Slide 2: Introduction to Little Brother
Marcus Yallow, who skips school with his friends, is detained by the DHS after a terrorist attack on the Bay Bridge. After six days of humiliation, torture, and interrogation, everyone but Darryl is released. Marcus, who is angry after being humiliated, vows to, quote: “get them” (Doctorow 71) and what ensues are weeks of defiance and resisting the DHS underground. During this period, he meets Ange, who helps him conspire against the DHS. Their movement for civil rights and privacy gain traction and Marcus is contacted by “Masha”, who offers him a way out. Right as he’s about to flee, he realizes that he must stay and fight so he smashes Masha’s hands and is once again captured by the DHS. As the DHS
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is waterboarding Marcus, Barbara Stratford and a group of California Highway Patrol troopers save him. Slide 3: Marcus Yallow The protagonist in Little Brother is Marcus Yallow, a stubborn, rebellious, and courageous seventeen-year-old high school student who is technologically proficient. His rebellious nature is shown when even though he has been detained and is threatened with death, he firmly replies “I’m not going to unlock my phone for you” (Doctorow 49) after Carrie Johnstone requests that he does so. This quote represents Marcus’ rebellious character because even though he is faced with death, he still continues to defy the DHS. Marcus’ stubborn mentality is shown in the quote “I would rather get kicked out than apologize” (Doctorow 212). This quote shows that even though Marcus is threatened with expulsion from his high school, he still refuses to change his beliefs on the Bill of Rights. Lastly, Marcus’ courageous deposition is shown when he had the option flee but instead decided to stay and fight for his beliefs, even if it means death. Slide 4: Personal Connection To Marcus How am I connected to Marcus? Well, in my opinion, Marcus and I only share one trait, which is that we are both stubborn. Otherwise, we are the inverse of one another simply because I am not the most courageous person out there, nor am I the most rebellious. Therefore, Marcus and I have very little in common. Slide 5: The Hero’s Journey The Hero’s journey, identified by Joseph Campbell, appears in a variety of literature types and is a 12 step method of storytelling.
The 12 steps include The Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting with the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, Allies, and Enemies, Approach, The Ordeal, The Reward, The Road Back, The Resurrection, and Return with the Elixir.
Slide 6: Part of the Hero’s Journey that Affected Me
In Little Brother, the stage of the Hero’s Journey that affected me most was stage 11: The Resurrection. In this stage of the Hero’s Journey, Marcus decided that he “couldn’t run” (Doctorow 319) and that he had to “stay and fight” (Doctorow 319) This stage of the Hero’s journey affected me the most because Marcus deciding to take a stand, risking his personal freedom and safety, really inspired me to persevere and pursue my personal legend.
Slide 7: Themes in Little Brother
A few main ideas or themes in Little Brother that can be applied to the world are civil rights vs security and control vs freedom. The theme of civil rights vs security is seen when the government begins to monitor citizen’s travel records and use that information to detain and imprison citizens. This act, in America, goes against the fourth amendment, which essentially states that the government cannot search you without a
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warrant. Slide 8: Text to World Connection Little brother can be connected to numerous historical events such as 9/11 and the second world war, how so you may ask? Well, the plot of Little Brother is very similar to the way these events developed in real life. All of these events begin with an event that threatens or angers the government. Then, the government quickly gains power, imprisons people, and suspends the rights of the citizens. Lastly, the citizens either rise up against the government or simply accept their new restrictions. Slide 9: 9/11 On September 11, 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda militants hijacked four planes and carried out suicide attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon.
This event, known as 9/11, is very similar to the fictional bombing of Bay Bridge in Little Brother. In both 9/11 and the Bay bridge bombings, major structures were bombed, citizen’s rights, particularly the first and fourth amendment, were suspended, suspected terrorists were tortured and citizens protested against the erosion of civil liberties. In little brother, the suspension of the first amendment is shown when Carrie Johnstone says to Marcus “You will never speak of what happened here to anyone, ever. This is a matter of national security. Do you know that the death penalty still holds for treason in a time of war?” (Doctorow 65) The suspension of the fourth amendment is shown when the travel records of San Franciscans are being monitored and used to detain citizens. This relates to 9/11 because after 9/11, President Bush suspended the fourth amendment and Congress passed a bill called the “Patriot Act” which allows the government to collect vast amounts of communication records and use it against American
citizens Slide 10: Japanese Internment Camps Japanese Interment camps connect to the main themes of civil rights vs security and control vs freedom because after the bombings of Pearl Harbour, Franklin Roosevelt decided that the security of the United States was more important than the civil rights of Japanese citizens so he signed an executive order, Executive Order 9066, which commanded all citizens of Japanese descent to be held in internment camps, where they will not have their usual freedoms and the government will be in control. Slide 11: Nazi Germany Nazi Germany connects to the main themes of civil rights vs security and control vs freedom because after the election of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party, Adolf Hitler decided that the Jews didn’t deserve their rights and freedoms so slowly, with the help of anti-Semitic propaganda, Hitler began to take away the rights of the Jewish people and anyone who wasn’t considered “Aryan”. Eventually, they controlled the lives of these people and killed them off through the tragic events of the Holocaust.
The first major step is a call to adventure. In this step, there’s something in the hero’s life that requires them to do something or go somewhere and take some type of action. Second, the hero must enter the unknown. This step sends the hero into a new world, entering something unfamiliar to the hero. By entering unfamiliar territory, whether it’s a place, an event never experiences, there are challenges and temptations the hero must face. With every new world comes new challenges. Dealing with new people or being alone.
The hero’s journey twelve structure starts off with the protagonist in his ordinary world to the comfort of his own home. Receives the call to an adventure where he would decide whether to join or to reject the offer. The hero fears the unknown outside world and tried to turn down the call to an adventure however the hero will have a change of heart. Coming across an unexpected traveller who gives him guidance. At the end of Act one, crossing the Threshold, the hero commits to leaving his comfort zone hence the ordinary world. Further more the protagonist meets allies and enemies along the way provided with ordeals, tests and rewards. About three-quarters of the story the protagonist is driven to almost completing the mission. At the climax the protagonist is once again tested on the threshold.
The overarching stages of these steps defines the important trilogy of the departure, the initiation, and the return of the hero in the spiritual, physical, and emotional changes that are experienced in this mythic cycle. Campbell’s insightful evaluation of the ten stages of the hero’s journey define the initial reluctance of the hero to follow his destiny, yet he or she slowly walks through the various obstacles and the awakening of consciousness through the death and rebirth of their identity. Finally, the return of hero to “home” reveals the liberation from previous prejudices and limitations of the mind, soul, and body that were present before they partook in the adventure. Surely, Campbell’s’ heroic cycle defines the overarching challenges of selfhood that the hero must endure to raise his or her consciousness to a higher level of understanding and realization. These are the important aspects of the ten stages of Campbell’s heroic journey that define the transformative nature of the journey and the hero’s initiation into the mysteries of life in this mythic theory of the heroic
The mold of the heroic template is evident throughout various types of media. Within movies, novels, and poems the hero’s journey is present. Of course, not every piece of literature or movie follows the cycle. However, the idea of the monomyth arose from Joseph Campbell. He wrote his own book, The Hero of a Thousand Faces, within his writing he describes that heroes’ follow the same basic procedure throughout their quest(s). This is where the idea of the hero monomyth arose. In Michael Lewis’s novel, The Blind Side, he portrays “The heroic monomyth.” The Blind Side consists of the basic characters and archetypes that accurately reflect the heroic template.
After the departure, the initiation into the heroic reputation occurs. The first step of the initiation process is the road of trials. Many battles are experienced by the hero in
Joseph Campbell is known to be the creator of the Hero’s Journey paradigm. Where an individual leaves the known world to an unfamiliar world.The hero then faces difficulties in the process that make them a stronger individual, learning from their mistakes and becoming well aware of both their ordinary world and unfamiliar world. “Again and again I vowed that someday I would end this hunger of mine, this apartness, this eternal difference; and I did not suspect that I would never get intimately into their lives, that I was doomed to live with them but not of them, that I had my own strange and separate road, a road which in later years would make them wonder how I had come to tread it” (Wright 126). Heroes have to go through a series of obstacles to get where they want to in life. In Richard Wright’s novel Black Boy, we see Richard’s journey from childhood to adulthood as a colored man living in the South. He manages to go to sleep with nothing in his stomach, gets into various arguments with his family and still manages to get himself to the North where the life of a colored man is more bearable.
What is a hero? To our understanding, a hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts. Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, and writer wrote The Odyssey. In this novel he talks about The Heroes Journey which are twelve different stages of adventure known as the Ordinary World, the Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Test/Allies/Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, Ordeal, Reward, the Road Back, Resurrection, and the Return With The Elixir. The Odyssey is about a legendary hero named Odysseus, who fought among the Greeks in the battle of Troy and went through the stages of The Heroes Journey. Odysseus lived in Ithaca, Northwest of Greece, with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
Joseph Campbell describes the hero's journey as taking place in a cycle that consists of three most important phases, which are the following: Departure, which is where the hero leaves his/her comfortable and familiar world and endeavors into the unknown; Initiation, where the hero is tried with a series of tests, which he/she must prove their character; and Return, where the hero brings the benefit of his quest bac...
The word hero as defined as an “individual who has the courage of conviction to perform feats that benefit the general populace, acts as a soldier of virtue, and has an altruistic spirit that urges him or her to act against evil and defend the greater good at all costs, even sacrificing his own well-being or life.” (Harrison 2). Although heroes can come in any shape and size they are commonly found in stories we read, movies we watch, or people we look up to. We do not think about it much but even our own life is made up of many hero’s journeys. We never realize that our hardships and how we overcome them is exactly what a Hero’s Journey is about and why we relate to and enjoy these stories so much. I will be going into the depths of a Hero’s
Joseph Campbell studied ancient greek mythology for many years. Joseph filled each stage of the journey very well. He accepted all the challenges he got and all the help he needed. He really knew how to fulfill all those stages. Like everyone goes through a heroic journey everyone has to have a story to tell. My story is very contrasty from Joseph’s because he really knew what all the stages meant. My hero's journey consists of my threshold crossing which was when I started depending on myself more than I did on others, my helpers/mentors like my parents, teachers,my sister and many more influential people in my life and my rewards were getting awards in school, having a nice family, and many friends.
The Hero: "Often, for undaunted courage, fate spares the man it has not already marked."
Vogler’s reasoning for creating this article is to promote the idea that all stories follow a generic outline. Some stories may alter a few steps or add some in, but they still respect the same framework. He has given much evidence and supported his ideas with a chart called The Hero’s Journey that gives the specific outline (Vogler, 1985, p. 2). Vogler explains the twelve steps that make up The Hero’s Journey given in his memo. They are,
The second stage is called the initiation, where the hero “crosses the threshold” into a more dangerous world. From here on, he will never be able to see things the same way because of his maturing experiences. The narrator’s initiation takes place when he shows up for the community gathering. Instead of being praised for his scholar, he is thrown into a boxing ring with his other classmates to fight each other while the white men cheer. Eventually, he gives his speech after brutal losing in the ring, only to have the white men laugh at him. He realizes that he cannot survive in this cruel world by being naive and trusting.
Joseph Campbell was a well known mythology teacher who spent his whole life trying to understand the different types of stories that are told. To Campbell “all humans are involved in a struggle to accomplish the adventure of the hero in their own lives.” He made a list of stages that every hero goes through, and sums it up to three sections: separation (the departure), the initiation, and the return.
Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi” shows all three of the main elements of a hero’s journey: the departure, initiation and the return, helping the story to greatly resemble Joseph Campbell’s structure of a hero’s journey. Through the trials Pi has to face, he proves himself to be a true hero. He proves himself, not just while trapped on the lifeboat with Richard Parker, but also before the sinking of the Tsimtsum. His achievement to fulfill the heroic characteristics of Campbell’s model are evident as he goes though the three stages.