Life is something that we all have. We all have it differently and live it the way we want to live. Some people are more daring and adventurous than others and some people are sitting at home and reading a good book. Life gives us different paths and we learn new things, make mistakes, and learn from them. The more we learn, the less innocent we are. This is called an innocence to experience archetype, where is a loss of innocence which leads to experience. The book Paper Towns written by John Green shows this archetype through the main character, Quentin. Quentin Jacobsen is taken on an adventure by his love and neighbour, Margo Roth Spiegelman based on the clues that she has left behind. Quentin starts out as a “concerned for college with a perfect attendance” kind of person who goes on a journey and learns about things that he has never heard of, which is his loss of innocence who at the …show more content…
end is experienced because of all he has seen on the way to an adventure of a lifetime. Quentin is not as daring as you think.
He likes things to be the same and did no try new things. He is one of those people who rather sit at home and read a good book. The book says, “It is May Fifth, but it didn't have to be. My days had a pleasant identicalness about them. I always like that: I liked routine. I liked being bored. I didn’t want to, but I did. (Green 23-24) Quentin likes routine so, he obviously does not like change. Because he does not like and try anything different, he is still very much innocent. Even if he wanted to, he never has time for himself, or travel, or even try something new. He is still a high schools student who has to go to school. Quentin says, “ I felt significantly more tired than I had at 5:55 AM, and I would have skipped school, except I had perfect attendance, and while I realized that perfect attendance is not particularity impressive or even necessarily admirable, I need to keep the streak alive.” (Green 85) With such a streak, you can see how he would have no time to actually live the way he wants to. He is too concerned about
school. Another example of his innocence is his inexperience with girls, especially with the love of his life and neighbour, Margo Roth Spiegelman. He has dated girls in the past, but he still gets nervous and anxious when trying to talk to Margo. It’s been 9 years since she has moved next door to him, but he still has not been able to talk to her. The book proves this and states, “.. I could see Margo Roth Spiegelman in the hallway. He was next to her locker, standing beside her boyfriend, Jase. She wore a white skirt to her knees and a blue print top. I could see her collarbone. She was laughing at something hysterical—her shoulders bent forward, her big eyes drinking at their corners, her mouth wide open. … I smiled at Margo even though she couldn’t see me. … As we walked, I kept taking glances at her through the crowd, quick snapshots..” (Green 13-14) He was looking at her through the crowd. Out of all people, he only saw Margo. He noticed every detail of her, proving that he actually likes her. He glanced at her, but did not go and say hello. He was too nervous to talk to her which shows his inexperience with girls. Although he has dated many girls before, he did not have strong feelings for them as strong as they are for Margo. He is a shy and a smart teen who likes routine and has not seen much besides what he usually sees proving his innocence and his lack of knowledge for anything else around him.
Throughout Thomas King’s novel, Green Grass Running Water, King uses a variety of Indigenous characters to accurately portray Indigenous Peoples and the stereotypes that define them in the eyes of the public. The quote above reveals more information about Eli as a character; he is a university literature professor with a Ph.D. in the subject, the books on notable literary figures indicate he is passionate on the subject, and despite all his achievements, he is only seen as an Indian. Earlier in the novel, Norma stated that Eli wanted to be a white man, and this passage reveals why and how Eli was a white man according to her. However, Eli’s character is ironic as him wanting to be white and leave his Indigenous background behind only resulted
In life usually people do not meet others by accident they are meant to cross her/his path for a reason. Throughout the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed it shows how she was impacted by many archetypes through her journey she encountered both positive and negative. Archetypes are certain types of people or things. Strayed accomplished her journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone and demonstrating who she really is. There are various archetypes that play a big role in Cheryl's physical and emotional journey. The archetypes create who she is today and without them she wouldn't be able to transform.
Glasspell, Susan Trifles. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.
This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
Readers develop a compassionate emotion toward the characters, although the characters are detached and impersonal, due to the tone of The Road. The characters are unidentified, generalizing the experience and making it relatable – meaning similar instances can happen to anyone, not just the characters in the novel. McCarthy combined the brutality of the post-apocalyptic world with tender love between father and son through tone.
Life is a complicated process. It’s filled with many things that keep it interesting but at the same time, very dull. Life’s what you make it and for many, it’s something we all strive for. In the story, The Space Between, the author takes full advantage of the premise as there’s rarely a dull moment- as in life. The book is filled with many literary devices that work nicely with the plot and dialogue. These include; metaphors, similes, irony, personification, and many more. We follow a young man who is finding his way in the world. He has only a week to change his life for the better. But he will face many obstacles on the way that brings the readers into a startling and fun journey.
Christopher McCandless is seen by many individuals as an inspiration, an inspiration to not be afraid. “Chris was fearless even when he was little.”(Walt McCandless) Chris’s father made a comment about how he believed Chris was fearless, Chris was a fearless individual even was he was just a young boy, he showed how he was fearless and brave, his strong character was acknowledged as a young age by his father and his family. How many people have packed up a few of their belongings and just took a journey into the wild? Chris did and he took nothing along just what he could carry on his back, he proved to many individuals that all you really need is yourself to get you through the tough situations that you will encounter along they way. Chris’s actions and his way of thinking is what people are mostly inspired by, he showed individuals not to be held back by fear. Fear is a powerful feeling that can overpower someone very quickly, but fear did not seem to hold Chris back on his outrageous journey. “Happiness is only real when shared.”(Chris McCandless) Chris believed real happiness has to be shared, he shared that happiness with people he came across his journey. He shared his happened with the people he met along his way, by telling those stories about his adventures. He inspired many people; Christopher McCandless is a well-known individual. Chris’s journey made an impact; there are books, articles, and a movie published just to tell the story of the boy who went into the wild. The New York Times published the article Death of an Innocent that was written by John Krakauer in 1996, the article was a summary about Christopher McCandless. John Krakauer was intrigued by Christopher McCandless character that he wanted to go more in de...
Altogether, this is a book to be read thoughtfully and more than once. It is about an unusually sensitive and intelligent boy; but, then, are not all boys unusual and worthy of understanding? If they are bewildered at the complexity of modern life, unsure of themselves, shocked by the spectacle of perversity and evil around them - are not adults equally shocked by the knowledge that even children cannot escape this contact and awareness? & nbsp;
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
The gripping tale of a young man who leaves all that he has and goes to live amidst the natural world, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer showcases the two years Christopher McCandless had spent journeying throughout the United States before his unfortunate death. After graduating from Emory University in 1990, McCandless disconnected with all of his past relations and abandoned the majority of his possessions. McCandless’ decisions either seem extremely unwise or extremely courageous. He had a comfortable life with few worries yet he still chose to toss it all away and venture into unknown territories. What many wonder is why he would do such an irrational thing. Maybe, McCandless’ was simply trying to run away from his perception of reality. Through deserting his family, friends, and material possessions, Christopher McCandless was attempting to escape the unavoidable condition of the world along with the mundane life ahead of him. He was escaping from the impending dreariness of his future and the idea of decisions impacting him and the people around him. Christopher McCandless appeared to believe that by going off into the wild, his life would no longer be surrounded by a shroud of uncertainty and despair.
Thesis: Growing up in a certain neighborhood doesn’t have to determine where you go in life.
Inevitably, there comes a point in everybody’s life at which they have an experience that completely alters their view of the world. This moment is when one loses his or her innocence, or comes of age, and he or she realizes that they do not live in a utopian Golden Age. Parents are charged with the monumental duty of protecting their children’s innocence, but everybody inescapably grows up. This experience can be anything from an embarrassing situation at school to coming within seconds of death. In the short story “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien, the author tells the true story of his daughter confronting him and asked him if he had ever killed anyone. In an effort to be a good parent and protect the nine-year-old’s innocence, the author does not share with her the story he goes on to tell to the reader. He explains how many years ago, he was serving in the army and was taking a shift guarding his troop’s campsite when all of a sudden, a young man from the opposing army came walking up the trail. Without a second thought, O’Brien killed the boy with a grenade, and he lost his innocence after realizing he had killed a defenseless man without hesitation. Tim O’Brien develops Ambush as a coming of age story through the use of literary devices.
Ken Kesey the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, allows the reader to explore different psychoanalytic issues that plague the characters in his novel. Carl Jung disciple of Sigmund Fraud created “The Collective Unconscious” his theory based on how the mind can be easily overtaken by many outside factors from the past or present and even those that one is born with. The novel takes place in an asylum that is aimed to contain individuals that have mental issues from schizophrenia to repressed memories that are causing insanity. The nurses are seen as tyrants and actually worsens health of the patients turning some from acutes to chronics (incurable), while the patients are limited by their initial conditions or their developing conditions
Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct.
The idea of childhood innocence is one that could be interpreted in many different ways. Yusef Komunyakaa’s “English”, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, Peter Tait’s “Too much information destroys childhood innocence”, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road are all pieces that demonstrate how childhood innocence is preserved. In “English”, Komunyakaa describes a boy who sees an airstrike during a war and thinks it is a celebration because no one has ever explained the concept of war to him. “Harrison Bergeron” demonstrates a society that is very conservative about the knowledge they allow its civilians to obtain. Peter Tait’s article on preserving childhood innocence exposes the truths about social media and the easy access kids