Avrial Turner
Professor Jeremy Proctor
Twentieth Century Fiction
1 October 2015
Essay One: Heroes Carl Jung was the first to recognize that there are universal patterns in the whole of literature regardless of culture or period of time. Since his first hypothesis, many have come along and refined it such as Joseph Campbell who applied the theory to mythological stories identifying many archetypes of plot and character development. One of these archetypes is the hero archetype and the archetypal hero journey. The Hero has many forms, but they all typically have a common journey of sorts. The Hero typically has a call to adventure, refusal to call, transformation, and goddess. This archetype is prevalent in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel, We. We …show more content…
The refusal to answer the call to the journey of the hero is present in both We and 1984. In We, once D-503 gives into I-330’s call to him, he begins to question himself and his call. It was as if some sort of “irrational root had sunk into [him], like something foreign, alien, frightening, it devoured [him] – it couldn’t be comprehended or defused because” it was beyond him. His call was too much for him to handle, so he argued with himself constantly, which only forced him to delay his ahead task. Winston in 1984 also delays his journey. Julia’s approach enticed Winston but also scared him. He knows that if he gives in to the desire, the “thought police” will come after him. “At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid. It was not till twenty- three hours, when he was home and in bed- in the darkness, where you were safe even from the telescreen so long as you kept silent—that he was able to think continuously” (2.1). His fear caused him to hide and delay his embark upon his …show more content…
For Winston in 1984, Julia is his goddess. It is through her that he discovers a new love and desires for life. “The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal” (2.4). With Julia, Winston becomes tied and finds new meaning in his life. In We, the goddess is a little more difficult to locate, but O-90, a love of D-503, is his goddess to whom he nearly always returns along his journey. For the “first time in [his] life [he] had experienced it. It was some kind of ancient caress that had been unknown to [him] until [that] moment” (29.6). The love that he seems to feel for O-90 always keep his fascination and gives him something to look forward
Professor Jeremy Proctor
Twentieth Century Fiction
1 October 2015
Essay One: Heroes Carl Jung was the first to recognize that there are universal patterns in the whole of literature regardless of culture or period of time. Since his first hypothesis, many have come along and refined it such as Joseph Campbell who applied the theory to mythological stories identifying many archetypes of plot and character development. One of these archetypes is the hero archetype and the archetypal hero journey. The Hero has many forms, but they all typically have a common journey of sorts. The Hero typically has a call to adventure, refusal to call, transformation, and goddess. This archetype is prevalent in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s novel, We. We …show more content…
The refusal to answer the call to the journey of the hero is present in both We and 1984. In We, once D-503 gives into I-330’s call to him, he begins to question himself and his call. It was as if some sort of “irrational root had sunk into [him], like something foreign, alien, frightening, it devoured [him] – it couldn’t be comprehended or defused because” it was beyond him. His call was too much for him to handle, so he argued with himself constantly, which only forced him to delay his ahead task. Winston in 1984 also delays his journey. Julia’s approach enticed Winston but also scared him. He knows that if he gives in to the desire, the “thought police” will come after him. “At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid. It was not till twenty- three hours, when he was home and in bed- in the darkness, where you were safe even from the telescreen so long as you kept silent—that he was able to think continuously” (2.1). His fear caused him to hide and delay his embark upon his …show more content…
For Winston in 1984, Julia is his goddess. It is through her that he discovers a new love and desires for life. “The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal” (2.4). With Julia, Winston becomes tied and finds new meaning in his life. In We, the goddess is a little more difficult to locate, but O-90, a love of D-503, is his goddess to whom he nearly always returns along his journey. For the “first time in [his] life [he] had experienced it. It was some kind of ancient caress that had been unknown to [him] until [that] moment” (29.6). The love that he seems to feel for O-90 always keep his fascination and gives him something to look forward