Tag: Literature

General · reading · Writing

The Belly of the Whale: The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Chapter 1.5

Sonia Lal2 Comments

The Belly of the Whale

The hero has heard the Call to Adventure, accepted it (the hero may have rejected it first) and has also gotten through the First Threshold. Now our brave hero is in the Belly of the Whale.

Chapter 1.1 was about the Call to Adventure.

Chapter 1.2 was about Refusal of the Call to Adventure.

Chapter 1.3 was about Supernatural Aid.

Chapter 1.4 was about Crossing of the First Threshold

This section about the Belly of the Whale concludes the first chapter of the The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It is called Departure and I imagine it means the hero has finished departing and is well into the adventure.

The book has this to say about The Belly of the Whale:

The idea that the threshold is a transit into a sphere of rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died.

To me it sounds like the hero is trapped somehow, maybe by the enemy, maybe by the world itself. Maybe the hero was kidnapped or betrayed into the hands of the enemy. Maybe the enemy has trapped him some other way and he has to shoot his way out.

I am less sure about the rebirth bit of this quote. I think it means being trapped changes the hero somehow, in some fundamental way. Traumatic experiences do change people, but usually not in a good way. A traumatic experience can also turn you into a better person, or at least a more empathic one, so it could go both ways.

In Star Wars (Episode IV: The New Hope) this is when Luke and company are trapped on the Death Star. The point where they jump into the garbage disposal place is the moment when they are in abdomen of the Death Star.

Harry Potter . . . Harry Potter is harder to say. I think this is when he gets past  Fluffy (the three-headed dog) and goes through that trapdoor. They play that  game of chess. Well, this or there isn’t a Belly of the Whale in the first Harry Potter book. What do you guys think?

As for how they change . . . Luke watches his mentor as they fight free of the Death Star. Harry learns something about himself, but after the chess scene, so I am not sure it counts. Because the things that learns about himself could also be another part of the hero’s journey.

Anyway, at the end, I think the Belly of the Whale section is about the hero getting trapped somehow. It doesn’t have to be by the enemy, though it usually is. Cultural norms and things like that could also play a part. The hero’s own emotions could also a play part in trapping him.

reading · Writing

The Crossing of the First Threshold: The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Chapter 1.4

Sonia Lal9 Comments

The Crossing of the First Threshold

At this point in the Hero’s Journey, the hero has accepted the Call to Adventure and is on his way. The hero has perhaps acquired some Supernatural Aid.

Chapter 1.1 was about the Call to Adventure.

Chapter 1.2 was about Refusal of the Call to Adventure.

Chapter 1.3 was about Supernatural Aid.

The book says this on the First Threshold:

With the personification of his destiny to guide and aid him, the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the “threshold guardian” at the entrance to the zone magnified power. Such custodians bound the world in the four directions – also up and down – standing for the limits of the hero’s present sphere, or life horizon. Beyond them is darkness, the unknown, and danger; just as beyond the parental watch is danger of the infant and beyond the protection of his society danger to the member of the tribe.

I think the threshold guardian is someone or something that represents the boundaries of the hero’s world. This could be (probably is!) related somehow to the hero’s culture, to the hero’s place in his culture. Or, it could be, the physical boundaries of his hometown. Maybe both. It could be something that is keeping the hero from moving forward.

Maybe someone is bullying the hero; maybe the hero is being hunted; maybe the hero needs to go get something for his people; maybe the hero needs to go somehow to further himself.

Anyway, beyond this first threshold, is danger. Only heroes brave this danger; non-heroes are happy not crossing this boundary. 

In Star Wars, this was probably when Luke left his home world.

Harry Potter is more difficult. There could be a lot of thresholds, I think. The letters, when Hagrid comes to find him, when Hagrid first takes him to Diagon Alley.

But I think Harry crosses the First Threshold when he gets on the train to Hogwarts. He has to find and cross the weird train station, the one everyone tells him doesn’t exist. Everyone that tells him so, the mere perception that this train station cannot exist is, I think, the threshold guardian. This is when he crosses over to the magical world all by himself! What do you guys think?

The book also says about what is past the First Threshold:

The pairs of opposite (ugliness, good and evil, and all the other polarities that bind the faculties to hope and fear, and link the organs of action to deeds of defense and acquisition) are clashing rocks (Symplegades) that crush the traveler, but between which the heroes always pass.

The Symplegades (http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/symplegades.html) is a Greek myth where two rocks come together to smash anything that passes between; Jason and the Argonauts had advice on how to pass through (ah! Supernatural Aid!) and they did so successfully.

Here, the clashing rocks are a metaphor for the pairs of opposites that can crush the hero. I think they could be physical things, actual dangers to life and limb. But, also, conflicting desires. Hate and love, justice and revenge, greed and generosity, life and death, conflicts of interest, bravery and fear, things like that. Basically, all the trials and tribulations the hero will face past the First Threshold.

Basically, I think this is the beginning of the adventure and danger should quickly follow, along with a way to use the (perhaps unobvious) Supernatural Aid the hero has previously received.

Also, I think this might be end of the Act 1 (if you’re following the Three Act structure, when the hero cannot turn back and is fully committed).

Others Blogging on This Topic:

  1.  Thoughts on Mythic Structure: Crossing the First Threshold from Debbie
  2. back to basics: the hero’s journey, stage five from Brooke Johnson
  3. The Crossing of the First Threshold: Confronting the Guardians from Living Joyfully
  4. Hero’s Journey: Crossing the First Threshold: The Unknown Place from Rainbow Gryphon
  5. Step 4: Crossing The First Threshold from Down The Rabbit Hole and Back
reading · Writing

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Chapter 1.3: Supernatural Aid

Sonia Lal6 Comments

Chapter 1.3: Supernatural Aid

This is after the hero has accepted the Call to Adventure! Maybe he refused it first, but he has

accepted it now. So the hero’s journey continues!

Chapter 1.1 was about the Call to Adventure.

Chapter 1.2 was about Refusal of the Call to Adventure.

This section is about supernatural aid. That is:

For those who have not refused the call, the first encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass.

So the hero finds a helpful figure, someone to give him things to help survive the trials and tribulations ahead. Things like amulets as mentioned in the quote above; knowledge probably counts, too; maybe weapons and trinkets as well.

I guess the helpful person could be the mentor figure. Like Obi-Wan in Star Wars and Dumbledore in Harry Potter. Luke gets his light saber from Obi-Wan. Harry gets advice.

Frodo’s ring probably counts as an amulet, too. But he gets from Bilbo; does that make Bilbo the helpful figure? He also gets advice from Gandolf. Maybe both Bilbo and Gandolf are helpful figures.

Then there is this line in the book:

What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny.

So . . . is the helpful figure assigned to the hero by fate? By god? I don’t know. But I think this  means the helpful figure is a cheering squad, reassuring the hero and telling them can do this, no matter the odds. Maybe the helpful figure even shows them how to do whatever they need to do.

Protective and dangerous, motherly and fatherly at the same time, this supernatural principle of guardianship and direction unities in itself all the ambiguities of the unconscious – thus signifying the support of our conscious personality by that other, larger system, but also the inscrutability of the guide that we are following to the peril of all our rational ends.

I take this to mean that the helpful figure is basically like a parent and does a lot to sooth the insecurities of our hero.

And look! The guide, that thing that marks a new period in the hero’s life is here, showing the way to the end.

The book also says this about the helpful figure:

Not infrequently, the supernatural helper is masculine in form. In fairy lore it may be some little fellow of the wood, some wizard, hermit, shepherd, or smith, who appears to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require.

Most of the helpful figures in the examples the book gives are actually female. I thought about ignoring this, but yeah. Although in the stories I was thinking of – Harry Potter, Star Wars – the figures are male. So there you go.

Really, I think the most important thing about this section is that hero finds someone to help the hero survive the adventure, usually by providing helpful objects or advice.

Others Blogging on This Topic:

  1. Adapting The Hero’s Journey for a Heroine from Kristen Pham
  2. Step 3: Supernatural Aid from Down The Rabbit Hole and Back
  3. Supernatural Aid: Looking for Guidance on Our Unschooling Journey from Living Joyfully
  4. What is the ‘Supernatural aid’? from frankindischleck
reading

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Chapter 1.2: Refusal of the Call

Sonia Lal5 Comments

Chapter one was about the Call to Adventure.

Chapter two is about what happens when the hero refuses the Call.

The book says this:

Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, “culture,” the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved.

Basically, after hero refuses the Call to Adventure, life becomes a dreary bore. The hero loses all forward momentum, maybe gets into trouble, maybe gets into trouble and becomes a literal victim.

I mean, in the first Harry Potter movie, after his uncle refused to give him the letters, the whole family ended up in a little lighthouse by the shore. Little Dudley ended up with a pig’s tail. But only the people denying Harry the first book adventure got into trouble. I don’t this counts as a refusal. Well, not by Harry, but I don’t think his uncle can’t refuse for him. (Did Harry Potter have a refusal?)

The book also says this:

The myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be one’s own interest. The future is regarded not in terms of an remitting series of deaths and births, but as though one’s present system of ideals, virtues, goals and advantages were to be fixed and made secure.

I guess this is why Harry never really refused to be a wizard; it was never in his best interests to refuse such a thing. Never any way to make a refusal seem like a real good idea.

And also why in The Hobbit, Bilbo refused the Call to Adventure, only to be inundated by dwarves.

I think in The Belgariad by David and Leigh Eddings there was an actual refusal of the Call to Adventure sometime in the second or third book – I don’t remember. Refusing turned out badly for Garian, poor thing.

I guess the second line in that quote about the future is how the characters sees their values and goals as fixed, unchanging. They think: what’s good for me now will always be good for me. But who doesn’t? Who thinks their values might change someday?

reading · Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday: Stories of the Raksura, Vol 1

Sonia Lal25 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am rereading this week!

My Teasers:

Argent broke off her dive and circled uncertainly above Indigo. Cerise saw her look down at her claws, checking for blood. Below her, Indigo dropped her spines submissively and shouted again, “I yield!”

– Stories of the Raksura, Vol 1, by Martha Wells

reading

F is for Famous Books

Sonia Lal30 Comments

So . . . there are a lot of famous books out there. Some are more the type you read in high school English classes, some you see on the New York Times bestseller list, some win awards, and some were first published decades ago and are still in print; everyone you know is reading it or plans to; there is a movie or TV show based on it.

Do you read famous books? 

I, sadly, haven’t read too many of these books. Most of the ones I had to read in high school English class were boring; most of the books on the New York Times bestseller list are not to my taste; I only really follow science fiction and fantasy awards, but I have read very few the winning novels; I haven’t read too many old books, because lots of times they’re written in a long, winding style and that just annoys me.

Sometimes I think I should read more famous books, because more people are likely to have read them (So I think anyway. How could famous books stay famous otherwise?) and if people around me get into random conversations about them, I will be more able to participate.

Also, to better understand, what about the book makes it famous. This is why I read Twilight and I still haven’t arrived at an answer. But! I can talk about it now and tell people exactly what I thought of it. So that’s a plus.

But more often I look at my reading options and think: this book looks so much better than the more famous one. I want to read it so much more and I don’t actually have to read this much more famous book. So I don’t.

I think this is why lots of people (anyway, most people who don’t read science fiction or fantasy. Sometimes even people who read science fiction or fantasy.) have never heard of half the books I read.

What about you?

Book Review · reading

B is for Book Review: The Color Purple

Sonia Lal16 Comments

The Color Purple was my pick for #nanoremo, the month where you read that literary classic you’ve always wanted to read but somehow never actually got around to reading.

I have to add, this is the first time I’ve picked a real literary type classic (I usually pick a more genre-ish classic).

This book is very popular and there is a movie, and so I knew some things about it. Namely:

  • The main character suffered sexual abuse in childhood
  • The main character is black.
  • The book is written as a letter to God.

I had somehow forgotten that it takes place in the south. I never knew that it was written in the dialect of the main character and not in standard English. And I never so much as guessed that the main character was lesbian. I mean, really! No one told me! It wasn’t in the movie trailers.

The dialect made The Color Purple a challenge to read, not least because I don’t know many people who talk like that. But I got used to it. It only took me a couple dozen pages to stop stumbling over the grammar.

Later, when the sister started writing to her, the proper grammar was a shock.

So . . . there were moments that stood out.

One thing that stands out for me is how she stopped getting her period as a teenager. She talks about girls who bleed have babies and then she says she stopped bleeding. She was relieved, and considering her step-father, that isn’t surprising. But it’s a shock – never get your period again, never have a child. Well, she had two by that point. Even so.

The other moment was when she realized her children were NOT also her siblings. It was so emotional, so intense.

In fact, there were lots of emotional, intense moments in this book, so many they are impossible to list. For such a short book, it was packed.

Overall, it was a pleasure to read. I am really glad I picked this book. I thought it might be hard to read, but it wasn’t. (I’ve read harder books. This wasn’t even in the top five.)

Book Review · General · reading

Book Review: The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Sonia Lal4 Comments

Blurb from GoodReads:

“One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride…”

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family’s only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim’s handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family’s darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.

 

I really enjoyed The Ghost Bride. The concept is new to me, a living woman married to the ghost of dead man.

The villains: stalker ghost and his deceased family.

My favorite: the afterlife.

Things I expected, but didn’t get:

  • From the blurb, I thought she was a ghost bride. She got a proposal, but there was no wedding.
  • There was a trial of the villains and I would have liked to see it. I guess only the results mattered to the main character, but the omission of the trial disappointed me.

Things I Liked Least: the romance wasn’t especially convincing.

The afterlife in this book is complicated, complete with bribery and corruption, demons and dragons who serve as minor government officials. I loved it. But I really love ghosts and dragons.

The ghost stalks her from the afterlife, and had he lived, I cannot think he would be much different. If he had lived and she had married into the household (their fathers had a childhood arrangement for her marry the cousin). I think he would have been an awful in-law, the kind who would hit on her and retaliate when she refused.

He haunts her dreams and insists she marry him. He sets up a party in her dreams, complete with unappetizing spirit food, and is upset when she rejects him.

She goes to see a medium, who gives her some medicine to keep the stalker ghost away. But one day it stops working, so she takes a lot more and gets so sick her soul is ejected from her body.

That’s when the book gets interesting. She meets hungry ghosts, a dragon, and she goes to the Plains of the Dead. The Plains is the underworld, with little villages and cities of ghosts. It is wonderful. This portrayal of the spirit world was amazing. This is my favorite part of the book.

The character comes into her own here. It stands in her good with her romance with the cousin of her stalker.

So . . . Girl sees boy; girl thinks she’s in love with boy. Truthfully, this romance never worked for me. I mean, he’s a good guy. But it just happened so fast. She visits him in his dreams and he burns a horse for her (she finds it very helpful in the Plains of the Dead). So I can’t see the romance was useless. But I think it was more lust at first sight rather than love at first sight.

In fact, I think, she fell in lust with the dragon, too. Who can blame her? And no human can compete with a dragon. She left with him in the end, but I don’t buy she’s is in love with him. Plus, he rescued her. So he’s a good guy, too.

In the end, I really, really enjoyed the books. The descriptions were marvelous. The story moved forward at a fairly brisk pace. It was well-written. You should read it, especially if you like ghosts.

flash friday · General · Writing

Friday Flash: Apologize

Sonia Lal11 Comments

My first friday flash in a couple of weeks. Didn’t feel like writing one today either, but thought: I should.

 

The full moon rose above the tree line, big and round and dirty white, like someone had smeared dusty fingers across it.
 
She looked away, not wanting to see it. Terrible thing.
 
Flowers buried their heads in their petals all along the lawn. When she was little, she used to think they slept and sang them a lullaby in the evening.
 
She knew better now, didn’t she?
 
She bent to pick a bloodroot. Its white petals were tightly furled and soft as a newborn’s head. She picked one and let it drop on the dark green grass.
 
I will die.
 
Another petal floated to the ground. He will die.
 
A third petal joined its siblings. I will die.
 
A wolf emerged from the copse of woods and padded closer. His blond fur gleamed in the moonlight.
 
The fourth petal drifted down to rest on her sandaled foot. He will die.
 
His fur wavered and rippled under the full moon.
 
A fifth white petal wafted away in a gust of wind. I will die.
 
A man rose from the grass, tall, naked and skin like brightly polished copper.
 
The sixth petal landed on his black hair. He will die.
 
“We need to talk, babe,” he rumbled.
 
They did not.
 
The seventh petal circled down to land on the ground between them. I will die.
 
She pointed the gun she had taken from our locker. It held silver bullets she had especially commissioned. “There is nothing left to say.”
 
The last petal drifted away, out of sight on the wind. He will die.
 
She fired.
 
The shot missed him, smacked into the ground behind him. He never even flinched. Bastard.
 
He took several steps forward. “Come on, babe. You don’t want to shoot me.”
 
She turned away. “I want you gone.”
 
His arms closed around her waist. “I am sorry. It won’t happen.”
 
His heat seeped through her clothes. “No. It won’t.”
 
“I can make it up to you.” He blew a breath in her ear.
 
“You can’t. My mother’s crystal! You can’t replace it.”
 
“Give me a chance. Please.”
 
She huffed out a breath.

General · reading

Non-Review Way To Complain About A Book

Sonia Lal5 Comments

So, yesterday, while looking for snippets of A Shiver of Light, I ran across the book’s Goodreads page. This is normal.

But than I discovered people had been putting commentary on the book’s page and they put where the reviews usually go. But they weren’t reviews, they were slamming/praising the series OR they were expressing their unhappiness because the book hadn’t been published yet.

It will be published tomorrow: Jun 3, 2014.

goodreads snapshot

I took this screenshot of the Goodreads’ page for A Shiver of Light. As you can see, there are 3000 comments. If this is the first comment, (I don’t know that it is, I didn’t sort it in any way), it showed up two years ago.

And the book’s not even published yet!

This comment talks about  a love for the series and a wish she would publish this book. Well, I also love the series and I wished she would publish it, instead of writing lots and lots of books in the other series. But it never occurred to me voice this in the review section of its Goodreads page. I mean, I thought that was for reviews only. But no.

If you look further up the screen, it says there are 42 reviews and 244 ratings. I took a screenshot.ashiverlightgoodreads

It’s not counting most of the 3000 comments as reviews, probably because most of them have no rating for the book – how could they? The book’s not out until tomorrow and I doubt there are a 1000 ARCs, let alone 3000.

So this is a good thing. It is a way to express some feeling involving the book, but is not actually a review.

Because, personally, I don’t really like the idea of using a book review to complain about prices and other things that don’t involve book’s story. Sometimes there is no other way, because the reviews on Amazon or wherever is the only way we got to complain to the publisher/author. But I don’t think it is a good way.

IMO, this is a better way to complain about something – prices, not being published soon enough, etc. What do you think? Would you do it?