Blog Entry 10: Book Report & Notes

Symbols

* They always refer in the book to talk about there ancient family as "his people"

*THE PEARL= symbol that awakens greed into the life of a humble hard working couple (Kino,Juana) the pearl can be seen as a symbol of greed, richness, change, evil, a "dream". You can see how an how a "object" can destroy the life of a family

*THE SONGS KINO HEARS= Depending on the mood that Kino is in he hears these songs that are played in his head. He hears a particular song always that corresponds to the feeling he is in. When he is happy with his family in  he hears the (Steinbeck 2) "in Kino's head there was a song now, clear and soft, he called it Song of the Family. When he senses danger, dishonesty, greed by other, violence he hears the Song of Evil.These songs point to the oral nature of Kino’s cultural tradition that were passed on from generation to generation.

He can see how compares from the begging of the book to the end where (Steinbeck 73) the songs changes "the music of the pearl had become sinister in his ears, and it was interwoven with the music of evil"


MAIN CHARACTER KINO= There is a big difference between Juana and Kino, both of these characters symbolize a different state of mind when it comes to there "dream". Kino's ambition drives himself into a selfish world full of violence and greed where he faces two personalities (TWO FACE), even at a point on the book (Steinbeck 56 ) "has Kino gone mad?? He is talking to the pearl!! He stares at the pearl to look for answer and to see his future. He is left with clearly nothing but a dream full of emptiness and  regret, for he is not who he was before.

(Steinbeck 71) Kino lies to Juana about what he sees in there future  "We will be married in a great church" a marriage in a church, and an education for Coyotito. In truth Kino sees a body bleeding on the ground, Juana making her way home through the night after being beaten, and Coyotito’s face swollen as though he were sick.

Juana = she is he sees the truth behind the "pearl", she realizes and makes kino understand that the pearl is just an illusion and if they continue, they will be rob or even die.

*THE SEA= water, movement (it all starts at the sea where Kino and his ancestor have been for years and it all ends there, (Steinbeck 88) where they put Coyotito’s corpse.

 MONOTHYS

We can see how the whole book is based on rush of Monomyths.The rush he must faces everyday to sell the pearl and find the perfect home for his family becomes full of danger for himself and his family. His call for adventure starts as soon as that pearl is in his hand.


Stages of Journey:
 
-Call to Adventure
-The threshold
-The belly of the whale (revelation)
-Transformation
-Return home


Kino - Young Mexican man living on the beach of La Paz in a small hut with his wife, Juana, and son, Coyotito. He values his family deeply and is the main victim of the Pearl throughout the story. (The Hero, Innocent)

Juana - Kino's wife (and Coyotito's mother) who tends to be emotionally stronger than him and sees the truth behind the pearls evil effect on them. (The Great Mother)

Coyotito - The baby of Kino and Juana. Shot and killed at the end when a miss-fire went off from one of the trackers. (The Child)

Juan Tomás - The older and wiser brother to Kino is consistently loyal to his family. One can see his concern for Kino and his pearl. Even though Kino refuses to listen to his concerns and advice, Juan still agrees to help him escape from the people who are after him. He and Kino share simple, unaffected love even in their most difficult times. (The Wise Old Man)

Apolonia - The matronly wife of Juan Tomás and Kino's sister-in-law. After learning that Kino had murdered a thief, she and Juan Tomás both helped Kino and Juana escape the town. Also could be (The Great Mother)

The Priest - When he hears news of the discovery of the Pearl, he reminds Kino to give thanks to God. The priest imagines improvements to the church that could be managed with funds from the pearl. (The Cosmic Man)

The Doctor - Known as "the doctor." He is disliked in the community, especially due to his racism toward the people of the village. He refuses to help Kino's family due his stereotypes toward the native people. He states that he is not a veterinarian, thus, referring to Kino's family as animals. His interest in the family only occurs after he hears of Kino's find of "The Pearl of the World" (The Trickster)

The Trackers - A group of bounty hunters who track down Kino, Coyotito, and Juana in an attempt to steal the pearl.

The Song of the Family - The Song of the Family is a melody that Kino hears when he is happy or in a positive presence. It is an indication of satisfaction or peace. However, he loses this song as the story progresses. As he begins his descent into insanity, consumed by greed and fear, he stops hearing the melody as it transforms into the sounds of war.

Blog Entry 8: My Critical Approach

I will be using Pearson's Heroic Archetypes to help me understand Kino, the main character. I will also be using Freud to describe some of the symbolizing used in the book and Kino's Monomyth on his quest to a perfect life and to find him again after being lost in the world of lust, danger  and on the way of finding riches. I am thinking that Kinos goes thru a few archetypes as the book continues, he goes from a humble hard working loving father and husband (JUNG ARCHETYPES, THE FATHER FIGURE) to a selfish man full of  greed, conflict, and violence, who puts his family in situations to satisfy his own ego, he becomes a (Ego Maniac, Collective Unconscious) (Innocent and destroyer) he finds himself not knowing who he is, he tries to find his way back to become who he was before but fails due to his ego,  to have the perfect life.



-FREUD (SYMBOLISM)
-CAMPBELL (MONO-MYTH)
-JUNG (ARCHETYPES)-THE FATHER FIGURE
 -PEARSON (HEROIC 12 ARCHETYPES)- INNOCENT

Blog Entry 6: Reflection

Using your Pearson Archetype test pick ONE archetype to discuss by writing a blog entry about the following:

1. What are the main characteristics (both positive and negative) of the archetype you have chosen?

  
 WARRIOR

POSITIVE CHARACTERISTICS
A warrior has to have a clear and definite purpose in life.A warrior is always alert, leads, loyal, brave, has honor, strong, determine, mindful, adaptable, minimalist, decisive,emotionally detached, a creative Destroyer, awake,vigilant, has awareness , always watching, observing, studying, and planning.

NEGATIVE CHARACTERISTICS

 A warrior may feel lost and restless, like is drifting along instead of marching ahead. The Warrior is mindful of life and of death. Courage is rooted in the fact that they are not afraid to die. Life’s shortness brings clarity to there mind. He/she knows that any minute could be there last so he/she makes every day and decision count. Death is all around a warriors life ( they must always face death).

2. Find a picture on the web that you think demonstrates your chosen archetype and post it to your blog with an explanation as to why you chose this picture and what it means to you. What symbols does the image employ to "describe" your archetype?

All these pictures can describe a certain characteristic of a "WARRIOR". The first picture demonstrates strength and no sympathy. A warrior must block all there feeling in order to survive and to succeed. It also shows how death is all around a warriors life and he must choose to kill or be killed, its survival of the fittest. The second picture shows how success can also be his downfall, he looks powerful and successful but yet darkness, sadness and loneliness is all around him, all he has is his flag of honor, horse and sword. The last picture demonstrates strength and power.

3. What sub-types or examples can you think of for your archetype? Are the Anima and Animus figures different?

Subtype Name: Warrior
Subtype Description: Warriors are battle ready and also willing to fight.
Subtype Origin: Being a child in a world without technology causes some to pick up sticks and whack things with them
Subtype Specialties: Two-Handed, Sword and Shield, Unarmed
Subtype Abilities: Can wear heavy armor made by a blacksmith, tends to rush in and fight instead of stay back and plan.

**a domain of the unconscious that transcends the personal psyche. In the unconscious
of the male, it finds expression as a feminine inner personality: anima; equivalently, in the unconscious of the female it is expressed as a masculine inner personality: animus.

 I believe that the Anima and Animus figures are not different because a warrior either male or female must never show fear or resistance. There character must be strong and show independence in order to lead. Sex cant infer-fear with a warriors character or strength.

4. What sort of heroic journey (Monomyth) does your archetype usually have? You may use examples.

A warrior usually falls under the fight between good and evil (THE ORDEAL). They must over come there fears to cross back the threshold in order to go back home for there (REWARD) and be honored for there victory.

5. Finally, where is your Archetype expressed in the movie you chose for the Monomyth?

  Ethan seems to be the warrior of the movie "DUE DATE" because even tho he caused so much k-ass, with his help there both crossed the threshold to get back home and that was there whole goal since the movie started. He also assisted the birth of peters baby by cutting the umbilical cord and gave Peter the faith that was missing in his life.

 Warrior

 http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2417485126107185085#editor/target=post;postID=2498938065988711512

Blog Entry 5: Monomyth in Film

"DUE DATE"

                                                                 CHARACTERS

 

SEPARATION

Peter is separated from his pregnant wife and his home in Atlanta because of his job as an architect. His mission is to be back in time for the birth of his first child. When Peter dream’s about being in a forest with his wife who is in labor, he finds himself unable to reach her and help deliver the baby, but a grizzly bear ends up helping by chewing through the umbilical cord. (This dream helps predict the story line of the movie and gives a twisted interpretation of who the character Ethan is in the movie, dreams can represent a lot). Ethan's goal is to travel to California, Hollywood, (an unknown state for him leaving everything behind) to become a famous Hollywood actor and to find a beautiful ocean where he can let go and throw his father’s ashes. They both must travel to the same place but there reasons of going to California are very different. Yet they stick together and form a “bond” to get to their place of destination.They are both put out of there comfort zone, have to get along and have to adjust to certain changes  in order to survive.

ADVENTURE

The adventure begins once he meets Ethan. Ethan brings and forms of problems and harsh situations into Peter’s life. He makes Peters mission of seeing his baby be born an adventure full of worries and problems. He first meets Ethan due to a car accident, the limo’s door peter was in was knocked off by the car Ethan was in. When he realizes they both took the wrong bag Peter gets blamed for having “marijuana”. It doesn’t stop there after boarding the plane he realizes Ethan is sitting behind him in first class, using the words "terrorist" and "bomb", Ethan gets Peter shot by a Federal Air Marshal and both Peter and Ethan are forced off the plane before take-off. They are forced to travel together by car because they were both put in the No Fly List and have to find another way to get to California. Once they are in the car together bad situations start happening, from losing peters wallet and only having $60 to survive all the drive to California, not being a able to get money because Ethan keeps making mistakes. Ethan also crashes the car and Peter ends up having a broken arm and three cracked ribs.

Darryl (Peters "real" best friend) also plays a big role because he is the "helper" who comes and safes peter from all this crisis.

Ethan’s dog “Sonny” plays his side kick/best friend, since Ethan seems to play a loner character with a lot of emotional baggage, the dog is the only one he feels gives him comfort, love and Ethan seems to be very protective with sonny.

Ethan plays the “know it all” friend that really has no clue of what he is doing. As every attempt to fix a situation he makes it worse. Peter thinks he has everything under control but after attempting to leave Ethan behind he realizes his feeling play a big part of the movie and is not able to leave Ethan behind. He plays the fool.

Peters character almost becomes the victim hero, when he didn't want to go in the car with Ethan. The refusal is to give up his own interests.

 Crossroads, clueless hero (fool), orphan, wanderer, innocent, sidekick, the buddy are some of the Mono-myths that are shown in this movie. Every character shows and represent a different one.

RETURN
At the Grand Canyon Ethan says goodbye to his father and scatters his ashes. Peter confesses that he tried to leave Ethan back at the rest area and apologizes (Show of regret). Peter is able to be there for his wife’s labor. Ethan becomes an actor in Hollywood.They both accomplish their mission and objective of going to California. But if it wasn’t for sticking together they wouldn’t have made it. They realized they needed each other’s help in order for their adventure to pay off. Ethan assisted the birth of peters baby by cutting the umbilical cord, just like in Peter's dream. The two go their separate ways with the promise that Peter will call Ethan to keep their friendship intact.

 

I FOUND THIS VERY INTRESTING AND HELPFUL

 Traditional Archetypes

In modern times, researchers have been able to collect and compare the myths, legends, and religions of cultures from around the world. They have been fascinated to discover that for centuries, people who had no contact with each other at all had passed down stories whose characters and events were strikingly similar. Many great thinkers have tried to explain this phenomenon. Noted psychoanalyst Carl Jung introduced a theory that humans have a collective unconscious, which means that there is a store of information that we, as humans, somehow hold. This collection of information includes archetypes, or symbolic figures. Archetypes influence the way we think and behave, as people follow the same patterns throughout time and around the world.

Archetypal Character	Description	Examples
The Hero	A larger-than-life character that often goes on some kind of journey or quest. In the course of his journey, the hero demonstrates the qualities and abilities valued by his culture.	King Arthur, Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Frodo
The Father Figure	The protector and leader	Mufasa from The Lion King
The Mother Figure	The protective nurturer and gentle provider	Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath
The Fatal Woman or Temptress	A woman who uses her power (intellect, magic, or most of all, beauty) to make men, especially the Hero, weak	Circe and the Sirens in The Odyssey, Lady Macbeth, Morgan le Fey
The Witch	A woman, often a hag (though she may be disguised as a beautiful young woman), who attempts to trap and destroy the protagonist	The Wicked Stepmother in fairy tales
Monster/Villain	The antagonist, especially in opposition to the hero.	The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, The Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk
The Innocent	An inexperienced male or female character that is exposed to the evils in the world	Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Little Red Riding Hood
The Alter Ego or Double	Reveals the dual nature of man	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Helpers                                                   ~ Wise Old Woman or Man                ~ Wise Animal	Characters that assist or guide the protagonist	Merlin, Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas
The Trickster/The Fool	Characters who trick others to get them to do what s/he wants – they can be both virtuous and nefarious.	Puss-in-Boots, Road Runner, Fred & George Weasley
The Underdog	Characters who are always in the wrong place at the wrong time, but who usually win something of value in the end.	The Ugly Duckling, The Frog Prince, Neville Longbottom

http://www.slideshare.net/mrs.kocan/monomyth-8347286
THIS LINK EXPLAINS THE TYPES OF MONO MYTHS (GREAT HELP!)

Blog Entry 4: Poetry Explication Essay--with Research

        "KEEPER OF MY DREAMS"

   

   

Perth, Australia

 Denise Mangano was born in Perth, Australia where she states that "Growing up on a 6000 acre wheat and sheep farm, where I learned that being alone, does not mean you have to be lonely. Not when you have your imagination to take you to places you have only ever read about, or those special places that you and you alone, can create in your mind". (http://www.authorsden.com/visi/author.asp?id=66122)  She uses her loneliness to expand her imagination and creativity, I admire this about her because she used her life's weakness (loneliness) in a positive way to help her create and write all her wonderful poems. Denise is a very outgoing person that puts her soul, past, life and emotions into each poem. Most of her poems show very deep emotions towards others and use a lot of symbolic meanings in her contexts, to express her inner feelings and compare emotions to things. You have to read between the lines to see what she really means but at the same time her poems are very straight forward and you know the exact theme of what she is trying to express. One of the poems that caught my attention was called "Keeper of my Dreams" this is a unique and nice poem that I loved.

All of the symbols that Denise uses in this poem are all very positive and show expressive feelings of love.  The first symbol that Denise uses is in her title "Keeper of My Dreams “ the title to describes of how she sees him in her and how this person holds her everything. Dreams are symbols of language and can invoke a feeling or an idea and often have a much more profound and deeper meaning. She means that he keeps her safe and knows all her secrets. You have to trust someone in order for them to know your dreams because dreams are very personal and individual. Based on her background and word expression I can determine and see that this poem is about her one true love or someone she is in a relationship with. In the poem she gives feeling/emotion by using a group of memories and describing how life is when she’s with this person and how life is when she’s without this certain individual. In the first stanza she writes about how her life would be without who she is referring to, she uses the symbols you're not here, share (be with), days and nights, incomplete, heart (life), soul (self, spirit), oneness (harmony), seek to interpret her feelings and the emotions. The second stanza she uses deep symbolizing to explain how life is when she's with this person and how life is without this individual the words without (lacking or absent),merely, exist, day to day, with you find, searching, completeness, eternal, peace and mind all have powerful meaning of feeling and emotion. In stanzas three and four we finally see who she is referring to, line 10 "the man who holds my heart in his hands", she is talking about a "man". She keeps using strong words of feeling and attraction. The author repeats the titles name in line 9, keeper, dreams, the one, spend, life, always, stand. She continues to stanza number four with the last word of stanza number 3, stand. In the last 2 stanzas she writes journey, time, place, completeness, two hearts, souls, embrace, forever, search, end, hearts, each other, lovers, soul-mates and friends to finish off her off her poem with this positive poetic love poem.

In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior and in this poem Denise uses a certain ARCHETYPE to describe herself "The Mother Figure" because she seems like she gives her all into this love, a protective nurturer figure as she takes care of him and doesn't let their love die out and gentle provider with the way she writes her poem. Also this man that she refers to can be seems as her "Father Figure" since his the protector of her dreams and leader of her life. She looks up to him for life and happiness and can’t see herself getting rid of this person or living without him. I can tell they have been together through hard situations and for many years, line 13 "stand beside through thick and thin", and line 17 "this journey was started long ago".  

She states that he is the keeper (protector) of her dreams (a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep). The poem contains repetition of love emotion throughout the stanzas which I find makes the poem consistent. The title and poem is self-explanatory and the poem is very clear and easy to understand. In first stanza, the poem starts off by saying, when he is not here to be part of her everyday life she feels like her spiritual existence is lacking something, he is her life and harmony and total self that she looks for. In stanza two, She writes how without him she is incomplete (lacking a part) because he is her soul. Without him and in his absence she feels empty but with him she has all the elements and tranquility needed. In stanza three, he is the guard/protector of her thoughts and the man touches and possesses her life, the individual she wants to be with eternally and the one who she will always be next to. In stanza four, they have been together through good and bad situations and next to each other no matter the obstacles in life, she is aware that the emotion they are a part of will lead them every day. In stanza five, all the time and things they been through together began long ago before anything else was created, there love story fulfill her, and they come together as one. In the last stanza, for a limitless time she wants to be next to him because she has found what he needed in him and needs no one else, their hearts (life as individuals) found one another as lovers, as the person who is perfectly suited for her and is attached to her by affection or esteem.

This poem is about a man who the author is in fact in love with. He may be her husband/boyfriend, but there is greatness and positive emotion of love in the whole poem. All the symbolizing used show great affection towards this man and how being together is her eternal (endless) peace of mind. She needs this man in her life to be happy and she wants to be forever with him.  The theme of this poem has love, passion and good affection written all over it. She trusted him with her life and with her soul.

 "Time is, Time was, Time will always be. We are all but a part of that time."- Denise Mangano

"These are some of my older poems, with my newer ones yet to be put on site. Each person who reads them will take away something that is reflected within them. That is what writing is all about"- Denise Mangano

         Work Cited

“Denise Mangano”. Authur’s Den. 28, March 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth,_Western_Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype