Janelle’s Comments (group member since Sep 06, 2011)

Janelle’s comments from the 2012 - Ms. Richardson L.A. group.

The story of the Odyssey begins with Odysseus in the Mundane World. He is trapped on an island and being held captive by the beautiful and stunning Goddess Calypso. Calypso is holding Odysseus captive for her own pleasure. She pampers Odysseus, and gives him whatever he desires, but he still isn't happy.

Hermes is sent by Zeus to tell Calypso that she needs to set Odysseus free. Reluctantly she says yes. Calypso helps Odysseus build a raft to leave the island, and that's his call to adventure. He is finally escaping the mundane world and going on an adventure to the new world where he will hopefully be happier.

He sets sail and ends up on an island where the creature the Cyclops lives. Odysseus and his men explore the Cyclops cave and start eating his cheeses. They wait for the Cyclops to return to steal his items. The Cyclops gets angry and "busts their brains out". I think that Odysseus wanted to outsmart the Cyclops because he was held captive for a long time by Calypso and wanted to let out his emotions and feel powerful. He knew that the Cyclops wasn't very smart whereas Calypso was, so he wanted to feel power and out smart the Cyclops.

Joseph Campbell was an American mythologist that covered many aspects of the human experience. His brilliant mind deeply understood the meaning of life and opened up the minds of others. His famous quote from The Power of Myth summarizes the way of humans and what our actions truly mean. "And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves." When we judge others and criticize the way they appear, we are only revealing our own insecurities about our own selves. It is showing our fears and anxieties of what we don't want to become.

As humans, we primarily focus on the outward appearance. How fat or skinny we are, what clothes we wear, how our make up and hair is done. To us, this is what matters in life. Judging others is only human nature, but what Campbell is trying to tell us, is that criticising others is only displaying our own feelings and emotions of our insecurities. This is a deep philisophical thought that I believe is true. This quote has opened up my mind and shown me really what and how life works. It has given me comfort as well as a new found passion and curiosity for mythology.

A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles is a timeless classic. It's about destruction, corruption, wickedness and love, which can all relate to modern times. Obviously, since this book was written about the French Revolution that took place in the 1700’s, life was very different back then. From Horse drawn carriages back then to cars that can call your home now, life has indeed changed since then. But if you take a closer look at the text, you will be able to realize that Dickens’ words are very relevant to today.

For instance, look on page one. The anaphoric paragraph at the beginning can all relate to today's world. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness." There will always be both good and bad in the world. Technology is advancing immensely and diseases are being cured, but there are still wars going on all over Africa and the economy is at an extreme low point. So many horrible things are happening in the world, but there are also wonderful things happening in the world too. And that's how it will still be, 150 years from NOW.

The firm first paragraph records the experience of human nature which always remains constant in its greed, indignity, and selfishness. Now, I'm not saying that everyone is like this, Gandhi for instance, was the exact opposite of these characteristics and was a remarkable man that devoted his life to non- violence. People like Gandhi are rare to find and are the humans that are wise, just like Mr. Lorry. Mr. Lorry was a man that devoted his life to helping others. For example, he helped Lucie find her long imprisoned father Dr. Mannette and even took care of him. On the other hand, people like Hitler are the foolish. Hitler was an uncompassionate person that shook the world into an evil place similarly, like Monseigneur. Monseigneur ran over an innocent child and didn’t even blink. Simply because the child was in his way he took his life. These two people were complete opposites, but demonstrate excellently Dicken's quote "it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

While reading, thinking, and analyzing the book the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, most people concluded that Katniss Everdeen defied the common teenage girl archetype. "Wait... hold on!" you might be saying to yourself right now. "What's archetype??" Archetype is patterns or themes that recur in different texts across an extended period of time. Archetype is the observations and studying of human’s actions and personalities that fit them into a certain category, from princesses to villains to heroes to male and female archetypes. All princesses are hyper feminine, sweet and sensitive whereas villains are vicious, evil and will do anything to get what they desire. Heroes are brave, determined and dedicated to the task given. But the one archetype that I will be talking to you about today is the male archetype that happens to possess the characteristic of being stoic and protective.
When Katniss was a young eleven year old girl, her father tragically passed away due to a mine explosion. She took over as leader of the household and continually made sure there was food on the table, which put her hunting skills to good use. She enjoyed escaping District 12 for a few hours, getting dirty and shooting animals like rabbits and squirrels with her bow and arrow for her family to feast upon. Collins rarely revealed Katnisses feminine side and instead presented attributes of being stoic and protective which reflects more of a male. Katniss is extremely protective of her little sister Prim and try’s tremendously hard to give her somewhat of a normal childhood.
When Katniss volunteered to take Prim’s place in the games, she always told herself to not cry and to always stay composed. “Crying is not an option”-pg. 34. She was stoic and didn’t want anyone to think she was a whimp that would be an easy target. She seldom displayed emotion, which again mirrors more of a male quality. Unlike her mother who is absolutely and completely devastated of her father’s passing, Katniss still stays collected, composed and unemotional. She keeps her thoughts and feelings hidden away deep inside for no one to see.
This was a wonderful book and I gained a great understanding of archetype just by analyzing this text. Hopefully, by reading my essay you as well gained a further understanding of archetype and how we can fit characters into them.

To be honest, I have never read a book that is so captivating that I can't put it down until just recently. I read the Hunger Games by Susan Collins which was so incredible... I truly couldn't put it down! I felt like I really got to know the characters and picture them in my head because of the beautifully done description and the way that Susan Collins fit them into archetypes whether they embraced or defied them.

The one character that really caught my attention of how she mostly defied the common teenage girl archetype was Katniss. Katniss is the kind of girl that doesn't really care about how people perceive her and mostly focuses on taking care of her mother and younger sister Prim. "No fancy hair and clothes. Just me, looking like I could be headed for the woods." She rejects female archetype because of how she doesn't really like fancy clothes or dressing up and instead enjoys leaving District 12 for a few hours, going into the woods, getting dirty and shooting animals like squirrels and rabbits for her family to eat.

But some would argue that she also embraces female archetype like when it says "Except when Prim was very sick, then I singed her the same songs she liked as a baby." As we all know, Katniss is extremely protective and nurturing to her little sister Prim since her mother is depressed from their fathers passing. Their mother has kind of zoned out on reality and can barely take care of her children because of her imense sadness. Katniss stepped up and became the leader of the household so that Prim could still have somewhat of a normal childhood. She is just a tremendously strong and caring girl that would do anything for her family and tries to take care of them as best she can. This quote is the only kind of female action described in the book because most guys wouldn't sing lullabies to their younger siblings. Other wise, it only talks about how she hunts and doesn't really like being girly.

This book really was so amazing and I enjoyed every minute of it. It had a good pace and never got boring. Since reading isn't one of my most preferred activities, I think my friends were surprised when I told them I want to read the second and third book! That definitely tells you something.

After some thought after reading the short story the "Dangerous Game" I came to the conclusion that Rainsford was the protagonist. Rainsford and his friend Whitney were experienced hunters, but both had different opinions and ideas about the feelings of animals when they were being killed. Rainsford didn't have much sympathy or compassion towards the animals which made him less liked then Whitney who had more empathy. The story goes on and Rainsford ends up on a deserted island where he meets General Zaroff.Rainsford learns that the General is a hunter as well. Zaroff boasts of his hunting abilities and mentions that he hunts humans which catches Rainsford by surprise. "I am a hunter, not a murderer", Rainsford replies to the General as he hears that he's a hunter of man. General Z offers Rainsford a hunt against each other and the story concludes with Rainsford winning. In my opinion, I would say that Rainsford became afraid and fearful of the General and was glad he won the hunt, but wondered what kind of a person could have the smallest amount of empathy for human as the General did. Rainsford ended up gaining a better understanding of how animals feel when their being hunted since he had the experience of being hunted himself. If Rainsford didn't have this experience then I think that he might have turned into the General.

Doodle and the Scarlet Ibis, in the story the Scarlet Ibis symbolize each other in many ways. Doodle was a "different" baby that was born into a family not expecting his uniqueness. When Doodle was born into this family, they stayed far away from him because of the way he looked, and they didn't even have the empathy and compassion to name him. The Scarlet Ibis symbolizes Doodle because of its exoticness and rarity. When the family first saw the uncommon bright red bird, the mother yelled "Don't you dare go near that thing. There's no telling what kind of disease it might have." Similiar to Doodle, the family stayed far away from him, judging him at first sight. The Ibis symbolizes Doodle becasue of it's idividuality and strength to live. They are two very different creatures but at the same time share an incredible and symbolic relationship.