Preview

Journeys Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1067 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Journeys Essay Example
Journeys often involve choices being made when individuals encounter challenges.

A journey is an experience that every individual undergoes from the day they are born. A journey comes in a physical, inner and imaginative form, all of which lead a protagonist to new sights, cultures and perspectives. As the life of the protagonist changes, it leads them to making decisions which will ultimately alter their way of viewing themselves and the world around them. In the texts “The Colour Purple”, by Alice Walker and “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost, the protagonists are forced to make significant choices which will feature as a catalyst to the change within themselves, and their perspectives of the surrounding world.

The Color Purple explores the concept of Journeys through a protagonist, Celie. She is a poor, uneducated black woman who undergoes many hardships. “He start to choke me, saying you better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook – page 3” The use of a high modality language ‘you better shut up’ is to reinforce and highlight limited freedom. This portrays that life is not always smooth-sailing and there are always obstacles and challenges in life that we must stumble upon. The quote, “But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive,” demonstrates Celie’s choice in life and her struggles for self-determination.

In the Color Purple, the concept of journey can also be seen through the character, Sofia. She is a mentally and physically strong woman who encounters the challenge of survival in jail as a consequence to fighting with white-men. “When I see Sofia I don’t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out tween her teef like a piece of rubber. She can’t talk. And she just about the color of a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Parallel Journeys takes place during World War Two. It is about the lives of Helen…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A journey can be described as a passage one may undergo in order to reach a destination. Journeys can be both physical and emotional. As well as this journeys can be a positive and negative experience. The notion of journey is apparent is “Beneath Clouds” by Ivan Sen, as well as in related texts “Stand By Me” by Rob Reiner and “Bushwalking” by Phillip Rush. The idea of Journey in these texts is portrayed through obstacles, various poetic and film techniques.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We are driven to journey by the hope that one day we will come to a place that transforms us. For the characters in Marcus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief, the physical and emotional journey encountered in Nazi Germany ultimately transforms all the characters. In a similar fashion, Robert Frosts persona in The Road Not Taken, believes that his journey, as a symbol of choice in life “has made all the difference.” Finally, City and Colour, in the song lyrics Against the Grain, believes that by “following your heart”, that you will overcome the darkness of your journey. These journeys are represented by composers through an array of themes and techniques, which provide meaning and engage audiences.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Journey is a term that implies travel, which can offer up new insights, experiences, cultures and perspectives. Journeys can have positive or negative effects, as we see in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”. In the novel, the writer takes us into the American outback, and we journey with the characters as they face the various challenges and barriers that arise as they attempt to achieve the ‘great American dream’ – settling down and farming their own land.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A journey is a physical movement from one place to another and the emotional outcome that comes with it. Obstacles and challenges are faced by both George and Lennie in “of Mice and Men” and the persona of “I was only 19”…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hi, teacher and fellow classmates. Today I will be talking about how a journey can have positive and negative impact on an individual. Journeys are not just limited to the process of physically travelling as an emotional journey can be seen in self-exploration and imaginative journeys can occur to transport an individual from reality into an unreal world. Michael Gow’s play script of Away, relates to the challenges, goals and discoveries which are achieved by the characters Tom, Coral and Gwen as they endure physical, emotional and imaginative journeys, whilst the film To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan in 1962 utilises the innocence of childhood to convey three personal journeys as demonstrated through characterisation and cinematic techniques.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Enrique’s journey has taken him over 7 years to find his mother. Throughout his journey Enrique runs into trouble with authorities that take all his money and belongings, as well as thief’s who try to steal from migrants. Enrique cannot find trust in anyone because even if the authorities are robbing migrants, then they can’t be trusted. This government issue is hanging on a thread while, the government is not doing anything to help the migrants find their place in the world. When Enrique is 5 years old, his mother Lourdes moves to America to find a job to send back home to her home town of Mexico so that Enrique is able to go to school, and eat better food. As he gets older, he starts to beg for his mother to come back and feels lonely without her presence. He sets off on his Journey towards America to find his mother, and in the process runs into trouble with the authorities as well as muggers who take migrant’s belonging for themselves. His journey to find his mother is a test of his will power, faith, luck, and persistency to continue to his goal. With gritty determination and will to be by this mother’s side, he continues his journey despite of him failing many times to cross the border to find his mother. Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario represents the dedication, and persistence of a young boy longing to find his mother across the border of Mexico to the United States of America, as well as the obscured rugged government control over migrants, its use of real life examples give the readers an idea of how life is for migrants crossing the border to start their new life.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Examples of journeys from the novel “The Color Purple” and the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” portray the protagonists making certain choices when they encounter hardships in their journey through life.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    They are implicit concepts around which imaginary works of literature revolve. The dominant themes of The Color Purple are female assertiveness, female narrative voice, female relationships, and violence. Female assertiveness is Walker’s way of delimiting women’s space. She liberates Sofia’s from submissiveness, making her a mouthy free spirit, a challenge to a powerful system. Shug is an adventuresome blue singer with fine taste and without limits on her sexual preferences. Nettie, too asserts herself by escaping her stepfather’s house rather than succumbing to his unwanted advances. Her escape take her all the way to Africa.…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Color Purple is organized into letters towards God and focuses on the life of the oppressed, abused Celie. Celie feels she cannot talk to anyone but God about the events occurring in her life. This is her way of expressing herself when she is unable to speak to anyone about it.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Journeys- Bruce Dawe

    • 379 Words
    • 1 Page

    As a teenager living in an ever-changing society, a journey is bound to happen either emotionally, physically or mentally. At any point in a persons lifetime, one may go through a journey- whether that journey takes place at a certain time or place, stemmed from a decision or the journey of ones existing lifetime. No matter what or whom, journeys are bound to change us and are inevitable. They offer us development and growth as individuals as well as altering the way we think, act or talk. This can be obtained through overcoming obstacles, achieving goals, anything really that ee encounter during a journey.We often register change as something dangerous, yet we still try our futile attempts at resisting change but at the end of it all, you yourself as a human being would have changed in either a positive or negative way. Bruce Dawe's poems, "drifters" and "migrants" emphasis on the emotional aspect of physical journeys where it is tied to the attitudes towards journey (s), the compassion in the journey, overcoming obstacles and fulfilling the desire of destination. Bruce Dawe uses language techniques such as imagery, colloquialism, tone and repetition to convey and highlight some specific aspects of physical journey(s).…

    • 379 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Themes In Pleasantville

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Any Journey includes both realities and possibilities”, the three texts that we have studied in class, the film 'Pleasantville' by Gary Ross and the poems 'Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost and 'Journey to the Interior' by Margaret Atwood, support this idea as these texts include the protagonist having embarked on not only physical and interior journeys in reality but also imaginary. The journey is known to be imaginary for the audience, but for the characters of the text these journeys have led them to be in a different stage in life, not only physical but internally, evolving into different people or having what become completely different people due to these journeys.…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In a Journey, a traveller can gain new perspectives of themselves and the world around them by taking on opportunities to learn. The novel ‘Raw’ by Scott Monk demonstrates these ideas by writing about a young boy named Brett, who hates authoritative figures such as the police. A change is perspective is shown in the late chapters when Brett is at the farm, meeting new friends and learning how lucky he is. What also changes Brett’s attitude to himself, other people that are the friends that he makes during the novel and a girl that he is willing to meet, even if he goes the prison. Brett’s punish for escaping from the Farm has change view of making decisions. Instead of judging and disliking a person, Brett has shown to change his views of other people on his journey. The Poem, ‘The road not taken’ by Robert Frost also exhibits the opportunity to gain new perspectives in the poem, through the use of an extended metaphor about the journey of life. This is shown in the poem when the persona apologises for not being able to take both sides of the road. Disappointment is shown when the persona gives a ‘sigh’. This shows how melancholic he is by giving a deep audible breath. A personal voice is used in the poem to create immediacy.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ap English Speech Essay

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I ask you, what is a journey? Is it something we merely physically embark on or somewhat more? Well, those who say a journey is simply physical are too naive to realise the existence of imaginative journeys. An imaginative journey is explored through speculation to come to a deeper understanding. An imaginative journey, may be one you read, see, think or relive and can often result in an individual finding a change, proving that without imagination there can be no change.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay discusses the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. This poem describes a man who is walking in the woods. As he is walking, he finds that the path he is on splits into two roads. He is forced to decide which road to take in order to continue his journey. Throughout the rest of the poem, he describes the experience of his journey. Frost uses many poetic devices throughout this poem. He uses metaphor to describe the road as a part of life. He also uses rhyme scheme to show the important phrases and words to help the reader understand and comprehend the message behind the poem. Finally, Frost makes use of alliteration and similes to draw the reader closer to the text and compare his experience to other occurrences…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays