The experience of transitioning into new worlds is accompanied by unavoidable obstacles and challenge but ultimately changes a person life forever.
An individual's transition from their preliminary world into a new realm gives rise to inescapable obstacles, impediments and opportunities to discover new experiences. It may lead to detrimental or beneficial outcomes for the individual as the catalyst for the transition can be psychological. In this case, the concept is depicted in J.C Burke novel “The Story of Tom Brennan (TSTB)” as all the family members is associate with the transitioning process into a new world but some may need to overcome the barriers that prevent them from transitioning. Hindered by emotions and the unforeseeable ramifications from Mumbilli, the central figure transition into a new realm of Coghill through forming relationships and accepting advice
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Similarly, the film “The Hurricane” directed by Norman Jewison is another paradigm that highlights similar concepts to “TSTB” as it also reveals the notion of an individual breaking through their former life of crisis and despair and to be able to discover a new perception on life.
Approaching a new world will bring about motivation and perseverance in order to adapt to a new lifestyle which create abounding opportunities for growth and development. In the novel “The Story of Tom Brennan”, the central figure’s family encounter a traumatic tragedy which compel them to experience physical relocation, emotional change and mood swings. Burke effectively displays the notion of venturing into a new world through the symbolic gesture of the Brennan’s “closing the front door of their home for the last time” which symbolise the family departure from a sense of security of their past and foreshadows their profound transition into new phases of life. One of the most noticeable transition in the Brennan family is that
The hardships of the need of acceptance from others makes peoples lives complicated and confusing. These hardships affect people differently and each person deals with hardships in different ways. The decisions people make due to hardships can change who they are as a person. Jean Howarth examines the idea of responses to hardship in her short story, “The Novitiate”. She writes about a girl who must go through the hardship of choosing between her brother and her morals. The author utilizes character development to suggest that the need of acceptance can cause people to make difficult decisions in hardships, which can lead to a person breaking their own morals for the satisfaction of others.
The form of the novel’s initiatory journey’s corresponds to the three-stage progression in the anthropological studies of rites of passage. The novel begins with alienation from a close-knit and securely placed niche as Naomi Nakane lives in her warm and joyful family within Vancouver. Then, the passage proceeds to isolation in a deathlike state in which Naomi is stripped of everything. Her family is removed from its previous social niche and exiled into concentration camps. Naomi is forced to separate with parents and sent to live with aunt Obasan. Finally, the journey concludes with reintegration accompanied by an elevated status as the result of the second stage. Naomi accepts the surrogate family and develops a recognition of her past. When she gets her family’s documents and letters, Naomi finally shatters the personal and cultural veils of reticence and secrecy that have clouded her past, and reconciles herself with the facts. The three-stage initiatory journey helps to transform the protagonist from a victim of the society to a hero. The protagonist transformation illuminates the values such as redemption of sins, willing forgiveness of offenses, and so forth. Along with its motifs and symbols that allude to Christian rituals, thus, the heroic figure, Naomi, serves as a role model and gives meaning and guidance to the lives of readers thereby
The theme “rite of passage” was used in the novel A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This moving from innocence to adulthood was contained within three sets of interconnected symbols: summer and winter, the Devon and Naguamsett Rivers, and peace and war. These symbols served as a backdrop upon which the novel was developed. The loss if Gene Forrester’s innocence was examined through these motifs.
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
It is the first time that Lizabeth hears a man cry. She could not believe herself because her father is “a strong man who could whisk a child upon his shoulders and go singing through the house.” As the centre of the family and a hero in her heart, Lizabeth’s dad is “sobbing like the tiniest child”She discovers that her parents are not as powerful or stable as she thought they were. The feeling of powerlessness and fear surges within her as she loses the perfect relying on her dad. She says, “the world had lost its boundary lines.” the “smoldering emotions” and “fear unleashed by my father’s tears” had “combined in one great impulse toward
Discoveries can be emotionally meaningful and confronting, and can lead individuals to new values and changes. This is evident in the play ‘Away’ by Michael Gow which explores the self-discovery and transformations of differing characters. Through the constant problems and events of an iconic Australian trip to the coast, the character Tom realises the severity of his sickness and that there will be certain aspects of life he will never experience. Ed Sheeran’s ‘Castle on the Hill’ further emphasises the idea of experiencing new aspects of life and the importance of these. Both texts, ‘Away’ and ‘Castle on the Hill’, reflect on the transformations of an individual after the discovery of the significance of life, ultimately leading to new values.
O’Connor consciously constructs both Julian Chestny and his mother to participants of convergence and yet incapable of coalescence because of their distortion of self and reality, in part because they live in a world that supports this pretense. From the outset of the story, O’Connor builds an inane world through Julian’s limited view. Julian and his mother set out into a sky of “dying violet,” the start of their journey to reduction marked by the ending of a what should be a beautiful bloom—this imparts an uncanny sense of foreclosure to a beginning (406). Here, O’Connor already portends that their style and approach to building
Throughout the history of literature, several narrative elements become prevalent in order to effectively create an appropriate literary framework unerring to each contributing piece. In various cases, setting often marks a considerable plot drive. The two individual pieces, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, by Flannery O’Connor, appear entirely unrelated on the surface; however, they share an undeniable thematic parallel- the innumerable facets that setting encompasses often prompts individuals to persist in a specific manner impartial to their well being. Whether fighting for life in the desolate ocean, or vulnerably anticipating death, surrounded by the seemingly endless woodlands, characters must learn to adapt to their given circumstances. As leading protagonists, Pi and the grandmother adjust to their environments and process what remains to contend with, evolving accordingly for survival. Although in Pi’s situation he battles physically, both he and the grandmother emotionally confront their hardships, coping with both inward battles and personal seclusion. Their minds create an imaginative world which they utilize as a form of protection.
In James Joyce’s Dubliners, his writing establish many feelings of escape from reality and life throughout the story of “The Sisters.” The characters tend to escape through journeys. To begin, in the “The Sisters,” after the death of Father Flynn, the boy realizes as he takes a long walk that he has fantasized of being away from everyone and everything: “As I walked along […] I felt that I had been very far away, in some land where the customs were strange – in Persia, I thought. … But I could not remember the end of the dream” (Joyce 5-6). The boy dreams of being away from reality in an entirety where he journeys alone to escape everyday life in Dublin. A second journey which introduces the theme of escape is when Eliza remembers the time that her brother, Father Flynn, spoke o...
James Joyce is the author of Dubliners, a compilation of Irish short stories that reflect on the feelings he associates with the city of Dublin, where he grew up in a large impoverished family. After he graduated from the University College, Dublin, Joyce went to live abroad in Paris, France. This action indicates a sense of entrapment that led to his desire to escape. The situations in his stories differ significantly, but each character within these stories experiences this sense of escape that Joyce had. In “An Encounter”, two boys make their first real move at being independent by skipping school to explore Dublin. In “Eveline”, the main character has a choice between taking care of her unstable father or leaving him to lead a new life with a man she has been seeing. In Joyce’s story, “The Dead,” a young man is thrown into deep human assessment, becomes unsure of who he is, and soon after is frightened of this newly discovered truth. The stories in Dubliners implicate this need for independence through characters in different situations and experiencing the feeling of entrapment.
James Joyce created a collection of short stories in Dubliners describing the time and place he grew up in. At the time it was written, Joyce intends to portray to the people of Dublin the problems with the Irish lifestyles. Many of these stories share a reoccurring theme of a character’s desire to escape his or her responsibilities in regards to his relationship with his, job, money situation, and social status; this theme is most prevalent in After the Race, Counterparts, and The Dead.
In Dubliners, James Joyce tells short stories of individuals struggling with life, in the city of Dublin. “It is a long road that has no turning” (Irish Proverb). Many individuals fight the battle and continue on the road. However, some give up and get left behind. Those who continue to fight the battle, often deal with constant struggle and suffering. A reoccurring theme, in which Joyce places strong emphasis on, is the constant struggle of fulfilling responsibilities. These responsibilities include; work, family and social expectations. Joyce writes about these themes because characters often feel trapped and yearn to escape from these responsibilities. In “The Little Cloud”, “Counterparts”, and “The Dead” characters are often trapped in unhappy living situations, often leading to a desire of escape from reality and daily responsibilities.
Acceptance of who we are plays a large part in the overall theme of “rite of passage” in the story. The young girl is opposed to the thought of working for her mother at the beginning, but eventually comes to a realization that it is her pre-determined fate to fit the mould of the gender stereotype. Through the girl’s hardships, she accepts the fact that her younger brother, Laird, is now the man that his father needs for help, and she takes her place in womanhood. The story embodies gender identity and stereotypes, as a young child moves into adulthood. The fact that our rite of passage is unavoidable proves that we must all go through our own journeys to find our own true identity.
Throughout life, we are faced with endings that are challenging to accept, and those challenges can also create undesirable occurrences that are inevitable. While most transitions are uncomfortable, the process of accepting a new journey is essential for personal growth. Ending a comfortable way of life and entering into an unknown territory can be an intimidating experience which can force a person to stay in their comfort zone. Why do new experiences make individuals feel lost or undecided about their direction in life? In Transitions: Making sense of life’s changes, the author William Bridges, guides his readers through three stages of change, which include, the ending, the neutral zone, and new beginnings. According to Bridges, transitions start with an ending, however, it is the ending that starts with a beginning. Part of the beginning and ending process is an important portion of the cycle, barriers have to end in
To begin something new, you must sacrifice something old. To enter the real world, you must graduate your childhood.