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.

Dead, but Never Forgotten

             For this week, I read a selection of short tales in the book "Chinese Ghost Stories, Curious Tales of the Supernatural," by Lafcadio Hearn. This novel tells many different tales from a multitude of different perspectives, but all centralizing around themes of dedication, duty, honor, and family.

             For a majority of the book, the various tales throughout focus around men and women who must put aside personal goals or gain in order to help others, even if it risks their mortal frame. The idea of sacrifice for the sake of others is incredibly preeminent in Asian culture, kept in their traditions for hundreds of years and exemplified in these stories. These traditional values of honoring ones family, removing personal pride and others are often put into the spiritual realm of the meta-physical. Upholding promises and honoring family are represented physically by ghosts and beings beyond human understanding, helping and praising those who maintain the value(s) in the story; whilst punishing those who do not.

·                                   For these stories, there is often not huge focus on “good vs evil,” more so to pay homage to various aspects of a "morally just life," especially when the central theme includes keeping with traditional values. There is supposed to be a balance, the idea that upsetting tradition will have horrendous effects on the people around them, don’t overturn society, maintain order, keep humble, abandon pride but do your best for the masses, etc. For example, in the story of "The Should of the Great Bell," a young girl sacrifices her life so that her father can keep his promise to construct an incredibly beautiful bell to his master. Although this means her own life is ended, she is given the reward of everlasting honor as she not only saves her father from punishment, but also becomes a spirit of the bell, forever able to bring beauty to those that hear or see the bell. 

                     Self sacrifice without want of personal gain, while also paying respects to those who have done the same are two major themes that seem to conquer much of asian culture; highlighted even more so in this book. These moral standards have existed so long as to survive modern culture, because many asian families agree on these foundations of respect and duty to help people become greater as a mass of dedicated united beings, accomplishing more as a whole than any one individual could ever aspire towards.

Lestat's Lament

          Immortality is a treasure that so many in both fictionalized and actual history have sought after, and yet for one particular man, this gift is his greatest curse. Throughout the beginning of the novel "The Body Thief," Lestat is shown constantly reminiscing about the idea of being a mortal man being something that he would give anything to acquire once more. However once he receives it, he can't go a full day without hating his new mortal form. He makes several comments to his friend David as to how even toddlers, "fall down, and scream almost constantly, they hate being human! They know already that its some sort of dirty trick." Lestat admits to his own foolishness, telling as to how he had forgot how frail and vulnerable to the world mortal men were.

         The main conflict of "The Body Thief" appears almost entirely due to Lestat's own lack of hubris, not only does he refuse to listen to the arguments of his close friends, but constantly feels as though he deserves more than what he has. He looks upon whatever he doesn't have with "rose tinted glasses," reminiscing how great whatever he doesn't have is, whether it be the sensitivities of being human or the power of being a vampire. Lestat doesn't ever seem to be satisfied with any limitations while also never thinking of the consequences of his actions.

         There are multiple possible sources of Lestat's constant lust for greater states of being, one obvious source being his near immortal life combined with his fantastical powers and massive wealth taking out almost all conflict in his life. On top of all of these, Lestat has lost multiple companions throughout his long life, one of which being his adopted daughter Claudia, whose visage constantly visits him in nightmarish fashion to remind him of his failures. This torture of his past is even further escalated when one considers Lestat is without immortal companions, with friends like David not wanting immortality or possible love interests, (such as the nurse introduced later in the novel) being terrified of supernatural beings. Lestat is constantly alone, with no real driving motivation to continue forward in life and haunted by his own memories; such an unforgiving combination truly paints why Lestat would sacrifice whatever he has for the prospect of an improved life; however slim the actual possibility of such might be.

Frankenstein: The Tale of Two Monsters

                                          The Monster and His Creation

       Dr. Frankenstein creates, hides, and hates the monster that he creates, in turn treating the creature like the evil beast he associates with his appearance. Dr. Frankenstein's monster however is by all other lights, human, becoming impressively intelligent and even kind hearted through his journeys, but the the monster is repeatedly spurned by all who see him, despite being able to communicate and reason the same if not better than those that call him a monster. Because of this, the once possible Saint is reduced to a monster swearing revenge on humanity; in particular Frankenstein himself. The monster doing all of this, while also struggling to understand themes of humanity, companionship, and the pursuit of knowledge. All themes Frankenstein himself also pursued.

      Dr. Frankenstein himself ends up becoming more and more a monster as he hunts down his creation; chasing his creation for years until finally his journey ends up killing himself in the process. His obsession with keeping secrecy and unhealthy pursuit of the monster further damns him as he refuses help from his father, Elizabeth (his lover), and any friends that attempt and drag him back to any form of sane worldview. Dr. Frankenstein becomes so fixated on the idea of catching and killing the monster that HE created and spurned, he doesn't see how his anger lashes out onto those that he most cares about. 

       Due to most of the narrative being told from the view of Frankenstein during his last few days alive, his monster, or Walton, it becomes veritably difficult to interpret; bringing to question multiple accounts of hyperbole or possible lapse in memory or even all out lying on either of the three narrators' parts.

                                                   Frankensteins Fractured Psyche 

         Dr. Frankenstein seems rather flippant throughout the story, wanting the best of every situation, but doubting and calculating outcomes to the point where he ends up making horrid decisions one after another. He wants to create life, (specifically a "new perfect race") but rejects his creation and spurs it into loneliness and rage. He wants to help the monster find peace, but he convinces himself to break his pledge to the monster and destroys the female companion Dr. Frankenstein was in the process of creating, further angering the creature AND countering his original goal of creating a new race, being now horrified with the concept! He wants to marry Elizabeth, but also ends up ignoring and all but avoiding her until it is too late and his own creation kills her.

Frankenstein's constant indecisiveness, (while very human in nature) coupled with his refusal to seek aid or confide in others results in a lifelong battle with himself and his creation. 

                                                        Who Is Really the Monster?

         Interpretation itself seems a big point of intrigue for a good part of this story; Dr. Frankenstein' interpretation of the monster, the monster' interpretation of himself, the world's interpretation of the monster and his actions, and the family's interpretation of Dr. Frankenstein  fanatical secrecy and deception; all play different roles in the story and really set up this constant theme of longing knowledge and clarity throughout the story for numerous characters; Even if the acquisition of clarity dooms those who receives it. 

         While the monster's actions are undeniably evil, ranging from theft to murder, he constantly makes it known that he is acting out of aggression or ignorance as a result of starting life hated by all who see him. He is assumed and treated as evil and thus, he becomes it. Dr. Frankenstein on the other hand starts out life privileged and is able to make the best out of most situations, having a great family to back him up along with numerous friends and associates of well repute; AND YET, it is Frankenstein who not only creates the monster, but chases it for the extent of its life simply for being ugly in appearance. 

         We may never know whether Frankenstein and his monster are the results of their environment or other unforeseen circumstances we can only guess at, all we can know for certain is the tragedy of one man's pursuit of knowledge, and how the misuse of such can have truly terrible consequences...