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Journey in literature
The journey theme in literature
Journey in literature
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The basis of a story revolves around the journey of the Hero, which, through its trials, determines the outcome and reception of the narrative. An interesting form of journey, which always proves fundamental to a hero’s development, is exile, which transforms the story entirely. In various stories, different patterns of exile can affect the character positively or negatively. Famous cultural critic Edward Said has written that, “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted." Yet Said has also said that exile can become “a potent, even enriching" experience. This quote directly applies to the novel All the Pretty Horses by …show more content…
His exile’s curse is momentous, for it suffers him the greatest of pains — the cruel torture that only a heartbreak can afford. While cut off from his family, friends and homeland, Grady encounters Alejandra, his employer’s daughter. The two share a, somewhat, forbidden love affair. Love transforms John Grady as it is something that he has never experienced before. However he also clings to his love for Alejandra despite ignoring the outcome. Eventually as Grady begins to love Alejandra more and more, she is forced to reject him, due to her family’s wishes. Grady is crushed. His forbidden love — his only love — has left him with nothing. His exile has ripped from him his three greatest accomplishments. Alejandra leaves him, Blevins is executed and his friendship with Rawlins is corrupted as Rawlins leaves Grady and goes home to Texas. Grady romantically thought that Mexico would be his salvation, however, the frontier becomes his exile. As he rides back home, he becomes his exile’s victim and another figure in the desert; his and his horse’s shadows fuse into one lonely being, riding westwards onto
The times are changing and he's unwilling to give up the past. The world is becoming modernized and people like him, cowboys and ranchers, are slowly disappearing. He runs away from home because he desires to find peace within himself as well as a place where he can feel he belongs. Here begins the adventure of John Grady and his best friend Lacey Rawlins. It is important to note here the means of travel. The story is taking place after World War II, a time when cars are fairly common, yet these boys decide to go on horseback, like in the fading old days. This is just another concept of how they are unwilling to give up a fading past. When they first begin their journey, the boys are having a good time. In a sense they?re two buddies on a road trip with no real motive. Rawlins even mentions, ?You know what?I could get used to this life.? Then they meet Blevins, the foil in the plot that veers the two boys of their course and also has plays a role in the lasting change of their personality. Their meeting with him gives an insight into Grady?s character. Rawlins is against letting Blevins come along with them, but because of John?s kind nature he ends up allowing Blevins to come. It?s because of this kindness and sense of morality, he gets into trouble later on.
Throughout all texts discussed, there is a pervasive and unmistakable sense of journey in its unmeasurable and intangible form. The journeys undertaken, are not physically transformative ones but are journeys which usher in an emotional and spiritual alteration. They are all life changing anomaly’s that alter the course and outlook each individual has on their life. Indeed, through the exploitation of knowledge in both a positive and negative context, the canvassed texts accommodate the notion that journeys bear the greatest magnitude when they change your life in some fashion.
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...
Nearly everyone has a dream in life that they desperately want to accomplish. Without these dreams people wouldn’t strive to accomplish what makes them happy. Sometimes happiness might be hard to reach because of obstacles faced in life. The obstacles which one faces and how they can overcome them are remarked in Anne Lauren’s Carter short story “Leaving the Iron Lung”. In order for the author to show that one must overcome faced obstacles to pursue their dreams, she uses the protagonist transformation, contrasting characters and settings.
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
In society, there is a thing called a hero’s journey. It is when our destiny is before us, and with the choices we make, depict our course for the rest of our lives. In the novel The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Cinderella Man directed by Ron Howard show how the hero’s journey affects Santiago and Jim Braddock lives.
Of the lessons of this course, the distinction made between story and situation will be the most important legacy in my writing. I learned a great travel essay cannot be merely its situation: its place, time, and action. It requires a story, the reader’s internal “journey of discovery.” While the importance of establishing home, of balancing summary and scene, and other lessons impacted my writing, this assertion at least in my estimation the core argument of the course.
“When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness” (Campbell 1). These words by the scholar Joseph Campbell illustrates his philosophy of the hero’s journey, which contains the three criteria of a hero. From these three criteria, he describes a hero’s journey beginning with a departure, fulfillment, and a return which encompasses the hero’s sacrifice for the good of others. As a result, from Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club, the characters could be applied to Campbell’s theory of heroism due to their life experiences. For example, the character Rose does not undergo a heroic journey. From Campbell’s theory of heroism, Rose contains the departure and the fulfillment of a hero; however, she lacks a concrete return Campbell describes as the moral objective to sacrifice for another person or idea.
The effect of adversity on an individual is determinant, depending on the circumstances and environments that the person in question as experienced throughout their life. In some cases, adversity can instill motivation that would not have surfaced otherwise. For some, previously unexperienced trauma that occurs to them may instead cause despair and apathy.Horace’s claim is a broad one that excessively generalizes a complex topic. The examples present within Hamilton, Seabiscuit, and letters circulated between Alexander Hamilton and supports my position.
Along with these crucial characters, the dangerous adventure itself is a recurring element. The physical journey is necessary for the protagonist to
...ing identity to the point where it no longer exists. This identity can be lost through extreme devotion, new experience, and immense tragedy. Relationships with the most meaningful companions impact both main characters, Elie and Frederic. Due to the events they must encounter alongside loved ones, Elie and Frederic change completely, losing the identity that once existed. The most impactful events of any life are those that involve struggle and tragedy. Any tragic event that one encounters can significantly alter the purpose of life forever. Tragic events such as taking away what one may hold dearest, such as a loved one in the cases of Elie and Frederic. This type of loss can create a saddened, purposeless life in all humans.
The attitudes of others forcibly constrict and diminish the subconscious of others ultimately limiting their ability to make choices and clouding their sense of belonging. There is only a matter of time before one's choices are influenced by their surroundings and the relationships that exist there. Psychological barriers created by experience dictate one's attitude ultimately limiting their perception of the world. The attitudes of others can thrust unwanted experiences on one, ultimately altering and damaging their capability to make choices in relation to where they situate their sense of self. Jane Harrison’s Rainbows End, a play about how the ignorance of Anglo-Saxon society in Australia inhibits and challenges an Aboriginal family to find where they belong in society and Edgar Allen Poe’s Alone, a poem that addresses differences in how one views the world and how they make sense of where they belong in it. Both of these texts utilize various techniques that allow us to see how the attitudes of others reduce one’s sense of belonging.
“Exile originated in the age old practice of banishment. Once banished, the exile lives an anomalous and miserable life, with the stigma of an outsider”2 said Edward Said. Adorno in the 13th terse “Protection, Help and Counsel” of Minima Moralia asserts that, “every intellectual in emigration is without exception, damaged and does well to acknowledge it to himself… He lives in an environment that must remain incomprehensible to him… Relation between outcasts are even more poisoned than between long standing residents.”3 Adorno’s reflection epitomizes the common understanding of exilic experience as one of trauma, estrangement and paranoia. Numerous autobiographical accounts confirm this devastating assessment a...
The first part of the journey, begins with the narrator describing his feelings which are at an all time low, what he doesn’t realize is that these hardships are a part of the road to eternal life. Not only has he felt pain through being alone for years in exile, but he also acknowledges the physical hardships. The narrator quickly states that his time at sea is anything but easy, as he says “how I often endured days of struggle” (Lines 1-3). To give a further understanding of his pain, he says that his time at sea took its toll in unbelievable ways. He continues to describe his pain by saying, that he carries a heavy sadness, and an inner suffering around himself “I have suffered grim sorrow at heart have known in the ship” (Line 4-5), almost like his body is a part of the ship itself. While on the sea, the only
Writers use this universal theme in literature to evoke certain emotions from their target audience. They are able to do this by creating characters whose journeys we can relate to. Journeys can be classified as emotional, physical and spiritual and are prevalent in literature due to their ability to describe the evolution of a character. Mao’s Last Dancer directed by Bruce Beresford and The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini are texts that use the idea of journey and incorporate it into the characters Li Cunxin and Baba. The journeys of both these contrasting characters have significantly broadened my understanding of the term journey. It has taught me that no matter how hard and how much you try to plan ahead, there are bound to be mishaps along the way that can reshape our entire life and change who we are and who we