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Seed
of Sarah by Judith Magyar Isaacson
Reviewed by
Emily
Seed of Sarah takes place between the
years of 1939
and 1945, during World War II, one of the most devastating wars in
human history. One of the most significant events that
occurred
during the war was the Holocaust. Hitler, and his Nazi party,
wanted to eliminate all people that followed the Jewish
religion.
The Jews were sent to concentration camps where they were deprived of
food and water, and placed in harsh living conditions.
Although
many didn’t know this at the time, the Jews were being
marched
straight to their deaths.
Judith Magyar was a teenage girl who
lived in
Kaposvar, Hungary. She was a great student at the school
which
she attended and lived a peaceful life. When the war broke
out,
the Nazis started announcing that all Jews were bad people, and that
they did not have the right to the privileges of life. Jewish
men, women, and children were all required to wear a yellow band around
their arm just to identify them as Jews. The Jews were not
treated with respect throughout the European countries.
Judith
along with her mother and aunt were later forced out of their homes and
into dreadful concentration camps. Judith and many other Jews
realized that they were no longer looking from the outside in on the
war, but were a part of it.
From the moment the Jews were placed
into the train
cars to be transported to the camps, they were treated
brutally.
In each car, they were given one cup of water to share; one sip of
water per person. Many became ill within the first three days
of
the period of great suffering that they would soon face. When
the
Jewish women reached the concentration camps, they were shaved and put
in dresses that had been worn by other women previously.
While
reading these sections, I remember squinting my eyes in disbelief as I
tried to imagine how cruel some humans can be to
others. As
a young Jewish girl, I know that if I were living in those times in
Europe, I would probably be in the same situation Judith was
in.
From past studies, I had learned that the Jews were tortured every hour
of every day. From reading this book, I have learned more
about
the history of the Jews in World War II and what some Jews had to go
through to survive the Holocaust. I am glad to know that, in
such
harsh times, Judith still found ways to survive and be happy.
In
the end, her life was changed forever, but it wasn’t ruined.
The most critical moment in the whole
story, and
also the climax, was when the Jews first came to the death
camps.
At first, they were unloaded from the box cars by men that threw them
on the ground. They looked around to see where they were, and
saw
large numbers of dead or near dead bodies piled up in great
mounds. It amazes me that those people were no longer treated
as
living humans with thoughts and feelings, but instead as just
objects. While they were still arriving, the Jews were forced
to
take off all their clothing and were shaved from head to toe.
The
only difference between the men’s and woman’s
appearances
where the light and ragged cloths they got to wear. What
bothers
me is that most of the time that the Jews were imprisoned at the camps,
they didn’t know why they were being forced into these
conditions.
I believe that today, people think of
World War II
and the Nazi invasions as some of the cruelest moments in world
history. It is great that now it doesn’t matter
what
religion you follow; most everyone gets equal rights in the United
States and various other countries. Because this book is a
primary source of information, I am not sure if any of the facts are
stretched or exaggerated. I do know the horrors of the
Holocaust,
even without being exaggerated, are still unbelievable. I
commend
Judith Magyar Isaacson for the bravery she showed throughout her
experiences in the camps. I also thank her for broadening my
understanding of the Holocaust and for sharing her story of survival
with the world.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Reviewed by Michael
There are two different settings in the book Dracula and both of them
are very different from one another. One of them is Transylvania
and the other is London. The story begins in Transylvania then goes to
London and finally finishes back in Transylvania. These two
places could not differ any more. Transylvania is an isolated
place full of wild animals, castles, weird people, and is very spooky.
Because of Transylvania’s isolation, the people there have
developed strange customs and behaviors. London is a bustling
English city that is full of people. London has always been one
of the biggest cities in Europe, and at this time in the world it is
the center of the world. London is a thriving city where people
from all over the world come together; it is basically the equivalent
of present day New York City. From the clues suggested in the
story, Bram Stoker makes us assume that the time period that this book
takes place is around 1890. The way that the author
sets us up for this story is very unique. He first starts with
the notion that count Dracula is a very normal person. But, we
quickly find out that he isn’t and we then realize that he is a
vampire. The reason that Jonathan Harker is visiting Transylvania
is so that he can sell Count Dracula a piece of land in London.
The way that Bram Stoker sets us up for the story is not very discrete
and I instantly know that because Dracula is moving to a big city that
it will become a problem and will eventually lead to our story.
Throughout the story, Bram Stoker uses many different methods to hold
the suspense in the story. The most common method that he uses is
that he often created cliffhangers. This is when he cuts short an
exciting scene and quickly changes the topic, leaving me wondering what
will happen. An example of this would be something like, “I
looked up and saw that Dracula had me cornered”. This sentence
would end a chapter and the next chapter would begin something like
this “it was a lovely day back in London”. By doing
this, Bram Stoker could intrigue a reader and hook them so that they
read more and more.
The characters in the book Dracula are very strange. The cast is
made up of doctors, lawyers, young men, and even a man who runs an
insane asylum. All of these characters have their own unique
abilities and they all use them to contribute to the plot against
Dracula. Most of these characters are very intelligent people who
seem curious and brave enough to hunt down Dracula. Although all
of these characters are smart, only one of them knows anything about
vampires, Dr. Van Helsing. He seems to be experienced when
dealing with vampires and he knows all of their weaknesses. Dr.
Van Helsing spreads his knowledge of vampires and he is the one that
leads the hunt to kill Dracula.
One of the most strange and vulnerable characters in the story is
Lucy. From when I first meet her, I know that Lucy will be a
victim at some point in the story. She seems to be a very
vulnerable person and has a certain carelessness about her that makes
me believe she will be attacked. She exhibits some strange
behaviors such as sleep walking and these behaviors put her at
risk. Her sleepwalking combined with her careless attitude and
vulnerability spell disaster and she becomes one of Dracula’s
first victims. Mixed feelings are involved when it comes to
determining whether the main characters are in danger or not.
Some of them like Lucy and Mina (the two women in the story) are quite
often in danger. Jonathan Harker also seems to be in danger at
the beginning of the book when he becomes a prisoner at Count
Dracula’s castle. The other characters in the story often
have close encounters with Dracula but they never seem to become a
target of his, so for the most part they don’t seem to be in much
danger.
The most obvious horror in this book is Dracula and his vampire
minions. Bram Stoker most definitely presents the vampires as an
absolute evil that must be exterminated. Stoker does hint though
that becoming a vampire is a terrible fate and that it is only their
instinct to hunt down people. The characters do seem to think
that we should be sympathetic for vampires but they realize that they
are evil and must be eliminated. Stoker definitely makes Dracula
look like a greatly intimidating figure. He does this especially
when he has Dr. Van Helsing explain to the other characters what powers
Dracula has. This list of powers seems to make Dracula out to be
some extraordinary monster that can not be defeated. The list is
so long and scary sounding. Dr Van Helsing says that vampires are
extremely clever, stronger than twenty men, have no shadow or
reflection, can create storms and produce fog, and can command animals
such as owls, rats and wolves. He also says that they can turn
into wolves, bats, or any other creature, can see in the dark, can
become small enough to slip through tiny holes or cracks, and they can
vanish into thin air. As you can see, Stoker really makes the
vampires out to be something undefeatable. In most of the horror
books that I’ve read, the weakness of the evil is discovered at
some time in the book and this enables the evil to be destroyed.
In Dracula however, Dr. Van Helsing already seems to know all of the
vampire’s weaknesses. There is quite a lengthy list of
weaknesses as well as there are strengths but Dracula still turns out
to be a formidable opponent. The weaknesses that vampires have
are that they constantly need blood to live and be strong; they can
only enter a house if they are invited, when the day comes they must
rest in large coffins made of dirt. They can only change forms at
sunrise, noon, or sunset, and they can only pass over water with the
help of another person or at a full tide. Things that weaken
vampires are garlic and sacred symbols like holy water or a crucifix.
The only things that can truly kill a vampire is driving a stake
through its heart or cutting off its head.
In the final solution to killing Dracula, a stake is driven through his
heart as he sleeps in his coffin. Though Stoker made Dracula seem
undefeatable, he also hinted that Dracula could be defeated by giving
this creature all of these weaknesses. Many attempts were made to
kill Dracula but none of them paid off until the end of the book when
Dracula was finally killed.
The theme that Stoker constantly draws on throughout the story is the
fight between good and evil. In this book the good are constantly
fighting against and resisting the evil of the bad; in this case the
good are Harker, Van Helsing, and all of those people and the bad are
Dracula and his minions.
I personally believe that there is always a way to conquer fears.
Whether it is a real fear like arachnophobia, or a monster that lives
in the closet that has been made up in one’s own imagination,
there is always a way to conquer fear. It might be to sleep in a
parent’s room, spray spider killer all over the house, or just be
courageous. In this book, everyone seems to be brave enough to
want to fight Dracula, even Mina the woman. The only time anyone
in the book was scared was Jonathan Harker on his trip to
Transylvania. He was so terrified that he attempted to climb out
of a window to make his escape. I think that humans definitely
create their own monsters. Whether it was to scare the children
or what, I can’t be sure. But I do know that all of these
creatures come straight from our imagination. When lying in our
beds trying to get some sleep, everything seems to become a
monster. The sweater hanging in the closet becomes a beast just
waiting for us to fall asleep. With all the horror movies and
books out there today I think that the world does really create its own
imaginary monsters. However, in the book Dracula, we did not
create this monster using our mere imaginations. In the story it
is said that Dracula created himself by practicing black magic which
caused him to “slip into the hands of the devil”. In this
particular case, vampires were not created by people, people just
happen to be the prey of vampires.
Bram Stoker did a very good job throughout the book maintaining the
suspense. There were very few spots in the story that became dull
and as I was reading the book I found that it was difficult to find a
good stopping point. Stoker did a great job keeping the
excitement level up throughout the book and as I said before he did
this by not only having a lot of action in the book but by also using
methods such as cliffhangers. I thought that Stoker did a great
job making everything in this book believable enough to be scary.
I don’t think that I ever second guessed Stoker at any time in
the book because he did a great job holding my attention. This goes
with how he held the suspense in the book because I think that suspense
is one way to get a readers attention. I was very hooked and just
couldn’t put this book down because I was so anxious to read more
and more. When this happens, I know that I must be reading a good
book. I thought that overall the book was pretty good. The actual
story was good and I have always been intrigued by vampires and other
things of that sort. Once again, I have to bring up the amount of
suspense in this book because I think that is what really turned this
book from average, into really good. There were few weaknesses in
this book. The one major weakness that the book had was the
plotting of it. The story often shifted from place to place and
that was slightly confusing. However, I think that Dracula is
definitely at least a nine out of ten and I would suggest it to anyone
that hasn’t read it yet.
African Myths and Legends by Philip Ardagh
Reviewed by Michael
The
book that I read was called “African Myths and Legends” by
Philip Ardagh. It focused on all of the different cultures
throughout Africa, so there really wasn’t one specific
culture. A vast and geographically varied continent, Africa is
home to many great cultures. The different tribes from Africa are
very unique but also have many similarities. Africa has a very
diverse geographical terrain. Depending on the place that the
tribe originates from, the myths may differ. This is because
myths (in every culture) reflect the environment. Myths from the
mountainous region of Norway reflect the environment by suggesting that
the mountains are “sleeping giants”. One of
Africa’s most common geographical features is the deserts and
grasslands. These places are well known for their lack of water
in the dry season. Many of the African myths are about how the
rains come such as the story of the rain god and the story of
god’s tears. Nevertheless, these are all examples of how
myths reflect the environment. This book focused mostly on the
three tribes that still believe in their myths today. Each one of
the tribes is situated in their own respective countries. These
three countries are all very close together and the result is that the
tribes have blended somewhat making their myths rather similar.
Also, the landscape of these countries is practically the same.
The three tribes and their respective countries are the Ashanti of
Ghana, the Yoruba of Benin, and the Abayon of Nigeria. Africa has
the most number of third world countries than any other
continent. Most African countries are not very technologically
advanced and this is probably the reason that they stick to their old
myths and beliefs. The myths of these tribes can almost be said
to be a religion. This is because the people of these tribes all
fervently believe in and practice their myths/religion. Like the
myths of most other cultures, Africans strongly believe in the presence
of gods. They worship gods and make sacrifices in order to please
them. The mythology that these tribes follow today is the same as
it was generations and generations before them. Their
civilizations have not advanced much at all and their myths have (for
the most part) stayed the same. Because the African tribes are so
primitive (by our standards) and there is no written language, most all
African myths and legends have been handed down orally though the
generations and told as stories.
The book that I read was a collection of myths and legends. There
is a difference between the two that is quite easily
distinguishable. The dictionary definition of a myth is a
traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero
or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural
explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or gods and
explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature (according to
Reference.com). The dictionary definition of a legend is a
non-historical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from
earlier times and popularly accepted as historical (also according to
Reference.com). The difference between them is that a myth is
something made up to explain a certain natural phenomenon; myths use
fiction and often have gods with superhuman abilities and such; they
are mostly believed to be not literally true. On the other hand,
legends are based on fact and are usually fact; they may be
exaggerations of another story; they usually have a human hero in them
and are regarded as the true story. An example of a myth from
this book was the story, “The Fight with Death”. In
the story, an ancient Yoruba tribe stationed in the desert is slowly
dying off because the creator Amman forgot to give the world
water. When the man Death (the grim reaper) walked into the
tribes’ camp to finish off the last of the people, he was
confronted by the leader of the Yoruba tribe. The leader made a
deal with Death, “we will fight” he said, “If you win
you can kill us all, but if I win you will give me the power to grant
life”. They agreed and then commenced to fight. Some
say the fight lasted for days or even weeks. It is said that only
one with supernatural strength could withstand Death and the Yoruba
leader had this power. Eventually the Yoruba leader prevailed and
defeated Death. Death gave him the ability to grant life by
making him the rain god. He was given the ability to create life
by bringing the rain to the Earth. This makes sense because all
of life in the African desert revolves around water and the
rains. This is a myth for two reasons, there are supernatural
forces at work (Yoruba’s strength) and there is an explanation of
the natural phenomenon (the coming of the rains).
There are three themes that apply to myths of all cultures. The
first is that there is no such thing as a free gift from the gods;
there is always a price. The second is that mankind was created
for the entertainment of the gods. The third is, don’t mess
with the gods because you can’t possibly win.
The first theme is that there is no such thing as a free gift.
This theme appears in many myths throughout all the different
cultures. The only story in this book that clearly exemplifies
this concept was “The Farmer of the Bush”. In the
story, a young man was presented with a huge area of land for him to
farm. This was a present from the Bush Spirits, the gods of
deception (not to his knowledge). They told him that they were
giving the land to him for his own good so he could have a place to
farm. Thus, he was compelled to “farm the bush”
because he had a hearty desire to be rich. At the end of the
story he finds out that he had been tricked. The Bush Spirits,
who were assumed to be nice and generous people, had deceived
him. The Spirits said that he could farm the wild land, but never
said he could keep his crop and make a profit. After all of the
hard work that he had put into farming the bush, his crop was greedily
taken away by the Bush Spirits; they didn’t leave him one
stalk. This definitely shows how there is no such thing as a free
gift from the gods. It’s almost like seeing a sign that
says “Free Puppies” on the side of the road. Most
people think, “Wow free puppies” but obviously a puppy
isn’t free. They find that out about a month into owning
the puppy when they’ve already spent about a thousand dollars on
it. The gods are almost like cell phone salesmen; they introduce
all the pros of their product but are never informative of the cons
until the very end. Basically, when it comes to the gods (and
puppies and cell phone salesmen) there is no such thing as a free gift;
there’s always a catch.
The second theme is that mankind was created for the entertainment of
the gods. This theme basically portrays that men are just pawns
that the gods use in life. The story in this book that best shows
that theme was the story of “How Humans and the Animals
Came”. First the African gods created humans and all the
animals. Secondly they chose the most intelligent of all their
creations (humans) to send down to Earth. The gods made it so the
humans were lacking several extremely important things: water, fire,
and food. The gods were amused by the struggling of humans to
stay alive. This was a very cruel humor because a lot of people
died painful deaths at the expense of their laughter. Eventually
the humans rose above expectations and discovered water and fire.
To get food they had to steal the rest of the animals from the gods
(which brings me to the next theme) and take them down to Earth.
But as you can see the gods are not very compassionate towards mankind.
The third theme is “Don’t mess with the gods; you
can’t possibly win”. The story that best exemplifies
this concept is the one that I used to represent the last theme with,
the story of “How Humans and the Animals Came”.
However, this time I will explain the end of the story as well as the
beginning. I last left off where the humans had to steal the
other animals from the gods to have food. The gods did not like
being messed with (or stolen from) one bit. They felt almost as
if they had been outsmarted by the humans, and that really made them
angry. The punishment that the humans received was that their
intelligence was taken away and they were turned into monkeys.
Fortunately and luckily for the humans, the gods forgot that they had
given the animals the ability to evolve. The monkeys evolved into
the humans that there are today. Some other examples of this
theme from Greek mythology are listed here. Prometheus messed
with Zeus and was pinned to a rock where an eagle ate out his liver
everyday; Tantalus was tortured between grapes and water; Arachni
challenged Athena to a sowing contest and (whether she won or lost, it
didn’t matter, she messed with a god) was turned into a
spider. As you can probably see, the punishments for messing with
the gods are always very severe and it’s just something that one
is not advised to do.
One of the other themes of myths is that of Hubris. Basically
what it means is, don’t get arrogant; no human can be more
powerful than the gods; those special traits that raise you up, will
also bring you down; take nothing for granted. This book had one
story that exemplified Hubris very well. That story was called
“The Children of the Gourds”. In the story, there is
a very old, poor, and lonely woman. She has nobody to keep her
company and she desperately wants to have children; but it is obviously
too late for that. The gods pity her and eventually come up with
an idea to help her. They send her four magical children to keep
her company. The children and the old woman come to love each
other very much. However, one day, one of the children
accidentally spills soup all over the floor. The old woman gets
mad and harshly scolds the child to a point where it cries. When
the gods see this, they immediately whisk her children away from
her. She showed Hubris because she became arrogant and took her
wonderful children for granted. The old woman died sad and alone.
The African culture is very different from most other cultures but also
has many similarities. One of the biggest connections between
African and most other cultures is that their myths both represent the
environment. While the African desert myths differ much from the
Norwegian mountain myths, they are similar in the way that they both
reflect the unique environment of those places. Another thing
that I find to be the same is all of the themes that I talked about;
that there is no such thing as a free gift from the gods; mankind was
created for the entertainment of the gods; don’t mess with the
gods; and Hubris. Most myths from all cultures has all of these
themes in it. Similar to learning styles and archetypes, certain
themes are present more than others and some don’t seem to be
there at all. Another similarity between all myths is that there
are most always gods and some kind of supernatural powers. The
difference between myths totally depends on the culture and where it is
located. Certainly you can not assume that Inuit (Eskimo)
mythology can be the same as Egyptian when they are in totally opposite
places. However, there are some universal questions that are
asked by all cultures and are found in their myths. I personally
find it appealing to read about all kinds of different myths and
creation theories and then compare them to one another. It is
interesting to see what has influenced certain cultures and their
myths. I don’t see how people can actually still believe in
these myths when they have magic, superpowers, fiction in them. I
find them fun to read but I will definitely not be converting to any
myth-based belief system in the near future.
Archetype written by Emily
An archetype is “a common character type, a
symbol or relationship.” (The Writer’s Journey) The
Swiss psychologist Carl G. Jung thinks of archetypes as “ancient
patterns of personality that are shared heritage of the human
race”. A direct definition of the word is, “an
inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that
is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the
unconscious of the individual.” (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary) These characteristics are found in all of us, but are
mostly portrayed in myths or fairy tales. Archetypes are
recognized in the characters of these stories. The hero, victim,
villain and others all show their own archetypes in typical
stories. One character may show more than one archetype at a time
or may change archetypes throughout the story as they mature or learn
more about themselves. I believe that an archetype is a way of
living and a way of facing success and challenge throughout life.
Some of the basic archetypes discussed in class are
the wanderer, warrior, orphan, martyr, and magician. There are
other archetypes, but these are some of the most common. The
wanderer starts a journey in captivity that they imagine and soon views
society as a prison. Wanderers do not follow tradition and the
journey is individuation and learning of how to be a unique
being. Cleopatra is an example of a wanderer because she wanted
to stand out from the rest of her siblings. She wanted complete
power over Egypt and would kill her siblings to do so.
The warrior lives by the rules and sticks to the code or
a belief system. The warrior has to have an enemy or needs to be
involved in battle. The search for individuation is part of the
journey. When up against the Dragon, the warrior stays and fights
to eventually win. In the book Ithaka, Odysseus sets off to fight
in the Trojan War. Odysseus is an example of a warrior who stays
and faces every challenge that he meets. He fights for ten long
years to return to his family and home.
The orphan feels that someone must always protect him and
that he cannot take care of himself. When faced with a challenge,
the orphan denies that it even exists. In the book Zlata’s
Diary, Zlata thinks that the world is safe and nothing like war could
ever happen in her country. She can’t believe it when war
breaks out.
The martyr is characterized by giving to others only to
expect something in return. There is fear in not being
appreciated. In the book Seed of Sarah, Judith fears that she
will not be appreciated when reading her poem to the audience and, in
return, will not get any applause. She fears that her religion
may distract people from the person she truly is on the inside.
The magician appreciates any amount of anything that is
given. Magicians take responsibility for their lives by simply
living their own lives. Lyddie, from the book Lyddie by Katherine
Paterson, is an example of a magician. She goes through many hard
times and always finds the good from within the bad.
The archetypes that most typify me are the martyr
and the warrior. These two archetypes are the ones that the self
test revealed for me. As a martyr, I feel that I give and do a
lot to make others happy, but don’t always expect something in
return. Maybe there is something hidden inside that I will
discover through the individuation process. Throughout the past
years, I have realized that some of my beliefs are completely different
from my peers and others around me. Through that process I have
thought of myself as a unique individual. I have realized that
others in society have their own beliefs and feelings about things and
that it is okay for people to have different beliefs and that my
beliefs can be different from others.
In life right now, I face the challenge of squeezing
all the sports, school work and other activities into the short
twenty-four hour days. I have been able to do all these things
successfully with a lot of effort, but sometimes I feel that I
don’t spend time just for myself, away from the hectic
schedule. I enjoy everything that I do in my life so I
don’t want to stop any of these activities. I, like Lyddie,
am taking one moment at a time. I have learned to forget the
homework situation during a sports practice and be ready to get to work
when I get home. I have great family and friends that will
support me in whatever I choose in life. Sometimes when I’m
stressed, and I feel like things aren’t going to get better, I
think of the people that I love and know that I am being loved back.
Another way to identify a character is by their
learning style. Connections can be made between the learning
styles and the archetypes. One of the connections I made was
between the martyr and the abstract random. The martyr gives to
others and expects something in return. An abstract sequential is
thought of as a teacher pleaser; they please the teacher and expect to
get a good grade in return. There are many other connections that
can be made. As well as the learning styles, the archetypes have
taught me more about myself. By learning about the ways of living
that characters follow, I have learned new characteristics that I see
developing inside of my self.
Archetype written by Melissa
In reading, and in life, we come across certain character types, and
qualities that pop up everywhere we look. These characteristics are
called archetypes. "Patterns of emotional and mental behavior in people
... Examples would be the need to find meaning in something greater
than ourselves, the urge to nurture, to mate, to create, to organize,
to lead, to be self sufficient." is what Google Dictionary tells me,
summing archetypes up in just a few words. However, there is so much
more to them than can be explained in a mere dictionary definition.
People see archetypes everywhere, whether or not they are looking for
them. The doting mother who gives but never gets anything in return,
the lone traveler searching for himself, or the orphan who cries "Save
me!", they are all ways that people live everyday. In some places, one
might be a martyr, and in another one might be a magician.
Starting from what seems to be the least knowledgeable of the
archetypes, we find the innocent, who knows nothing of themselves, or
that he or she is different from others. According to Carolyn Pearsons
book The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By”, an innocent
often uses gender roles. The woman wants to be taken care of by the
man, he will protect her. Where as for the man, a woman’s job is
to "please" him, and support him. Neither one of them treat the other
as a real person, they treat each other as a tool for living.
Eventually though, the innocent discovers that there is more to life
than themselves. They realize that not everyone loves them, and that
life isn't always fair. This is where the shield of the innocent falls
away, and they become the orphan. For example, Adam and Eve were
innocents until they resisted the rules of God, and ate from The Tree
of Knowledge. Doing so made them realize that they are apart from God,
and if there is an "I" there must also be a "you".
Once the loss of innocence has occurred, the innocent is now an orphan.
The orphan says, "I need to be saved. Somebody save me." For the
orphan, nothing is their fault. All of their suffering is caused by the
world around them, and has nothing to do with them. Orphans want
desperately to be taken care of, they would rather be taken care of
than take care of themself. After a while, the orphan realizes that in
order to receive love, they must love others as well. Therefore
transforming into the martyr archetype. A character from a book that
goes through this transformation is Mia Thermopolis from The Princess
Diaries by Meg Cabott. She starts off as a "woe is me" kind of girl, a
geeky tenth grader who can't speak in front of crowds, and she doesn't
believe any of it to be her fault. Even after she finds out she is a
princess she continues to act this way, until she realizes that this
role is about others as well as herself, and that in order to gain the
respect of others, she must first respect them. The martyr says, "I
love you, so that you will love me." The martyr on the lower level is
begging, and loves merely to get something in return. They love people
for the wrong reasons, just to be loved themselves. Martyrs believe
that they are sacrificing for others, but there is no such thing as
sacrifice. "Nature abhors a vacuum-the hole will be filled." Meaning
that if one gives something up, they didn't need it anymore, and the
whole will be filled. On a higher level, the martyr truly loves people,
but still wants appreciation for their 'sacrifice'. They give things up
in their own life just so that another may notice that they've lessened
their own life for the others life to benefit.
After the martyr stage, it isn't exactly specified which archetype is
next. Sometimes a person will go straight from orphan to warrior,
martyr to warrior, or martyr to wanderer. There is no exact science to
the order in which archetypes happen. The wanderer starts out life
stuck within the status quo. They realize that they are their own
person, and want to break out of the image that society has formed them
into to define themselves. The wanderer realizes that in order to love
other people, they must first love and know themself. The only pitfall
of the wanderer is that they feel like there is not enough in the world
for everyone, that they must hold on to what is theirs because everyone
is scrounging to have enough. The job of the wanderer is to find out
what the fear is, what their 'dragon' is, and in doing so, finding
themself and perhaps God. Once the wanderer has returned to their
community, they can take on the warrior archetype.
The warrior realizes that the people around them don't always have the
ability to save them, and therefore take it upon themselves to do their
own saving. They go by a code, a strict set of rules to follow, and
they are constantly in a competition. Whether it be academic, sports,
or business, there must always be a winner and a loser, and always an
enemy. A warrior finds it necessary to force blame on other people.
They go by the 'melodramatic' way of life, good is good, bad is bad,
and there is no in between. There is a hero, a victim, and a villain.
On a higher level they realize that they cannot in fact force others to
believe what they believe, they can only do what they think is best
following their own set of rules.
Finally, we arrive at the magician archetype. In a sense this archetype
is a return to a smarter innocence. The magician is at peace with
himself, humanity, and his or her spiritual beliefs. They come to
realize that everything will be provided for them eventually, and that
there is enough in the world for everyone. Instead of forcing beliefs
on people like the warrior, the magician gives them options to choose
from. They begin to see that they create their own life along with God,
not apart, and see how although they cause what happens in their lives,
they need not be blamed or shamed for it. In The Farming of Bones by
Edwidge Danticat, Amabelle is a Haitian woman in the time of the
Haitian Massacre finally finds peace with herself, God, and her country
at the end of the book. She finally comes to terms with what has
happened in her life, and just lets go. The magician recognizes the
fact that everyone and everything has its place, not by forcing change,
by helping to magnify the person within.
At the beginning of the school year, I was clearly a martyr, although I
believe I was on the higher level. I would tag along people, and be
there right when they needed it so that I would always be on their good
side, so that they would see what a good person I was. Slowly, I
realized this was not the way to go about showing someone that I love
them. For most of this year, I played the lover, and destroyer along
with the martyr. My heart discovered what love felt like at just about
the worst time possible, and it was completely out of my control. I
knew there was nothing I could possibly do and that just made me hold
on to it tighter, which didn't help any. After mixing that with the
destroyer archetype, I realized that I just needed to let go of it, as
hard as it would be. Because I began to see that I didn't have to stop
loving, I just had to change the form of love that I was feeling. And
when I let go, I also let go of the destroyer and lover in me. That is
when I think I took on sort of a wanderer and magician archetype. I'm
really at peace with myself, and my decisions in life so far, but I'm
also like every other teenage in the world, trying to figure out who I
am apart from my family. Lately I've been on the track to figuring out
my sexual orientation, and I've now acknowledged and accepted that I
love people, not for their anatomy, but for what is inside.
The challenges I've faced this year have deflated in size, but I know
that different ones will always pop up again. Before my challenge was
morphing my love to fit the person I was in love with, I couldn't love
them romantically, so I had to morph it to just love them a lot as a
person. It was a lot easier said than done, and while doing so I went
through a pretty serious bout of depression. My strategies for coping
weren't the best, and that was when I started to become a destroyer.
Self mutilation was a definite addictive pitfall this year, but I am
getting help for it, and the destroyer’s addiction is slowly
going away. I'm trying to figure out different methods of coping with
these problems, because self harm doesn't help, it makes it worse.
Writing in a journal usually has a more successful effect, because it
doesn't hurt anyone and I actually figure out what my feelings are.
Archetypes are everywhere, whether we see them or not, sometimes they
change so fast we don't even realize it. Just like learning styles, we
all have every type in us, but some shine through more than others.
That’s not the only connection though, archetypes and learning
styles fit together. Concrete randoms seem like they would be the
wanderer type, doing things their own way and not conforming to
society. Concrete sequential is a lot like the warrior in the way that
they use blame shifting to get out of situations, and they both follow
a code. Abstract sequentials are teacher pleasers, like martyrs, and
they both seek the praise and appreciation of others. Abstract randoms
are like the magicians for their people skills, both are good at
pleasing people and like to be with people. As for me, I've enjoyed
this study on archetypes so much, it really helped me through some
times where I didn't understand a situation, and then the next day in
class we'd talk about something that connected to my situation, and it
would make everything better. I learned so much about myself in this
unit, why I do the things I do for others affection, why I have a hard
time letting go of things, and my issues with change. I know that I
will remember what I've learned here for years to come, in reading, in
writing, and in life.
Augustus Caesar by Nancy Zinsser Walworth
Reviewed by Nate
Augustus Caesar lived during the birth of the first
century, and many years before/after that. He was born Octavian in 62
B.C., when the Republic of Rome had just fallen and gone into the hands
of brutal dictators. The country was more or less on a downward spiral.
Rome was steadily worsening in leadership and appearance, and its peace
was threatened by the ongoing threat of barbaric tribes that did not
appreciate Roman rule. Although Octavian never got to meet his father,
family was always important to him. As his life progressed, politics
took center stage, but he always found time and love for his family.
Although most of his life was incredibly busy and stressful, he never
forgot how to relax and have a good time. His overall efficiency and
kindness were what really pulled Rome out of its sickly state. He
changed the course of the times and of world history forever.
Octavian had the luck of being grand-nephew to
Julius Caesar, the most powerful man in Rome. Julius was a brilliant
general and ruled Rome as a dictator. He had neither son nor grandson
to whom he could pass on his power. Therefore, his only real options
for successor were his three great-nephews. Julius took a special
liking to the youngest, Octavian, and placed the young boy in his
military. The boy’s strong mind, perseverance, and wisdom shone
even at his young age. This is probably what attracted Julius to him
from the start, and is the reason that Octavian would later overcome
great odds. He had the great potential, even as a boy, to be a great
leader. Octavian saw his great-uncle’s pride in him, and as a
result was very excited and influenced to think about politics. A few
months later, Julius was brutally murdered, and Octavian found, to his
great surprise, that Julius had adopted him and left the throne to him,
along with three quarters of his fortune! Taking his rightful place as
leader proved to be a hard task for young Octavian, who had been
plagued with ill health since early childhood. The country was on the
brink of falling apart, with crumbling buildings and violence in the
streets. Many of his step-father’s colleagues immediately made
him their enemy, out of sheer frustration and jealousy, thinking that
they were the ones who truly deserved to be the next Caesar. Countless
people began plotting nineteen-year-old Octavian’s
downfall….
Octavian ultimately destroyed his adversaries, and
pulled Rome out of its predicament. He proved to be far superior to any
of his political rivals. His first major success was his defeat of
Sextus in Sicily, who was blocking Rome’s food and trade ships
from ever reaching port. This was a major success because the country
as a whole recognized and celebrated his victory. He suddenly had major
civilian support. Another military success was shown in the battle of
Actium, where he defeated his old ally Mark Antony and the Egyptian
queen Cleopatra in a long sea battle. Antony once had been as powerful
a figure as Octavian in Rome, but became a traitor to Rome after
falling in love with Cleopatra in Egypt. The Roman people had been
following the story and Octavian received another hero’s welcome
upon arrival back on home ground. At this point, he was just as
powerful as Julius had ever been. It was victories like these, along
with his expansion and repair of the country that would periodically
re-cement his power and reputation among the people of Rome. Octavian
himself got used to such victories, and often did not have a splendid
reaction to them. It was when his forces made missteps that he had
extreme reactions: extremely bad reactions. A certain example of this
was when Roman legions were in Germany, under the command of General
Quintilius Varus, and were led directly into a valley where they were
attacked from all sides and obliterated. Caesar was recalled to have
banged his head against a stone wall upon hearing the news, while
screaming, “QUINTILIUS VARUS, GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!!!”
Public reaction to such losses was hardly as extreme, being as most of
the population trusted Octavian and realized that their country was
really in a good state. In fact it was this recognition that resulted
in the 27 B.C. name change of Octavian to Augustus, meaning,
“blessed, majestic, and sacred.”
The author approached talk of this mythic individual
very professionally. She did not make much personal commentary or give
any personal opinions. She stayed very neutral and instead focused on
his factual accomplishments. I was really impressed at just how much he
did for the world, facing such incredible odds, and doing so much of it
at such a young age. I had never really studied a figure with such a
story. Augustus was still very human though; by no means perfect.
Although he may have been an ingenious politician and leader, several
aspects of his life suffered in comparison. Although by any other
standards but his own, he would be considered a good general, his
talents in this field were limited and paled in comparison to his real
strengths. He was so busy running the world’s most powerful
country that he lacked much time for hobbies, or anything with which he
could “get away from it all.” Augustus’s family life
was far from perfect, and was sometimes hurt by the more pressing
issues in his life. His daughter Julia, for example, got fed up with
her father’s pressure on her to produce a possible successor to
the throne and became a rebel. She adopted a wild, notorious lifestyle
that Romans considered immoral and eventually had to be banished by a
particularly ashamed Augustus himself. Julia’s daughter followed
in her mother’s footsteps. In the midst of it all, an especially
challenging retarded boy was born into the family. All of these matters
really deeply hurt Augustus, who loved his family deeply and wanted
them to be happy. These shortcomings in his life, although sad and
unfortunate, prove to us that Augustus Caesar really was a person, just
like the rest of us, and made his share of mistakes. On the other hand,
we should not let these imperfections disguise his brilliance or make
us think any lesser of him. After all, these are but small scratches on
his golden statue.
Augustus Caesar will always be remembered for his
incredible, and to this day, unmatched leadership skills. He inherited
the throne at nineteen, having been abruptly pushed into the
challenging position of leading a once-powerful collapsing country in a
civil war. He rid Rome of its tyrants, pulled it out of war, made
politically strategic alliances, destroyed his enemies, widely expanded
the country, took out barbaric tribes, built new roads and buildings,
developed the first real “people-run” society, and
established peace throughout the land. He was a genius, had very modern
ideas, and was the author of one of the longest-lasting, most powerful
empires the world has ever seen. On a smaller scale, he was a gentle,
soft-spoken individual with a love for his fellow man. He never
stopping working on improving Rome and making life better for everyone.
He should be remembered for these humble but great traits as he is
remembered today for his profound accomplishments. He was an all-around
great man, and was recognized for it. In ancient Rome, he was the most
celebrated figure of his generation. In 2 B.C., Augustus was honored
with the title of Pater Patraie, or “Father of His
Country.” He is remembered today as an outstanding figure, the
first emperor of Rome, a true political mastermind and great leader.
His legacy has stood the test of time for two thousand years. I
sincerely believe he will be remembered for at least another two
thousand years. He certainly has earned it.
Myths and Legends of Japan written by Nate
Japanese culture and society is generally very
peaceful and harmonious. Humor and lightheartedness is embraced and
encouraged among the Japanese people, although when it comes to certain
things, like “honor” and “duty,” things get
very serious, very fast. The Japanese are lovers of the arts, and
masters of imitation, in their art as well as in other aspects of life.
The two major religions of Japan are Shinto and Buddhism, although many
Japanese follow their own little spin on religion. The country of Japan
is on an island in the Pacific, and perhaps this may be in part why so
many Japanese myths concern the sea/sea gods. Although Japanese myth is
remembered and well looked upon, it seldom serves as anything more. The
people of Japan are not usually overly religious or spiritual, and
therefore do not spend much time trying to extract deeper meanings from
their myths. As it turns out, these myths are like a diary of old,
exposing us to ancient Japanese culture and beliefs. They have much to
teach us.
A myth is “a traditional, typically ancient
story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that
serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by
explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology,
customs, or ideals of society.”
–ask.com/reference/dictionary/. The stories I chose from Myths
and Legends of Japan all fit this description. All of them speak of
gods, and many speak of the gods’ interaction with human beings.
The selection of myths is varied. Some speak of creation, some of
quarrels between the gods, others of adventures to new lands, etc. As
in most countries’ myths, much of what is told explains why some
things are the way they are on Earth. They gave the ancient people of
Japan something to believe.
Something that we stumble across many times in
mythology of all kinds is the idea that no gift from the gods is a free
gift: every gift has a price. An example of this from my reading comes
from the myth of “Susa-no-o and the Serpent.” Susa-no-o is
walking along the banks of the river Hi, when he hears weeping, and
seeks out its origin. He finds an old couple holding their young
daughter in their arms, crying with the deepest of sadness. They
explain that they originally had eight children, but have had to give
one up every year to be devoured by a ten-forked serpent. The girl in
their arms, Kusi-nada-hime, is the last of the eight, and her time has
come. Susa-no-o offers to face this beast of a creature in battle, slay
it, and in the process save the life of the fair maiden. He sticks to
his word and destroys this creature, only to return demanding
Kusi-nada-hime’s hand in marriage. He, being a god, gets his will
without question. This myth is a prime example of the gods’
manipulative attitude towards humans. In this situation, a young girl
whose life is threatened is forced to marry a god if she wants to live.
It seems to me that if the gods will not give a free gift in a life or
death situation, they are not going to be giving a free gift in any
situation! From this we learn that compassion is not something that the
gods have in abundance…
One would not be wise to mess with the gods. The
gods are all-powerful, and they are not to be negotiated with, and
certainly not to be disrespected. This is shown in the myth of
“The Divine Messengers.” Ame-waka is sent by the gods to
prepare the way to the Central Land of the Reed-Plains for the coming
of Ninigi, a young god. He neglects his duties and falls in love
with Shita-teru-hime, whom he marries. Waiting for an answer from
Ame-waka, the gods grow impatient and send a pheasant down to Earth to
spy on him and see what he is up to. The pheasant finds Ame-waka, but
is seen by him, and shot with an arrow. The arrow goes strait through
the pheasant and up into the heavens. Furious, the gods hurl the arrow
back down to Earth aimed at Ame-waka, striking him down and killing him
right in front of his wife. From this we are shown the brutality the
gods are capable of bringing upon mortals. For simply disobeying the
gods and falling in love, Ame-waka had to pay the ultimate price. From
this we are shown that the gods are demanding, sometimes bordering on
ruthless…
Another common theme we come upon in mythology is
hubris. Hubris is an overbearing pride and arrogance that one might
have, but regrettably so when that person is dealing with the gods.
Hubris shows that you believe yourself to be as profound a being as a
god. Naturally, the gods do not tolerate hubris, and will severely
punish anyone that demonstrates this behavior. An example of this can
be found in the creation myth of “Izanagi and Izanami.”
This actually concerns a god with hubris, that god being Izanagi, the
father of the world. When his wife Izanami, the mother of the world,
gives birth to Kagu-tsuchi, the Fire God, she becomes very sick and
travels to the Land of Yomi. There, Izanagi goes in search of her. When
he finds her, she tells him that she is very near death, and begs that
he not look at her. With curiosity and hubris, thinking he has the
right to defy his fellow god, he is insolent and looks upon her. What
he sees is a grotesque and ghastly sight: Izanami has become a swollen,
festering creature, too hideous to even look at. In a rage,
what’s left of Izanami sends the Eight Ugly Females after her
husband, to catch and capture him. He gets away, but is very lucky in
that. From this we learn that hubris can send a god into an absolute
rage, and the person with the hubris will most likely always regret it
later. We see the large ego of the gods, and are reminded that no one
is to challenge the immortal…
The Japanese tend to have more of a “shame
culture” than a “guilt culture,” and are very big on
honor/obligation/duty. Although this differs from Western culture, much
of typical Japanese belief shares many of the same ideas. Japanese
culture encourages individuality and peace, as most cultures do. They
look upon the characters in their myths as different emotions, that
when placed in different settings/situations can teach us a lot. They
are generally very smart, and are similar to Americans in that they
love to have fun. From what I’ve read in my brief study of this
culture, I believe it to be very respectable and in many ways unique. I
believe I would like it very much.