The Bell Jar- Chapters 19 & 20- One Good Paragraph

In chapters 19 and 20 of The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, several interesting things take place. The audience is first introduced to a character, Esther, who has a friend named Joan. We learn that Joan and Esther are in some type of institution. The audience is never told what they did to get themselves in the institution, but we learn they both once in the past dated the same guy, who thinks he may be at blame for whatever reason they are in the institution. There are two main events in these chapters. First Esther looses her virginity. Afterwards, she asks the man Irwin who she was with to take her to Joan's house because something went wrong and she would not stop bleeding. Joan had no choice but to take Esther to the hospital. The second main event in these two chapters is when Joan kills herself. She had permission to leave the institution and go to the movies. Joan never returns and is found by an elderly worker out back by the frozen ponds, she had hung herself. I found these two chapters very interesting and am considering checking the book out from the library and reading it.

Annotative Bibliography #8

Vogler, Christopher. “Reward and The Road Back” The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2007.

The ninth stage of the hero’s journey is the reward. The reward occurs after the main crisis and the ordeal have passed. The reward is usually given as a pleasurable consequence for surviving death. The hero is often acknowledged in a positive light for surviving the ordeal, this being their reward. This is often a scene with a campfire or a love scene. Vogler says heroes do not deserve to be loved until the crisis has passed. The hero takes possession or “seizes the sword” at this time. Elixir means “medium or vehicle for medicine”, the elixir can be earned, bought, or stolen. After the ordeal and in the reward section, the hero is often left with a new perception or self realization. Other characters in the story now have an “epiphany” and see the hero in a new light or sometimes in a distorted light. Stage ten of the hero’s journey is the road back. The road back is the stage when the hero finally gets to return to the ordinary world. This is when the hero returns to the starting point, after gaining as much knowledge as possible from the new world. The hero must some how become motivated to begin the journey home, in fact a few select hero’s just choose to stay in the special world and not return home. This can be a time where a villain from previous is the story re-appears; the hero must “finish them off”. Chase scenes or “magic flight” scenes often occur in this stage. A magic flight scene is when the hero amazingly and barely gets a way on luck or chance. The worst thing that can happen during this stage is a dramatic set back. This is when a reversal of the good fortune happens and the hero once again has to put up a fight or go through another series of adventures.

The reward stage is my favorite stage. The audience gets to see all the hard work the hero has done finally getting paid off. Most times this is a very happy and uplifting part of the story. I love when the hero gets the glory of having survived the ordeal or defeated the “bad guy”. To me it seems like the story is “all down hill from here”, but not in a bad way. I just feel after all the build up to the ordeal, and once the reward is received the story begins to wrap up. The story usually ends not too long after the hero receives the reward. When I am reading a good book, I hate when the road back begins. I know this really means that the story is coming to a close and the hero will soon be done with their journey. Another thing I hate is when on the road back a setback occurs. Just when you think the hero is safe from danger the villain or some other conflict comes up, I prefer stories with happy endings!

1. Which stage do you like better, The Reward or the Road Back?

2. Which do you enjoy more, the “ordinary world” or the “special world”?

3. What are some things that can motivate a hero to get back on track and head for home?

Overview of Strengths & Weaknesses

From peer review I found out my main weakness is using the first and second person
Everyone that reviewed my blog said I have a very strong argument

Annotative Bibliography #7

Vogler, Christopher. “Approach to the Inmost Cave, and The Ordeal” The Writer's

Journey : Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese

Productions, 2007.

Stage seven of the hero’s journey is the approach to the inmost cave. This occurs after heroes have already become acquainted with the new world. During the time of the Approach heroes often times will make plans, study the enemy, and “have the last cigarette”. Time and again, the approach to the inmost cave is a common time for a romance or “courtship” to take place. There are several different ways the hero can go about the approach. The hero can boldly stride up to the castle or the hero can not be 100% confident in the approach. The hero may have to go through a series of obstacles before being able to approach in inmost cave, such as an impossible test. What you want is never as easy as you would like more times than not what the hero desires must be earned. Reorganization can also take place during the approach. The hero might change their mind or change their game plan. Also, no matter how many times one escapes their fate, the issue must be faced sooner or later. The eighth stage of the hero’s journey is the ordeal. This is the absolute darkest and most terrifying place the hero will reach in the story. In every story the hero faces death in someway or another, and often time it occurs during the ordeal. This stage is not to be confused with the climax; rather it is considered the crisis. The stage usually occurs near the middle of the story; this is called a central crisis. There also can be a delayed crisis. This is when the crisis occurs at the end of act two. A crisis that involves death often makes the audience realize how lucky they are to be alive. The hero doesn’t have to die in order for this to happen; the hero could witness or cause a death, sometimes this could be the death of the villain, or the hero’s ego could die.

I think the approach to the inmost cave is a critical time in stories for romance to become involved. Frequently the hero will be having doubts about entering the inmost cave and look to a friend or a lover to comfort them. Many a time, the hero will get all “dolled up” during the approach. As in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and all of her friends get ready for the inmost cave. They go to the beauty parlor in order to look their best for their meeting with the wizard. I think it’s a very good point that the ordeal should be considered the crisis, not the climax. This is because it doesn’t have to be the most interesting point of the story, but the most dangerous for sure. I think it is very interesting that when a hero appears to die it makes the audience appreciate life that much more.

1. Can you think of an example of when the hero faces the approach to the inmost cave and decides to turn around rather than continue and face the ordeal?

2. What is the difference between the climax and the crisis?

3. What do you think the ordeal is in the book “The Memory Keepers Daughter”

Annotative Bibliography #6

I'm going to use my get out of jail free card for this one!!!!!!

Annotative Bibliography #5

Vogler, Christopher. “Refusal of the Call and Meeting with the Mentor” The Writer's Journey : Mythic Structure for Writers. 3rd ed. Studio City, CA: MichaelWiese Productions, 2007.

Stage three of the writer’s journey is refusal of the call to adventure. There are several different ways in which the hero can refuse the call. The hero can avoid the call all together, or give excuses for why they should not have to deal with the situation. Refusing the call does not always have to be viewed as a negative thing. If the call is to do harm or destruction, and the hero refuses, that would considered be a positive refusal of the call. Persistent refusal of the call can lead to tragedy. If the hero refuses to accept the call there often are harmful consequences. A hero can also receive two or more calls at once, called conflicting calls. People such as artists or poets some times have to refuse outer calls and deal with inner ones. However, sometimes the hero will not refuse the call at all. They are called a willing hero. They have already accepted the call to adventure, or sometimes they were the one that went looking for the journey. Threshold guardians appear after the heroes accept the challenge. They prevent the hero from continuing on the beginning of their journey. The next stage, stage four, is meeting with the mentor. The mentor is a wise protective figure toward the hero. The mentor is an archetype that serves to protect, guide, teach, test, and train the hero. The name Mentor came form The Odyssey. Athena, disguised as an old man, gave her name as Mentor. Athena guides and helps both Odysseus and his son all through the story.

I think the refusal of the call is a very important stage. The audience learns a lot about the hero’s values and morals. It shows us that the hero is a person that will question things and not always simply go along with what is asked of him or her. It also shows the audience that the hero weighs out benefits and consequences, and thoroughly thinks things through, before making a decision. I also think it is important for the audience to understand that when the hero refuses the call, not to look down on them. They may have turned it down for reasons that they have not yet reveled to us. It may be a good thing they turned it down. It is very interesting to me that the name Mentor derived from The Odyssey. When I was reading the Odyssey for my Western Heritage class I know right away what “Mentor’s” role would be. Athena, being the goddess of wisdom, thought of a way to help Odysseus return home, and kick the suitors out of his house, with the help of his son. Athena guided Telemachus, and helped Odysseus on his journey; this is exactly what a mentor is supposed to do.

1. What is a willing hero and can you think of an example of a willing hero?

2. Why can positive refusals sometimes be a good thing?

3. Why do you think heroes are so enchanted by “the secret door”, and always end breaking limits set by guardians or mentors?

Revision Plan for Project One

EDIT
1. I will change / add information to my introduction to better capture my audiences attention and
2. I will create better paragraph transitions to guide my reader so they can "see" my journey
3. My second to last paragraph contains mucho "unpacking", I will work on that, throwing too much information at the reader at once is a bad thing, I will spread it out more / draw out the paragraph.

REVISE
1. I will cut out the use of vague words, such as "this, it, like.. etc" from my sentences
2. I will add more of a d"so what" to my last paragraph
3. In the end I will touch back on my ordinary world