connect and sympathize with people. It is clear that he is depressed, not
No one knows what will happen in his or her life whether it is a trivial family dispute or a civil war. Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara are both child victims of war with extremely different life stories. Both of them are authors who have written about their first-hand experience of the truth of the war in order to voice out to the world to be aware of what is happening. Beah wrote A Long Way Gone while Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango. However, their autobiographies give different information to their readers because of different points of view. Since the overall story of Ishmael Beah includes many psychological and physical aspects of war, his book is more influential and informative to the world than Kamara’s book.
We all fight different wars. These wars can physically and mentally traumatize us as people. Mentally rehabilitation is necessary to bring back peace of mind. Love ones being murdered in cold blood, torturous scenes, and death that we could never imagine as a United States citizen led ishmael beah on a path of revenge. Violence is used to cope in some cases, but it can only lead to more death. In this novel, violence is used as a way to express inner anger and as a way to deal with many fatalities.
In the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah is about a boy who gets mixed up in the violence of war. A boy named Ishmael, traveled to his grandmother's village in hopes to seek food and shelter. When he was at his grandmother's house he saw the tragedies of the war as innocent people were injured, blood oozing out, skin draping off their bodies, and dead people being dragged. Ishmael and his friends were mortified of what was happening, as they hid from the danger they hoped to find peace in the madness of the world.
When things are at their best prepare for the worst. That’s something I always told myself since I was young boy. Joseph Campbell was no stranger to this concept which he described as the hero’s journey. This journey had three stages: leaving the everyday world, overcoming trials and tribulations, and finally going back to the everyday world with newfound knowledge that you can share with people. I traveled through all three of these stages myself. This is my hero’s journey.
He feels like his youth is lost. Everything that he had known before the war doesn’t matter anymore. At the same time he feels old, experiencing things a young doesn’t see in a normal life. “How long has it been? Weeks—moths—years? Only days. We see time pass in the colour-less faces of the dying, we cram food into us, we run, we throw, we shoot, we kill, we lie about, we are feeble and spent, and nothing supports us but the knowledge that there are still feeblers , still more spent, still more helpless ones out there who, with staring eyes, look upon us as gods that escape death many times.”
When a soldier goes to war, they see death everywhere and are in a place where survival is the first priority. They miss their country and family while they are across the seas fighting a war. Pen Farthing was one of the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. While on patrol, he and his troops encountered a dog fight and broke it up. One of the dogs followed him home. The dog was a stray who had been surviving on the streets. Pen Farthing decided to take him in and named him Nowzad the town that he had saved him from. For several months, Nowzad and Farthing filled the voids in each other's heart. Farthing gave Nowzad a home while Nowzad gave Farthing a way to destress and disconnect from the war that was going on outside. When he was going back
The experience brings the main character to question war in its entirety as well as have a catharsis as he realises his loss of innocence.
After war Daru had requested to be transferred to a small town, where the silence of the town echoes in the schoolhouse; and it was hard on him. Now that he has company the same silence still muter the house. He thought about war and how he fought next to other men, whom he got to know and to love. The presence of the Arab imposes on Daru a feeling of brotherhood that he knew very well, and that he didn’t want to share. Men that fought together, or share rooms, or were prisoners or soldiers grow a peculiar alliance. However, Daru tries not to think about it, such feelings aren’t good for him. Daru wishes the Arab runs away because he feels as much of a prisoner as the
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative that appears in novels, storytelling, myth, and religious ritual. It was first identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell in his book A Hero with Thousand Faces. Campbell also discussed this pattern in his interview to Bill Moyers which was later published as a book The Power of Myths. This pattern describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds. Campbell detailed many stages in the Hero’s Journey, but he also summarized the pattern in three fundamental phases: Separation, Ordeal, and Return that all heroes, in spite of their sex, age, culture, or religion, have to overcome in order to reach the goal. Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll, provides a good example of the Hero's Journey. This story describes the adventures of Alice, a young English girl, in Wonderland. Although she lacks some of the stages identified by Campbell, she still possesses many of them that are necessary for a Hero to be considered a Hero.