Lost in the Land of Oz

"In "Lost in the Land of Oz", Madonna Kolbenschlag explores the way old societal myths, which are created from the metaphors in our life, are no longer useful in today's society. The author believes we need to embrace the ego archetype of the orphan, the most influential metaphor for the self, in order to become a whole and complete person. Madonna Kolbenschlag discusses how our society is particularly hostile towards women, resulting in an acute feeling of self-loathing, doubt, loneliness, and guilt. Today, women as the orphan feel a complete sense of powerlessness and abandonment, not only by everyone around her but also by God. Instead of suppressing our anxiety, Kolbenschlag advises

The “hero’s journey”, coined by Joseph Campbell, is a pattern in the plot structure of literature, myths, and oral tradition in which the hero is consistently faced with similar obstacles and achieves many of the same goals. The first part of the hero’s journey is “The Call.” The hero is usually living a very comfortable and easy life, unaware of the journey ahead. The hero is then faced with a situation or dilemma which eventually causes them to seek change. The hero, at this point, tends to refuse the call to adventure in fear of the unknown. Once the hero has been given the strength to push past the unknown, they have entered the threshold. The hero will experience many challenges and temptations where the hero is tested, eventually reaching “The Abyss,” the most difficult challenge. The hero is then transformed by these trials and returns home to every-day life and begins to contribute to their society. The novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist, Janie, experiences the hero’s journey first-hand through overcoming obstacles and transforming herself. In Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the heroine Janie overcomes many obstacles and is therefore transformed into a self reliant woman.

“The meaning of the cave isn't lying on the surface of the novel. Rather, it waits somewhere deep, and part of what it requires of us is to bring something of ourselves to the encounter. If we want to figure out what a symbol might mean, we have to use a variety of tools on it: questions, experience, preexisting knowledge (Foster 106-107).” This passage is referring to dive deep into thought about what a symbol really stands for. In this case a cave, the cave is more than just an underground chamber inside the Earth. It’s a place of our ancestors, of darkness, and of mystery. In the novel A Passage to India, the caves have different meanings for everyone. The meaning of a cave means one thing for Mrs. Moore , but a whole different thing for

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."

Early on in The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, By Neil Gaiman, the reader is very subtly told that the narrator is on the trail for a man. This is where the story starts as “[he] found him by accident” (1). The whole journey is, however, lead in search of gold in the cave of the black mountains. An obvious venture for a mortal man. But the narrator may not be purely mortal.

Author then takes away the interbeings from the state of vulnerability to the state of immense power by quoting that ‘vulnerability and the power go hand in hand’ and further motivates us to withdraw from separate self so that we can get power to rise from conventional ground and accomplish the things beyond one’s capabilities.

Plato’s allegory of the cave has a simple premise. People chained down, watching shadows in a cave, while the way out is hard to reach. But the simple premise has much deeper meaning. One of the reasons that Plato’s allegory of the cave has been so well received throughout history is that humans are always seeking the truth, mich like the human’s who escape the cave in the allegory. The allegory can be seen as a metaphor for many situations, but for my purposes we will use a very generic explanation of the cave.

Many films have captivated the hearts and minds of Americans, however a true film goes in-depth into the current social tensions and customs of the modern world. Such a film, was The Wizard Of Oz. Beneath the surface of the film, one may examine many characteristics of real world struggles through creative flair. In films, directors will strive to make characters, storylines, backdrops, lighting and other creative factors up to par with modern day events (Lewis 2007). So too, The Wizard Of Oz offers viewers something rather unique and made the world of Hollywood more esoteric than ever before.

And, this time, moreover; the writer will describe our times as a period of the common age; where the knowledge which comes from its entire possible points forms a unity which pervades our sensory faculties. An experience which man attains from his environs as part or as one in its entirety leads to an idiosyncratic manner, behaving and accessing their intellectual properties. Nevertheless, dear friend, as you explore those virtual fields where their voices reminisce (as our predecessors stir the earth that concealed their visages), you shall meet his people.

Next, Plato discussed what happens when one of the people at the end of the cave is released from their chains and allowed to leave the cave. The process of leaving the cave and understanding the outside world is the process learning. In the beginning the person in the cave does not move when the chains binding them are broken, they must be compelled to stand up and turn around. Initially they continue to stare at the shadows on the wall as they do not know that anything beyond the shadows even exists and they do not have the desire to see more. The person at the end of the cave can be beckoned to turn around, but they cannot be forced to, they must have a genuine desire to learn what exists beyond the shadows. Plato describes this turning

     The character Marian represents the society that has confined old women to this dismal, neglected home.  Specifically through Marian's thoughts, words, and actions, revealed by the third person partially omniscient narrator, Welty shows how selfishness and indifference can obscure the needs of the less fortunate.

“It takes a village to raise a child” (Goldberg). This old African proverb justifies that the upbringing of a child is a communal effort. The exposure to society and growing accustomed to the realities of life are beneficial to the growth of a child. These words hold a symbolic meaning to the importance of society and morality. Turning a blind eye to these words of wisdom deprive children of their understanding of humanity. This signifies the innocence of a child growing up in isolation as in Donoghue’s Room. Emma Donoghue uses her novel Room to illustrate that morality is a construct of society and growing up in isolation significantly narrows a child’s perception of life. Living in a

The tone of this story is one of fear, regret, and guilt. The story first leaves the reader with impression that it may be a recount of the life of a daughter who was lost due to neglect. Soon it is evident

Dorothy was an adopted girl who lived in Kansas with her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em. Their house was out on a prairie in middle of the country. If you looked in every direction from their front porch all you could see in fields that stretched for miles. Dorothy had been in the house one day and her Uncle seen a cyclone heading their way. Her Aunt and Uncle were safely in the storm shelter but Dorothy did not make it. She had to grab her dog that took off running so she was stuck in the house as the house got swept up in the center of the cyclone. She felt so scared and like she waited forever for the house to be throw down onto land but it took hours. She ended up in the mysterious fairy tale land they call “The Land of

In 1975, fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin delivered a lecture discussing a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale she remembered from childhood. In this story, a man burdened by cowardice could not gather the courage to visit the house of the pretty woman that lived across the street. His shadow; his dark desires and guilty pleasures, wanted the man to go across the street. Yet, the man did not want to for he was afraid, this fear caused him to tell the shadow to leave. Thus, the shadow left. The shadow goes on to explore the house of the pretty woman, and accordingly strays unaccompanied and unattended through the world. Years later, the man and the shadow reconnect. The man discovers that his actions have now caused his shadow to become his “master”, and missing that part of himself, the man is executed. Le Guin uses this dark tale in combination with Jungian psychology and Daoism philosophy to illustrate that a person and their shadow must interact and coexist with each other to survive. Without this balance, life will be impossible. Throughout “The Child and the Shadow”, Le Guin makes eloquent points about the importance of a person’s shadow, Carl Jung’s archetypes in relation to the shadow, and how fantasy novels help children adapt to the traumatic events of reality.