In life there are setbacks and low points that a person has no power to control. The author reiterates that the setbacks never last for ever and that people need a positive attitude to overcome them. In life we all experience an abundance of valleys and peaks, however having the proper tools and right mindset is what enables people to endure the troubles in life until the time for relief arrives. I was simply amazed at how much I learn about myself in reading this book. Peaks and Valleys enlightened and motivated me to work on the things that need correcting in my life to reach my peak.
In both situations, something is to be gained either physically, spiritually or metaphorically to change or move on from our present circumstance. Gaining knowledge is a key drive for a journey to discover ourselves. Chris McCandless sets out on his journey away from society to Alaska to escape his parent’s control and learn who he is without society’s expectations. Chris’ inspiration for gaining knowledge about his life journey is derived from the countless books he reads so intently. The close up panning camera shots of important phrases and lessons from these books show the stages of his learning and self-discovery.
The learning passages include philosophical, practical, emotional/physical/spiritual challenge, exploration, community/global response, and creative “endeavour”. This journey is a passage that challenges endurance and stamina as well as beliefs. The walkabout helps and affects the adolescents of an aboriginal because it’s the key to finding their identity. This journey they take is a time they find out their true selves. Spending all that time alone they’re forced to evaluate their lives and mature within the period of time away.
Chapter 1: “Every Trip is a Quest” Foster states the essential criteria for a quest: a character to embark on the quest, a destination, the initial reason for reaching the destination, difficulties faced on the way, and the actual reason to reach the destination. The character many times does not complete the initial assignment, instead achieving an increased understanding of themselves, which Foster explains is always the actual reason for a quest. Because of this, the protagonist is normally young and has not gained independence. The initial reason usually wanes with progression of the story. “Had I a right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations?...I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price perhaps of the existence of the whole human race.” (Shelley 114-115) Assuming that Frankenstein’s quest was to create another being to accompany his monster so that the monster would leave Frankenstein’s loved ones unscathed, his initial assignment was uncompleted as he tore apart the being he was making.
1. Parvana’s Journey written by Deborah Ellis says a lot of things about the concept of journeys. One of the main things that I have found is that in a journey it may be hard and it may even be impossible like what Parvana had to do in disguising herself as a boy in order to find her family in all of Afghanistan, however you can overcome the challenges faced in the journey with perseverance and eventually with the right attitude you can overcome any obstacle that any journey throws at you. This novel also says that in the journey you meet new people like what Parvana did when she met Asif and Leila and Hassan while on the journey. Parvana’s journey also suggests that when you go on journeys changes happen, which happens when Parvana found her long lost mother and sisters but lost her dear friend Leila at the end of the journey.
our first steps into the unknown is the greatest journey of all, but it’s what we learn from these journey’s that compels and inspires our deeper understanding of life, all of the aspects of life around us and the way we see things through the naked eye. But it’s the things we miss by looking and it’s the things in which we find when we look past the perceptions of others and find our own unique aspects of life. These thoughts of longing or painful journeys can sometimes scare us because we can never really be sure in which direction we are going, whether it be towards lust, love, or even the sense of normality. Through reading “The Fault in Our Stars” I have been taken on a journey along with Hazel Grace the novels Protagonist whose cancer has compelled her to experience all she can before she dies as she knows it’s inevitable. This ideal is reinforced by ‘Green’ having Hazel state that “you don’t get to choose what hurts you in life, but you do have some say in what makes the pain worth it, I like my chances” which shows that Hazel is determined to be a “normal” teenager as she feels too alienated from normality and the people around her, except from her first love, Augustus Waters.
It stresses the importance of providing a safe, loving environment to children so they feel secure and interested in the world around them instead of worrying about safety issues or the possibility of being hungry or mistreated. The argument of Nature vs. Nurture has endured many years. After researching different opinions, various information and writings on the topic, I resolve that there is no winner. Both nature and nurture both determine who we are and who we will become. One cannot survive without the other.
Amanda Walsh Ms. Weston ENG 3U May 2nd 2013 The Odyssey and Room, a critical Analysis Throughout life people encounter many trials and tribulations, which help them to grow and discover who they truly are. This is demonstrated in Emma Donoghue’s novel Room and Konachalovsky’s film The Odyssey, based on Homer’s epic poem. Thus without the separation and departure stage, the hero would miss out on important lessons and initiation experiences. Similarly, the road of trials is imperative for the hero to discover themselves through different learning experiences, so they may prepare themselves for the return. Consequently, for a hero to be completely successful, they must experience the return to be at peace with their journey.
Christopher Johnson McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild pursues most people’s hidden dream to rely solely on nature’s resources. Technology growth in our society has made it harder to achieve that dream. Our world seems to need to be connected to all aspects of the world at all times. Even if we do not need certain things we still feel the need to have access to it in order to feel comfortable. Technology has brought us farther away from breaking through the comfort zone our society is currently in.
I have to work on it, but the legacy I want to leave is to find your own self-happiness so you may share that with others. Always look forward and up as you find spread this kindness, just because there is only positive outcome. I want people to remember me as someone that always seemed uplifting at the most memorable of times (all the time). Always smiling and trying to make a laugh or two. The only thing I really want to people to remember something positive about me.