Journeys 8 Mile

The poem ‘Migrants’ by Bruce Dawe should be included for the core text for journeys because it clearly demonstrates two types of journeying; physical and emotional. This poem presents the process of the group of migrants being accepted and shows that the migrants had to go through an emotional journey until they connected with the citizens. This poem also gives us an insight on our current society and people take time to accept those from somewhere else. Overall, this poem is a great poem that explores the concept of journey and should be included as the core text for

All heroes around the world go through a journey of their own. Those journeys can be a physical, , mental, emotional journey, and lots more. These types of personal journeys are demonstrated in an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, an interview, The Hero’s adventure by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, a short poem, Courage by Anne Sexton, a graphic novel, The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds. They all show how journeys can be transformative and show a person’s strengths and/or weaknesses.

Those journeys could be physical journeys when you go from one place to another or they could be mental journeys when a difficult time of change and development takes place. Journeys often teach us how challenging life can be and teach us about ourselves. In the play Boy Overboard adapted from the novel by Morris Gleitzman, we see how Jamal and Bibi are forced into going on an emotional and distressing physical journey fleeing from Afghanistan to Australia, because of the Taliban that control Afghanistan. Jamal and Bibi have faced many obstacles on their journey from hiding in the back of a truck, Bibi nearly getting blown up, living in a miserable refugee camp and losing their parents. Throughout the play we see how Jamal matures at a young age and becomes a father figure for his little sister. We see how different events shape Jamal into the person he is and how he thinks. We learn how Jamal has the ability to think and act quickly when he straight away tells Rashida and Bibi to disguise themselves as boys when pirates come onto the boat to take girls away. We see how an event in Jamal’s life like being separated form his parents turns him into a mature adult at the age of

A Journey can be a process of self-discovery, a movement of one’s location, a shift in direction leading to an understanding of the world and themselves. In order for a journey to take place it must have one key ingredient, that is, a traveller. Journey is happening all around us to deny it is to deny the very meaning of life itself, it is a necessary part of human nature and it’s how we act upon it that defies the impact felt and destination found. Through Michael Gow’s ‘Away’ and ‘The Blind Side’ produced by John Lee Hancock, applications of both dramatic and film techniques allow the responder to see the direct impacts a journey puts on the traveller, either physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Strayed had gone through quite a bit before deciding on taking a hiking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed thought the Pacific Crest Trail would help her find who she was before her mother’s death. To illustrate, “I’d set out to hike the trail so I could reflect upon my life, to think about everything that had broken me and make myself whole again” (84). This hiking trip was her way to find the person she was before her mother died. After hiking for three weeks she noticed, “I am not afraid… I realized…I’d done to myself and all that had been done to me” (122). Having spent three week hiking up Strayed become aware of a change in herself, she began showing confidence in herself (122). Her confidence is practically oozing out of her by the end of her journey (310). She tries to pass her confidence on to another person who was considering going on a similar journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. She emphasized, ‘“You could. You should. Believe me, if I can do this, anybody can”’ (310). Strayed has truly understood who she is after hiking eleven hundred miles through gruesome and extreme environments. Now, she is an inspiration to those who have hit rock bottom and need to find

The use of a journey narrative as both an archetypal plot device, and a technique that facilitates and informs character development, is an enduring literary trope, likely as old as literature itself. The mere fact that journey narratives have persisted in literature, without inherently being regarded as overused, outdated, or clichéd, is indicative of the impact and influence this technique has when executed effectively. Additionally, this is testament to its adaptability, and capacity to complement and integrate within various styles and genres. Conventional journey narratives often follow a basic structure, contributing to reader expectation that a vast, far-reaching journey should be inherently reflected by vast emotional progress, and

Gloria Naylor’s powerful novel, The Women of Brewster Place, consists of many characters and many great themes, though, only one character in particular sticks out the most: Mattie Michael. Since the longest individual chapter focuses on her, readers get a glimpse at Mattie’s life, struggles, and how she got to the unit known as Brewster Place. With her constant recurrence throughout the novel, readers come to understand her importance as she is the strong-willed, backbone, and main ebony phoenix of Brewster.

By constantly moving around, Jeanette’s childhood was characterized by its instability and her own dependence on herself in order to survive the negligence of her parents. The glass castle symbolized a place where the Walls’ family would finally settle and become free of governmental intervention, however, it was through Jeanette’s realization that individualism was the underlying issue to her family’s problems, that she became aware of the impracticalness of being self-reliant. While Jeanette did have faith in her parents, her father’s continual inability to support his family and her mother’s own carelessness for her children, eroded all of Jeanette’s confidence. Jeanette’s decision to move to New York was not fueled by a need for individualism, however, it was in fact her desire to return to society and reintegrate into a world where she would be able to interact with other people. Thus, Jeanette's return to society signified her dependence of others and shows how individualism can never solve all of people's

Journey is an act of travelling from one place to another which can be seeking permanent home in a different country or travelling in the same country. It can affect different people in many different ways as they get emotional, intellectual and imaginative experiences individually in their life. All of these have been explored in some of Bruce Dawe’s meaningful poems ‘migrants’ and ‘drifters’ and a related text ‘Still Life’ which is a short film by Martin Sharpe. The poem ‘migrants’ was about group of European migrants seeking permanent home in a completely different country to escape from war and have better standard of life but the poem ‘drifters’ was about a family journeying in the same country. In comparison, the short film, ‘Still Life’ is about a man who has boring and meaningless life. The composers employ poetic and film techniques to convey the possible positive and negative ramifications of journeys.

Book Theme: In the arduous journey from childhood to adulthood, a young woman is faced with two things that need great attention and balance - the progress of her individual social standing, and the welfare of her immediate family.

A journey is a pathway to get to a destination. The destination can be physical, or mental. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse explains the journey that Siddhartha takes to achieve eternal peace- Nirvana. Antwone Fisher, a young Sailor, wants to discover who he is and where he comes from- specifically, finding his family. These two stories are similar because they both leave home and ended up utilizing water to help them along the way.

A short story by Joyce Carol Oates called “Where are you going, where have you been?” reflects the writer’s point of view of the way society looked to women in the sixties. The story takes place in the 1960’s when almost everything reached a turning point at that time. It talks about a teenager who wanted boys’ attention, but she ended up leaving her family house with a stranger. Connie represented most teenage girls, and their destiny at that time. The story can be looked at from many different points of view such as feminist, social, psychological and historical (Purdue (OWL)). The time this story had taken place is what makes it important. The story was written when the feminist movement was established, and the American society

Living in England during World War II had an impact on her life because it coincided with the time that she was moving around, making it symbolic of her life at that time. She would be lured into a false sense of security in a new home (think of the times in between bombings) and then her world would be turned upside again as she was moved away from her father, and into beaten down homes, and then again to a somewhat

The “Rabbit Proof Fence” plays two vital roles throughout the journey of Molly, Daisy and Gracie, and is reflective of the importance of the journey. The fence is a representation of a map, as it is a symbol of home for the girls and provides a way in order for them to get home (following the fence). What is later revealed is that the fence has actually proven to be an obstacle, and that they have followed the wrong fence, and must change direction to get home. The ability of the girls to overcome this hurdle, and arrive home is again indicative of the notion that it is the journey – not the destination – that matters when undertaking a physical journey.

At this point, the narrator finally discovers what the realities of life are. She also discovers deep within herself the reason for her feelings toward her parents at the funeral of Steve Gauley.