Into the Lonely Mountain

This week was JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit."

           The story fervently follows "The Hero's Journey," ideal of a circular narrative, consisting mostly of innocence being introduced to conflict and met with some form of resolution. Our hero, Bilbo Baggins, starts off in "the known," the shire, and throughout his adventures ventures into the unknown and finally returns home with newfound knowledge and experiences, forever changed by the experiences. The story's massive emphasis on the necessity of a test in order to discover new things about oneself is what drives the story forward; as Bilbo is already an adult, (no coming of age) and already has an established life in a pleasant village, (so not necessarily finding where one belongs or rising above poverty). Instead, Bilbo is seen as a quite, non-adventurous man living an uninteresting life absent of the adventure that he in his youth craved so badly. Gandalf presents the possibility for Bilbo to have the life he wants, but in order to do so he must endure many trials about overcoming his own personal doubts and fears in the style of "The Hero's Journey."

             Despite the fact the definite protagonist of this story is overcoming personal fears and traumas, themes of building character through reliance on others, overcoming personal pride in order to work together and accomplishing a common goal are all very prevalent in the story. Throughout the course of the book, Bilbo must trust and work alongside his companions if he is to finish his quest, and as Bilbo explores beyond his familiar shire, the reader discovers alongside with him; acting as a perfect funnel of information about the massive world of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth. Tolkien is known for building massive worlds and their histories along with their immersive settings and peoples, often take inspiration from histories of multiple lands and peoples. This story is no exception, containing undertones about perseverance and trust in friends that can be interpretable in other parts of ones life. Throughout the many adventures that Bilbo has, the perils that he faces along with Gandalf and party are almost never revolving around the idea of acquiring massive treasures or even necessarily killing the dragon; but often about learning new aspects of their own lives that seemed insignificant before, or building as characters in a chaotic world. Such concepts are more than applicable to the real Earth, and maybe thats why so many fellow nerds around the world love to visit Middle Earth. So lets crack open another book, I hear that Gandalf has another adventure planned.

Observing Oddity

           For this week, I read over the story, "Jack" by China Mieville.

           While the story may be tilted "Jack," the narrator constantly refers to Jack as a separate character, working for him and hanging upon many of his actions or dialogues with increased personal reconciliation. Jack dominates the majority of this story, possibly as a representation for obsession, as Jack "half-a-prayer" takes central interest for our main character as he follows the career, downfall, and subsequent aftermath of Jack. Every single event and thought has something to do directly or tie with Jack, with very little or possibly no real break in the narrator's constant fixation with Jack. Even the way paragraphs are structured there is a constant repetition of Jack's name, further driving ideals of obsession.


            For a majority of the the novel,  there are more cerebral, more inner-based thought provoking conceptualizations of the events transpiring. Not many of their monologging stays upon direct observations, but instead stating what is going on, and elaborating upon that with analogy upon metaphors and other literary devices. This story starts off telling how a crook is caught and brought in by authorities, and ends up touching concepts relating to the randomness of one's luck, fate, and the self serving nature of desperate men. Like many of these "odd" stories, the base surface story is not necessarily as important or even relevant to the actual morals and world views hidden within these narratives.

Ageless Vengeance Upon Oppression

             For this week's story, I read the complete works of James Robinson's 1994 "Witchcraft" series; comprised of three separate graphic novel volumes. The majority of the novels center around magical rebirth and various separate but similar searches for vengeance against embodiments of abusive dominance. These plots are rather obvious metaphors for the tendency for powerful figures in history, (in this novel often displayed as demonic-worshiping sexually abusive men) to abuse their position.

           The stories' main characters all are not often treated as individuals, but more so representations of relatable positions to convey the themes explored. The protagonists are always relatively submissive beings, be them young boys trying to prove themselves or women who are seen as nothing more than child bearers; while the antagonists in these stories are all powerful men driven by their own ambition, greed, and lust to take anything and everything they desire regardless of who gets hurt as a result. Even the ambivalent goddesses who tell the tale take physical reincarnations throughout the novels, becoming kindly nuns or hospital patients or whoever the character, (or the audience) might interpret as sources of purpose or advancement. Each of the characters in this story figuratively and literally are just interpretations of the same base characters that are seen in stories throughout history.

             Although the central theme of women trying to survive and take back control of their lives in a man-central world is incredibly prevalent throughout the first part of the story, the second and third installments broaden that theme to include any and all that would be subject to oppression. The series as a whole tells on how any and all those who receive hardship, be them young or old, man or woman, deserve retribution and vengeance upon those who would commit such heinous acts. The stories explored in the "Witchcraft" series illustrate people who, when given opportunity, do what they feel is right in correcting the various wrongs put upon them by evils around them.