A journey does not consist of a straight path; it contains many obstacles and challenges. It is never straightforward and easy to overcome; it must have certain obstacles, challenges or tasks for a hero to complete or it was not be a journey at all. In all journeys there is many figures or archetypes you will see like the classic hero, the devil figure, the temptress and many more. In the movie “The Wizard of Oz” you can see a major example of a journey and it extends father than any yellow brick road could. The challenge of getting or “finding” home is a difficult and complex road. The movie shows many different archetypes and proves that the quest to find where your real home is the journey of all journeys. Through mythopoeic eyes Dorothy’s journey in “The Wizard of Oz” to find where her real home is and where she belongs too can be looked as a hero’s journey in a mythological times.
In every great story there is a hero, although each may very if you look at each journey hard enough there will always be the hero figure being challenged by complex tasks and challenges. By concurring these tasks, challenges and difficulties it shows many of the different characteristics and attributes of the classic archetype “the hero”. Dorothy is looked as the hero in the “Wizard of Oz” because she carries so very many of the characteristics and traits a true hero has even though you may not notice at first. Although some of the other characters in the movie do show certain given attributes of a hero it does not mean they take Dorothy’s place, she shows the most signs of being a hero and has the most promise making her the true hero of the film.
Dorothy first proves that she is a hero when she lends a hand to those in need. She agrees to team up with not only one but also three other strangers (soon to become friends) so that they can all help each other. This act of kindness shows that she is willing to help others even if she might have to go out of her way. She didn’t have to take the time to oil the tin man, or she could of left the scardy cat behind but no, Dorothy decided to put their differences aside and make it through the journey as friends. By putting her and her other new found friends differences aside and deciding to help one another this act of kindness shows that she was not only a hero but also a leader.
Although Dorothy has a very gentle and calm charm in the film she still always pulled through tough and strong when she needed to. She had the courage and will power to stand up to the wicked witch of the west when she knew her friend was in danger. When the witch with her broom torched Scarecrow, Dorothy did not only save Scarecrow but she also had slayed the evil witch of the west. By realizing what she must do, Dorothy made the ultimate act of a hero and she saved him, this was the most unselfish, reckless act she could of done and she did it for the right reasons. She made the attempt to help her friend rather than just watch it happen showing that she did keep a level head in the situation and that she would do all in her power to protect or even in this case save her friends. This proves that Dorothy is the true representation of the archetype “the hero”.
Within every long tale, story or even journey there is always some sort of evil in one form or another. In “The Wizard of Oz” the evil witch of the west shows the archetype of the “devil figure” through many different ways. By showing absolutely no signs of good or light in her self it is easy to know that the evil witch of the west is the devil figure because of her evil nature. Within the film she tries with man attempts to retrieve the valuable ruby red slippers from Dorothy through any means necessary. The witch never cares about anything or even anyone else, she just concentrates on her self which shows she is the exact opposite of Dorothy the hero of “The Wizard of Oz”. By being the true opposite of the hero, the wicked witch of the west proves that she is the devil figure.
The wicked witch of the west shows the lack of the good inside of her by showing many different evil attributes. She tries to challenge the hero Dorothy in her journey to find go back home by attempting to steal the ruby red slippers. She threatens Dorothy in many different ways such as saying she would kill Todo her dog if she didn’t give up the precious slippers. This shows her lack or the absence of kindness, good will and prosperity in the wicked witch of the west. Without having just a little bit of any of those attributes means you have been subdued by evil, and that you are the devil figure. By threatening to kill Dorothy’s pet (something very close to her) the witch shows her true self and the true evil inside of her and shows the world that she is the devil figure attempting to block Dorothy’s journey home.
The witch or “devil figure” in the “Wizard of Oz” shows the complete lack of caring about others wellness that Dorothy does. She shows this by not caring about others like Dorothy and her friends, in actual fact she does the opposite she tries to torture Dorothy. The witch tells Dorothy that she will make her watch all her friends deaths before hers will come in order to hurt her emotionally. This is an extreme act of evil, not only does she says she will kill Dorothy but she wants her to suffer immensely before she is subdued by death. Then she tries to fallow through with this plan-igniting Scarecrow on fire knowing that since he is composed of straw with him being set on fire will be a fatal. These actions will lead anyone to believe that the wicked witch of the west is a sinner and that she truly must be the devil figure in Dorothy’s long and difficult journey to find home.
The journey is a huge archetype in “The Wizard of Oz”. The journey represents the hero’s path through different tasks, challenges and trails throughout their adventure. The journey down the yellow brick road and even the journey outside of it shows everyone that it is a true archetype “journey”. With it’s many challenges and even its devil figure the wicked witch of the west, Dorothy’s adventure down the yellow brick road to Emerald City is quite the journey. This shows all of Dorothy’s hero like attributes and shows those who watch the movie that the young Kansas is able to overcome the journey’s many difficult tasks, and challenges enable to find her home and where she is happy and where she belongs.
Every journey has a difficult task that the hero needs to overcome, if it didn’t have a difficult task or challenge it would not be a journey, it would be a walk in the park. In the “Wizard of Oz” the difficult challenge was overcoming each of everyone’s personal flaws. The lion had to be brave (to a certain extent), the tin man had to have a heart and the Scarecrow had to have knowledge. Dorothy had to find out where she is truly happy and where she belonged to and she could not do it alone so not only did she help her friends, but her friends helped her also. This allows the viewers to see that they all overcame their own personal challenges in their journeys not by them selves but with the help of each other.
One of the big symbols in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”” gives a great visual on a journey, this is the yellow brick road. This symbol allows you to see the set out “path” for the hero and her friends. Although the Dorothy’s journey along with Scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion stray from the yellow brick road time to time the symbol of the road still gives the picture of the path for the journey. This gives the viewers of the movie a slight visual idea of the journey that has to be taken by the young Kansa hero, Dorothy.
Oz may be a very strange land filled with tiny people, yellow bricked roads, and even a horse that changes color but the thing it is most filled up with is archetypes. Although the archetypes appear different in this movie one should not judge the majority of the characters at first glance. This is because many of the characters represent classic mythological characters from another time. These many archetypes like the hero, devil figure and journey show that “The Wizard of Oz” can be compared to old mythological tales and stories. The characters in the film (even though some are midgets) are still a representation of the actual characters in the mythological times (which are not midgets). By seeing many of these classic characters and archetypes being resurrected it proves to all the viewers that in fact it “The Wizard of Oz” can be compared to the old mythological tales and stories. Therefore by Dorothy’s journey along the yellow brick road and beyond on her quest to find where home is and where she belongs is a re-incarnation of the hero’s journey in mythological times.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
If there were no darkness would it be possible to still have light? If there were no light
would it be possible to have darkness? How can you have something that exists if you have
nothing to compare it to or have an opposite to contradict it? In order to have an essence you
must have something co-existing with it to not only contradict it at times but for something to
compare it to. When darkness represents depression, despair, sadness and other negative
emotions and feelings while the counter parts of those feelings are represented by light, one cannot feel only one or the other without being subjected to both. An example of this is looking the well-known “Hero”. Every hero known to man has never just become a hero, there was always some problem, difficulty or “darkness” that they would have to overcome first. A hero is never born a hero, he first has to be subdued by both the good and evil, light and dark before they can show whether the good inside them is strong enough to be able to spread and used to help.
It is not possible for a hero to help or even attempt to help individuals going through uncertainties and troublesome times if the hero himself has not undergone these times. It is unquestionable that someone being “saved” or helped out by someone who does not know what the problem is or feels like could never actually happen in society. Therefore proving that you there are no hero’s that is born a hero, they must first experience both negatives and positives, both dark and light to be able to emerge from the situations willing and capable to actually prevail in the rescue of the individuals in their time of need. A hero cannot exist if they do not know what there purpose is, they cannot exist if they don’t know what they want to do, they cannot exist if they have not experienced “the darkness”.
At the begging of the novel, Marlow shows signs of disbelief and doubt. It is noticeable when Marlow is about to set sail on the French steamer which is going to take him to Africa. Instead of being excited or ambitious Marlow experiences something different. He has a strange feeling about the trip where he feels that he is setting sail of the center of the Earth. This feeling can be looked at as doubt in Marlow’s case. Marlow is doubting himself in this case and his ability to succeed, which gives him the feeling that he is going towards the “center” of all these problems. This shows the reader with Marlow’s strange feelings that he is ambitious yet or hasn’t “grown” as a hero. Although Marlow is not a hero yet or subdued by good or the light the reader is able to see that Marlow can tell good from bad at the beginning from his reaction to certain people like in the quote "I couldn't help asking him once what he meant by coming here at all. 'To make money, of course. What do you think?' he said scornfully." (Conrad, 23).
Towards the begging of the novel the author chooses to portrait Marlow in a certain way. He does not choose to make himself this lovable, unstoppable hero that is the kind of character that everyone just loves to read about, but the author makes the reader see that Marlow is more then that. Marlow shows by the end of the novel with sayings like; "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." (Conrad, 52) that he finally knows light from dark distinctly which shows the reader his true transformation as a hero. What the author does in this case is give Marlow a layer of complexity with different attributes and features. He carries the true characteristics of a hero by being honest, tough and capable but also he gives the reader the image that there is more to him and that he’s “damaged”. The features of a hero like his natural toughness gives the aspects of light in this case and the images of him being broken tells the reader that he also has aspects of darkness. In this case this allows the reader to have a little insight or allow them to foreshadow to a certain extent in the case of Marlow being taken over or subdued by either light darkness. Meaning that Marlow would not be in the middle after experiencing both light and dark and that he would be drawn to one side or another.
One cannot be a hero without experiencing both good and bad for the same reason one cannot become a villain without experiencing both good and bad. You cannot be one without experiencing the other because of the fact there is no one that is just evil, and there is no one that is just good. "They had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares." (Conrad, 67) this quote shows that Marlow is both surprised and appalled about at the conversation showing that he does not believe in the evilness being spoken about. Everyone has some good in them and some evil which is enviable because everyone from the moment they were born has the potential to do good with there life as equally as they have the potential to do bad with there life. This ensures that no one can be good without being evil, or be evil without being good. Which refers back to the first point, there cannot be darkness without light and there cannot be light without darkness. Therefore that shows that you cannot just experience one end or another because from the instant you’re born you have the both sides in you. "When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages--hate them to the death." (Conrad, 78) when Marlow states this it allows the reader to observe that he has experienced the darkness and he knows when people (the savages) have been overcome by the evil inside of them. This leaves the experiences in your life to determine which side will subdue you and which side you will lean towards.
There is a point in everyone’s life time where after being subdued to both good and bad that you have to overcome a “test” which the outcome determines where you lye on the border of good and evil. The outcome of this event is dependant on how much the light or darkness influenced the individual. By the time Marlow experienced this test he knew enough of both sides of good and evil that he did much more then just pass the test, he learned from it too. By keeping his darkness within and allowing the light to shine out Marlow succeeded in many ways where the natives did not. Unlike Marlow the natives did not learn nor pass the test, which you can see from their savagery behaviours. This acts as a great example showing two different sides, both experience light and darkness or good and evil but on one side a hero arises and on the complete opposite side savages arise. "And this also... has been one of the dark places of the earth." (Conrad, 64) when Marlow states this it shows the reader that he has been to certain dark places and he is now able to recognize it and be able to realize when there is evil or darkness around. This further more proves that Marlow has known evil and has not let it take over him, allowing the light to take over appose to the darkness.
Everyone has both good and evil in them and no one will ever be able to fight or change that, it’s the instances in your life where you are introduced to the good and evil that is inside of you is what makes you who you are. This is what gives people chances to become who they are; this allows you to have an influence on who you want to be and who you can be. No one is born purely good or evil, you have to experience both in your life to become either or. This is what guaranties that no hero is ever born a hero, they must first be challenged by the darkness within their heart to be able to overcome it and show light and spread the light. This case is proven from Marlow in the Heart Of Darkness. Marlow shows from experiencing both good and bad that it’s the occurrences that influence you throughout your life which make up where you stand in life. Without having being influenced by both sides of good and evil you cannot reach full potential, this is what keeps people from being true heroes and this allows people to look on there life and see what has influenced them more, good or evil.
References:(Conrad, Joseph. Heat Of Darkness. Norton Critical Edition. London: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 1899.)
would it be possible to have darkness? How can you have something that exists if you have
nothing to compare it to or have an opposite to contradict it? In order to have an essence you
must have something co-existing with it to not only contradict it at times but for something to
compare it to. When darkness represents depression, despair, sadness and other negative
emotions and feelings while the counter parts of those feelings are represented by light, one cannot feel only one or the other without being subjected to both. An example of this is looking the well-known “Hero”. Every hero known to man has never just become a hero, there was always some problem, difficulty or “darkness” that they would have to overcome first. A hero is never born a hero, he first has to be subdued by both the good and evil, light and dark before they can show whether the good inside them is strong enough to be able to spread and used to help.
It is not possible for a hero to help or even attempt to help individuals going through uncertainties and troublesome times if the hero himself has not undergone these times. It is unquestionable that someone being “saved” or helped out by someone who does not know what the problem is or feels like could never actually happen in society. Therefore proving that you there are no hero’s that is born a hero, they must first experience both negatives and positives, both dark and light to be able to emerge from the situations willing and capable to actually prevail in the rescue of the individuals in their time of need. A hero cannot exist if they do not know what there purpose is, they cannot exist if they don’t know what they want to do, they cannot exist if they have not experienced “the darkness”.
At the begging of the novel, Marlow shows signs of disbelief and doubt. It is noticeable when Marlow is about to set sail on the French steamer which is going to take him to Africa. Instead of being excited or ambitious Marlow experiences something different. He has a strange feeling about the trip where he feels that he is setting sail of the center of the Earth. This feeling can be looked at as doubt in Marlow’s case. Marlow is doubting himself in this case and his ability to succeed, which gives him the feeling that he is going towards the “center” of all these problems. This shows the reader with Marlow’s strange feelings that he is ambitious yet or hasn’t “grown” as a hero. Although Marlow is not a hero yet or subdued by good or the light the reader is able to see that Marlow can tell good from bad at the beginning from his reaction to certain people like in the quote "I couldn't help asking him once what he meant by coming here at all. 'To make money, of course. What do you think?' he said scornfully." (Conrad, 23).
Towards the begging of the novel the author chooses to portrait Marlow in a certain way. He does not choose to make himself this lovable, unstoppable hero that is the kind of character that everyone just loves to read about, but the author makes the reader see that Marlow is more then that. Marlow shows by the end of the novel with sayings like; "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much." (Conrad, 52) that he finally knows light from dark distinctly which shows the reader his true transformation as a hero. What the author does in this case is give Marlow a layer of complexity with different attributes and features. He carries the true characteristics of a hero by being honest, tough and capable but also he gives the reader the image that there is more to him and that he’s “damaged”. The features of a hero like his natural toughness gives the aspects of light in this case and the images of him being broken tells the reader that he also has aspects of darkness. In this case this allows the reader to have a little insight or allow them to foreshadow to a certain extent in the case of Marlow being taken over or subdued by either light darkness. Meaning that Marlow would not be in the middle after experiencing both light and dark and that he would be drawn to one side or another.
One cannot be a hero without experiencing both good and bad for the same reason one cannot become a villain without experiencing both good and bad. You cannot be one without experiencing the other because of the fact there is no one that is just evil, and there is no one that is just good. "They had behind them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in nightmares." (Conrad, 67) this quote shows that Marlow is both surprised and appalled about at the conversation showing that he does not believe in the evilness being spoken about. Everyone has some good in them and some evil which is enviable because everyone from the moment they were born has the potential to do good with there life as equally as they have the potential to do bad with there life. This ensures that no one can be good without being evil, or be evil without being good. Which refers back to the first point, there cannot be darkness without light and there cannot be light without darkness. Therefore that shows that you cannot just experience one end or another because from the instant you’re born you have the both sides in you. "When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those savages--hate them to the death." (Conrad, 78) when Marlow states this it allows the reader to observe that he has experienced the darkness and he knows when people (the savages) have been overcome by the evil inside of them. This leaves the experiences in your life to determine which side will subdue you and which side you will lean towards.
There is a point in everyone’s life time where after being subdued to both good and bad that you have to overcome a “test” which the outcome determines where you lye on the border of good and evil. The outcome of this event is dependant on how much the light or darkness influenced the individual. By the time Marlow experienced this test he knew enough of both sides of good and evil that he did much more then just pass the test, he learned from it too. By keeping his darkness within and allowing the light to shine out Marlow succeeded in many ways where the natives did not. Unlike Marlow the natives did not learn nor pass the test, which you can see from their savagery behaviours. This acts as a great example showing two different sides, both experience light and darkness or good and evil but on one side a hero arises and on the complete opposite side savages arise. "And this also... has been one of the dark places of the earth." (Conrad, 64) when Marlow states this it shows the reader that he has been to certain dark places and he is now able to recognize it and be able to realize when there is evil or darkness around. This further more proves that Marlow has known evil and has not let it take over him, allowing the light to take over appose to the darkness.
Everyone has both good and evil in them and no one will ever be able to fight or change that, it’s the instances in your life where you are introduced to the good and evil that is inside of you is what makes you who you are. This is what gives people chances to become who they are; this allows you to have an influence on who you want to be and who you can be. No one is born purely good or evil, you have to experience both in your life to become either or. This is what guaranties that no hero is ever born a hero, they must first be challenged by the darkness within their heart to be able to overcome it and show light and spread the light. This case is proven from Marlow in the Heart Of Darkness. Marlow shows from experiencing both good and bad that it’s the occurrences that influence you throughout your life which make up where you stand in life. Without having being influenced by both sides of good and evil you cannot reach full potential, this is what keeps people from being true heroes and this allows people to look on there life and see what has influenced them more, good or evil.
References:(Conrad, Joseph. Heat Of Darkness. Norton Critical Edition. London: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc., 1899.)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
the heart of darkness: essay outline
Thesis: The meaning behind darkness is taken from everything that brings saddness and despair to individuals and it is because of the conflicts it brings allows hero's to arise from it.
Reason: There is no hero that had not been through times of uncertanty or displeasure.
Example: Marlow seeming to be damaged.
Example: Marlow overcoming the sadness to attempt to see through society and always trying to see the real picture.
Reason: Without ever being through times of need you cant be able to help people who are in those times.
Example: Marlow could not help if he didn't have any understanding of what people were going through
Example: All hero's that overcame racism had to undergo racism first.
Conclusion: Before things get better things must be subdewed to a certain "darkness" before they can realize what the true solution for happiness is.
Reason: There is no hero that had not been through times of uncertanty or displeasure.
Example: Marlow seeming to be damaged.
Example: Marlow overcoming the sadness to attempt to see through society and always trying to see the real picture.
Reason: Without ever being through times of need you cant be able to help people who are in those times.
Example: Marlow could not help if he didn't have any understanding of what people were going through
Example: All hero's that overcame racism had to undergo racism first.
Conclusion: Before things get better things must be subdewed to a certain "darkness" before they can realize what the true solution for happiness is.
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