Blog Entry # 11: Ugly Draft

Possible Title:  Embreacing the fruit of maturity: Understanding the process of growing up, transcending the orphans pain and finding an identity in Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.

Intro:    A magical Giant peach that serves as a ship or carrier for James adventures is the central symbol in Roald Dahl's 1961 children novel James and the Giant Peach. One day after having spilled magical crystals around an old peach tree , James founds that a Giant Peach had grown from the old three. Dying out of curiosity 10 years old orphan James enters the peach and much to his surpirse he finds that 7 giant insects where waiting for him to embark into amazing adventures across the Atlantic over to New York city from his native land England.

Bio:   English writer Roald Dahl(DATE) rose in the 1940´s with works for both chidrens and adults that were characterized by dark humor and unexpected endings. Dahl was a pilot for the brithish airforce during world war II, a poet,screewritter and short story writter. Dahl first became renownk for his work in 1942 with his first work C.S foster, a work that that told the story about his wartime adventures. Later on, he decided to continue with books for childrens with his first book being  The Gremlins based on creatures that the british airforce in jkoke told to be the ones that caused damages in their airpanes.Moreover, he then started to focus on fantasy books for children characterised for orphans and their heros quest with works such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factorie, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Many of his works were turn into film scripts such as Willy wonka and the chocolate factory, Your only live twice and Matilda.


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Summary: 
              What James founds across the sea is a series of trials to show him that he is valuable and that make him develop traits that would take him into maturity. The peach clearly symbolizes a psychological compound of traits that James has not yet embraced and needs to integrate in order to transcend his pain and loneliness as an orphan. More else, the 7 insects represent aspects the he also needs to develop in order to become an independent grown boy. Clearly , James resembles the archetype of an orphan that becomes a wanderer in order to grow up according to Carol Pearson's Heroic Myth System.

Pearson and Gailman:


Orphan:  James character on the novel is clearly an orphan archetype according to pearson archetyipical system. He becomes an orphan when a rhino that escaped eats his parents.He then moves with his evil aunts who treat him like a slave. More else, James does not even attend to school as he is too buy working for her wicked aunts on an isolated house somewhere on a hill on England. And so he is desesperate for company (QUUOTE) and for a need of an idenity ouside the one of an slave orphan that his wicked aunts give him.

Wanderer: As a orphan who saw his aunts as his only parental figure and after being punished and denied permision to explore and have friends,James then assumes the role of a wanderer. Most wanderers are born out of orhpans as is the case of James who not being able to tolerate being alone and abused the suddently seeks adventures and starts to explore the outerparts of the hills in order to find something he does not know, perhaps an identidy?. While being at the hill James constantly reminds himself of what her aunts said to him about not going away as he tries to re assert himself to what to do in a situation where he can choose between delcare indpendence and explore, or obey and remain orphan.


Monomyth: James and The Giant peach fit perfectily in Campells Monomyth structure or Heroes quest (As in Campelss, Here with a thousand faces). James is pushed into advture by his own desire to find himself and explore whats ouside,and so he hears "the call for adventure" as he crosses the boundaries stablished by her aunts that are physically invisible but completly based on his fear orphan and ingnorance about the power of his own autonomy.He then embakrs into advetures with tests and surprises that he never thougt could happen to later return home more stringer ,confident and mature, this time having found his own value and having explored and trascended most of the pain of being an orphan to become more mature and independent.

At an archetipical orphan, James resebles a very innocent one, who seems to accept life as it is and never questions anything but just accepts life as it comes with all the orders of his wicked aunts.As the novel goes on, one realizes that James is in a great pain that he perhpas does not understand as he has already adapted to  the isoleted and abusive enviromet.

What marks a the break of his innocente into a more revelious James, is when denial of his aunts (quote) for him to explore and be a child.(considering he is entering his teen years and needs to feel a child for a last time). As a result like a lesson every orphan must learn , he starts his jorney into becoming self suficcined by revealing to his by then accepted reallity of loneliness, abuse and grieff. After unconsciuslly reveling to his aunts orders to not wanter around the hill, because the common feeling of an orphan to being on limbo (belly of the whale) James then seeks exitement.

In the process of growing up and trasceniding being an orphan, the indivudal has to accept the loss of innocence and become self sufficient. As we can see in the book , James looses his innocence and starts looking for exitement to later find the Giant peach. The Giant Peach, then resembles a pile of emotions that he needs to integrate to trascend and find a mature selfsuffient James as it symbolizes a fruit or fruitition a result he is searching for.

Surprinsingly, when James decides to enter the peach in awe, he finds the insects that had also grownh big due to the magic talisman the old man gave to James and that he accidentaly trhown near the peach trhree.
The 7 insectes represent what James is missing, both in the positive and negative way. Dahl at the start of the novels gives a pretty blank description of James as just an innocent boy who obeys her aunts orders, but as soon as he enters the peach and meets the insects he beings a methamirphis where he little by little starts to take them as frinds and rolemodels. Chapter by chapter as James becomes closer to the insects ,he becomes more intersting a full of surprises, it seems that the insects give James the reflection needed to create or find his own identidy.

And so James adventures with his new firends starts when the peach starts to roll down the hill into the sea. The first trial is that once in the sea James must calm the insects out of their fear of never making it alive to firm terrain. He is then force to take the role of a hero rolemodel to the insects to praise him for his wisdom and are very nervous to the events unfolding. The next test, resembeling again the need for nurture of an orhpan symbolizded by freud as the need for food ,unfolds.Because of the insects are scared to die out of hunger, James realizes that they can eat the peach itself that would fullfill all their needs. And so, James symbolically starts to be able to self fullfill that empty space of the need of an orphan for care (food).

Deep into the see we can see that James as perhaps Jung and Freud would describe water and sea, is going further in the layers of his subcounciess to find what is holding him back out of his next natural step of maturity and self realization,and so the next trial arises. When a group of angered sharks see the insects and James over the peach they decide to sunk the peach in order to sunk it and eat the tripulants. Therefore, with 7 insects that see James as clever smart person,he is pushed to take the role of a warrior. Concecuently ,James creates a plan to safe himself and the insects from the sharks, and aims at the sky. He decides to make the silkworm and Miss spider give him their silk to catch seagulls that are atracted to the centipede as ballons o lift off. He then proofs to the insects and himself that he is a striong warrior that can solve critical situations.










Bibliography 


-Roald Dahl (Wikipedia-date)

-Roald Dahl (James and the Giant Peach)

-Roald Dahl (website)

-Pearson (Archetypes-date-year)

-Freud(Anima-Animus,shadow-date-year)

-Campell(Hero´s quest, Monotmyth-Date)

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Blog Entry # 10: Notes on James and the Giant Peach

      While living in the isolated hill house, James clearly resembles the role of an orphan who cannot think for himself and follows orders of her wicked aunts, the only parental figure he has. And so, he tries to attach to her aunts  even thought they abuse him beating him and calling him names.
      In the case of James the wanderer archetype arises and overtakes the orphan archetype as the loneliness and pain of living far away in the hill and being victim of abuse turns him into a boy who wants to explore and know what is it beyond pain and loneliness. This event was clearly triggered by the response to his questions "Oh , auntie Sponge and auntie Spiker! Couldn't we all-please- just for once.. go down to the seaside on the bus? it isn't very far-- and i feel so hot and awful and lonely...." and the response of the aunts was " Why ,you lazy good-for nothing brute!" ,"beat him cried aunt sponge" (7) making realize James that he had to go out and explore.
      More else, the novel also portraits an emotional need classic of an orphan for friends and food as the  Giant Peach in which he enters resembles his "buble" or his charriot out of the pain of real life, and the giant insects inside the Peach resemble aspects that he seeks as a form of friends.

Symbolism:

The Rhino
The Rhino ,who stumbles upon James parents and eats them in the middle of the city, could symbolize James need to become a man and his call to adventure. The Rhino a big and strong animal with a big horn (Male aspect?) and by killing James parents he is causing James to become an orphan, and so the adventure into maturity begins.

Giant Peach
The Giant Peach represents James carriage or bubble out of the pain and loneliness of an orphan. It is shown as a fruit, food that can be seen as emotion, the emotion James feels he needs and so the Giant peach becomes a catalyst to his independence as he becomes one with the peach making it his house. When James enters inside the giant peach, he is integrating his fears and transcending them as he explores that there are many aspects that he lacks and can make part of his home(himself, his psychology)
Also the peach represents james peach, with 7 years of experience or 7 insects.


Sexual characteristic of James the giant Peach:
From a sexual and creative perspective, James can be seen as a sperm entering the womb (the peach) to start his transformation into a human being,or in this case of an independent grown boy and so transcending the pain and loneliness of an orphan.

The insects:

When James enters the Giant peach, he finds that there are 7 insects living inside it, at first he is scared to look at them and believes they might eat him, perhaps reflecting his fear to embrace and develop aspects of himself.

Grasshopper.- Leadership, someone who is not afraid to aim and jump high
Ladybug.- Kindness, an emotional factor ,the Anima part of peach psychology.
Earthworm.- Wisdom ,and someone who is very down to earth.
Centipede.- In the novel the centipede does not care much about anybody ,some someone with a lot of resources ,(feet) representing

Spider.- A female spider, perhaps representing parenting, and relationships.
Glow worm .- Representing more healthy ego, his right to shine
Silk worm.- An ability to transform, to adapt and to be free.

At the same time, the insects could also represents the 7 christian sins, or the negative side the James.

7 insects
James is 7 years old , maybe the 7 insects resemble 7 years of experience in the world.

Sea
As James immerses himself with the peach and the insects into the sea, he is entering his subconscious mind according to an interpretation of sea and water by Carl Jung.

Monomyth

Call to adventure
A Rhino escapes from the zoo and kills James parents making him an orphan, making him grow up and become independent.
Another place to start, could be when James finds a man who gives him the magical green crystals and promises that they are magical and would make him happy.

Supernatural Aid (The old mysterious man)
When James is exploring the side of the hill, he stumbles upon and old an mysterious man who tells him he is there to help him by ginving him some green magical crystals telling him to eat them, saying "..marvelous things will start happening to you, faboulous,unvelibable things-- and you will never be miserable again in your life"

First Threshold
James is not allow to be away fro the house and her aunts, but he just feels so "hot and awful" that he decides to go explore further around the hill than he is used to and allowed, and so stumbles upon and mysterious old man.


The road of trials
As soon as James enter the peach he finds himself with new friends, the insects, and struggles to completely adapt and understand them. Whats more, then the "ship"(as the insects called the peach)moves from England to New York bringing James lots of adventures that he is not used to.

Blog entry #9

        As I previously stated, I am going to examine James quest in the Giant Peach with Joseph Campell's mono myth approach. In addition I will also take a look at some basic archetypes which I consider important to look at with the approach of Pearson's basic archetype system and little bit of Jungian and Freudian symbolism.

        Examining Carol Pearson's heroic archetypes I would say that James, the principal character in Roald Dahl's novel James and the Giant Peach  has the archetype of an orphan. James is clearly an orphan because in the novel his parents died eaten by a rhino that escaped from the zoo. More else, I also believe he is also a mixed type of orphan with a wanderer archetype`, as he is isolated of society by his wicked pair of aunts(anima-witches), who beat him and threat him really bad and as a result  ,as  a form to escape from his loneliness and pain he loves to wander around  the house in the hill, always looking to find something new and exiting until one day a mysterius old man gives James magical talismans that will forever change James Life.

Blog Entry #8: Aproach

I will be using Joseph Campell's  Monomyth and some archetypes of Pearson Heroic Archetypes to help me better understand the quest of Turin Turambar  in his quest to save Arda (earth) form the hands of Morgoth.
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I will be using Joseph Campell's monomyth and some archetypes of Pearson's Heroic Archetypes to help me better understand the adventures of James and the Giant peach.More else I want to follow Campell's mono myth and to better understand the read use some general symbology according to the situations. Finally I want to use some interpretations of Jung and Freud regarding developmental psychology, the mind and phases of development in children.

Blog Entry 7: My Book Choice

(Changed for James and the Giant Peach)
 The book of my choice for the project is The children of Hurin (Narn i Chîn Húrin) by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien which was compiled and edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.
     The reason for which I picked this book is that I started reading the first book of the lord of the rings just some weeks before the premier of the movie so I really got into the amazing fantasy world of Tolkien to later finish the trilogy and also read the Silmarillion. And so, with the occasion to pick a fantasy novel for class I see this as a perfect opportunity to immerse myself into middle earth again or perhaps should I say  the first age of middle earth as the book seems to explain the adventures of Turin a hero that fought to free the alliance from the hands of Morgoth and also to understand the situation in middle earth (Arda) several centuries before the adventures of Frodo and the Hobbits.
      More over the book seems to be an interesting and peculiar work to examine under the lenses of symbolic interpretations and archetypes.




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          My new book of choice is titled James and the Giant Peach , written by british author Roald Dahl. I choose this book, because before choosing J.R.R talkien book The children of Hurin I found this book at La Guardia library and really liked the title and the front page image as it  really called my attention because of the giant peach ,one of my favorite fruits.

          Later on, after choosing The children of Hurin I realized that the novel was going to take me more time to read than what I first had expected and I realized that I would end up not doing a really good job with it. And so, I realized that I would rather read James and the giant peach because it seemed somewhat shorter and not so complicated as The Children of Hurin but nonetheless, very intriguing as just the title and the image really called my attention.

         James and the Giant Peach , is about James an 8 year old boy who lost his parents when he was 4 by a Rhino who escaped from the zoo park and ate them. And so, as an orphan he was taken with her two wicked aunts who
 lived on a hill far away from the city, he was then
 treated like a slave and could not
leave his house in the hill.

       One day a mysterious old man appeared and gave James a bag
that contained magical small green seed like talismans ,and told him to
 eat them as they will make his life happier. After the mysterious old man
 left, James ran to his house, but before arriving near an old peach three ,
he stumbled across a rock and felt. Consequently, the magical green talismans
 flew over the whole peach three and James became very sad. The next
morning when he went outside his house and much to his surprise he
found that giant peach had grown from the old peach three and he was
decided to explore how could this had happen, and what kind of magic
did the giant peach possessed.