Blog Entry # 14: Final Essay , option 2

       As human beings we have an intrinsic need of certainty, a feeling that asks to know what is the case. In the complexity of out psychology we encounter ourselfs asking many questions and trying to process all the perception our senses gives us. As a result ,under the lenses of Freud and Jung, all and more that we cannot process in the conscious mind  is absorbed by the subconscious.And so, it is here in the unknown part of our psyche were all of our deepest desires and fears reside, and so out of a need to communicate and express all of this sometimes our consciousness mind is able to interpret aspects of this side. And so, in mixed form of creativity mixed with reality, we express the ideas of supernatural beings. Also, the idea of the non known aspect of our self ,resembles the unknown or strange form and traits of supernatural beings some amazing, some scary, some mysterious.

      As I have seen in James and the Giant Peach the insects that live in the giant peach are seven , just as how old James is and they integrate into James life and pro-pulsate to do things he does not normally do. This can be seen as the mind(the giant peach) ,and the giant insects are psychological aspects of James that are trying to express themselves or more specifically on the aspect that the author Roald Dahl named weather consciously or not to James Henry Trotter was trying to express as an orphan. Interestingly enough Roald Dahl was an orphan, but to have feeling of being an orphan and resemble an archetype does not necessarily required to be an orphan.

      So as we can see our perception of the subconscious can only be attained in a very creative and emotional way,yes a form of neurosis very contrary to the logic mind but nonetheless process by it to make sense out of it. But its more than just a form of neurosis its form of understanding.When I see a monster, I see a fear or aspect that creates us great anxiety and affects our instinct of self preservation. However , in stories like the one of Spirited away we see how the main character Chihiro at first is terrified of the monsters and ghosts but as the film goes on she then starts to adapt and transcend that fear and is able to look them face to face.It is an exploration of our fears and how to find ways to integrate them and see their positive side in order to transcended them.Other examples could be zombies, supernatural beings like zombies in games such as resident evil or T.V series as The walking dead could be symbols from ourselves that we are becoming dead alive or loosing consciousnesses and eating each other with our actions or not actions that are damaging society and the planet, they can also resemble fear of dieying. I believe there are several patterns that fit in the collective as Jung would suggest but I also believe that we create special monsters based on our special deep emotions, just examining Spirited Away I could see so much different monsters, some good, some bad, some with out apparent gender, others male or female,some happy or sad and so on , all with special traits that are not of "common" superntarual beings such as barewolfs , vampires or else.

        More over, this need of expression can also be analyzed by philosophy, more exactly by existentialism among the many concepts that it can be applied to.In the case of Friedric Nietzche on his book  Beyond good and evil(1886), explains how there is not a real good or an real evil but a judgment of it and so that by somehow changing our judgment into something bad and seing its positive side we can integrate and at the same time trascend this fear a pretty clear example of Chihiro and her fears.  More else, beyond fear, we have more desires, for example we all want to "shine" and be the hero and be like gods and so we express it in forms of superheros, like Sea men  resembling his need to coexist with his emotions (water) and be respected. The giant baby in spirited away for example is a fear of growing up, giant and becoming independent, and having more desires (sexual organs) but then Chihiro the hero , somehow with Haku the spirt of the river help him get out of his limbo, and grow up. So Chihiro with Haku are heros in the sense that they are critical keys to safe and help some of our instincts. Also adolecents today seem obsessed with vampires and blood an touch and bare wolfs, clearly an expression of their hormones and revelious feelings and actions in order to differentiate themselves from their parents.

   Other reasons could involve that these creatures exist in parallels universes, that they have existed and are saved in the hard drive of our collective memory and also that they are way to have fun and we create them to entertain us....in any case they deeply impact our lifes. All and all, supernatural creatures resemble deeply hidden aspects of oursefs and are key to understand what lies behind the curtain. Honestly , by exploring ,Campell, Pearson, Freud and Jung this semester and all the supernatural creatures and archetypes and the mono myth and symbolism I have came to understand my self better. This class have been quite a journey since it has been a literally a form of psychotherapy that has helped me transcend many fears that brought me pain, and understand and accept other aspects of myself.More else, it involved philosophy and psychology which was amazing. In conclusion ,one way to look at supernatural beings is that they are an efluct of our subconsciousness teaching us what aspects of our lifes we have to work and on most importantly how.

Blog Entry # 13: Clean Draft

 Embracing 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.

 A magical Giant peach that serves as a ship for amazing  adventures is the central symbol in Roald Dahl's 1961 children novel James and the Giant Peach. One day after having spilled magical crocodile tongues around an old peach tree , young James founds that a Giant Peach had grown from the old three. Dying out of curiosity 7 years old orphan James enters inside the  huge peach and much to his surprise finds that 7 giant insects were waiting for him to embark into amazing adventures across the Atlantic over to New York City from his native land England.

English writer Roald Dahl(1916-1990) rose in the 1940´s with works for both children and adults that were characterized by dark humor and unexpected endings. Dahl was a pilot for the British air force during world war II, a poet, screenwriter and short story writer. Dahl first became recognized 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 children with his first book being  The Gremlins(1943) based on creatures that the British air force told in joke to be the ones that caused damages in their airplanes when these were not working well. Moreover, he then started to focus on fantasy books for children characterized for orphans and their hero's quest with works such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(1964), Matilda(1988) and James and the Giant Peach(1961). Many of his works were turn into film scripts such as Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory(film, 1971), You only live twice(film,1967) and Matilda(film,1996). After some years in his career he became known as one of the most important authors of children books in British literature and in 2008 The Times placed Dahl in the list of the "50 greatest writers since 1935".


 James and the Giant Peach, published in 1961 tells the story of 10 years old James Henry Trotter. James becomes an orphan when he is 4 due to a magical rhino eating his parents. As a result, he is forced to move to live with her two evil aunts, aunt spiker and aunt sponge9Anima witches according to Freud) in an isolated hill far away from society.  One day, out of need to find a refuge of his immense boredom and loneliness of living in the hill and the pain that his wicked aunts bring him, young James decides to explore what is beyond the fence of the house. Suddenly, a mysterious odd looking old man appears and tells James that he has something for him, something that will change his life for good. And so the old man gives James magical green talismans that he calls "crocodile tongues" and then dissapears. Enthusiastically James takes the talismans and runs to his aunts house, but when in the process he felts near an old dying peach three. The next day what young orphan James founds is and amazingly huge peach!. And so, dying out of curiosity he explores the peach and finds out there is a n opening the get inside under it. Much to his surprise, he then finds 7 giant insects that where waiting for him to embark into amazing adventures in the ship (as the insects call the peach).


James and the Giant Peach contains very archetypal symbols resembling how children start their process into becoming a mature(fruition and a ready to eat Peach could symbolize this) and finding his own identity. An interesting way to look at children and adolescent stories is to see how they serve as an educational medium to help children and adolescents understand complex but natural phases in life. As we can see in Freud's work on the developmental stages on children,the Phallic stage between the third and six year of child resemble how children start connecting with their sexuality an instincts and how they fear they would damage their relationship with their parents, specially with the parent of the same sex.Therefore, the Rhino(Phallic symbol) that eats James parents can see as an unconscious fear that divides ,in the mind of a child the relation ship with his parents leaving the child as an orphan. More else, the peach as a ship or womb like symbol in the story resembles an Edipo complex of trying to hide under the love of a mother.


What's more, Pearson's ,version of 6 archetypes (As seen in The Hero Whitin) depicts in a very fantasy like form the development of a child in maturity and at the same time of a wanderer into finding himself, and of an orphan to become self sufficient. Consequently ,Joseph Compels has to be included due to the orderly fashion that represents the mono-myth showing a pattern of growth in to apotheosis, or becoming a god or a creator that is self sufficient in the world. What´s more, several books that include this approach to developmental psychology do not have to limit themselves to children, that is because adults can find in the stories patterns of development of situations in their life's and so children books and movies like The nightmare before chrismas (1993), Spirited Away(2001) and Shrek(2001) are some examples of works that have become very popular among both children and adults.


James character on the novel is clearly an orphan archetype according to Pearson archetypical system but when he becomes tired of being alone and mistreated by his aunts, he then also assumes the role of a wanderer.As Campell´s Archetypical system explains wanderers are born out of orphans ,who pushed by the Burton of loneliness and pain start looking for themselves in order to become self sufficient, which again fits with development psychology as one becomes self sufficient as an adult. 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 desperate for company "I feel so bored and alone, couldn't we just go to the beach just once auntie?"(pg 45) and for a need of an identity outside the one of an slave orphan that his wicked aunts give him. 


Under Campell´s view, James fits perfectly under the pattern of the "hero´s Journey " into a "quest" in the mono myth (see The hero with a thousand faces). James hears the call for adventures, crosses several thresh holds including the limit to explore around the hill that her aunts order him to obey and the fresh hole of "going under the rabbit hole" in order to enter the giant peach, faces tests and trials and finally returns to his real home as more mature individual,who has find an identify and is more independent.

As a orphan who saw his aunts as his only parental figure and after being punished and denied permission to explore and have friends,James then assumes the role of a wanderer. Most wanderers are born out of orphans as is the case of James who not being able to tolerate being alone and abused the suddenly seeks adventures and starts to explore the outer parts of the hills in order to find something he does not know, perhaps an identify. 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 declare independence and explore, or obey and remain orphan. Clearly he is loosing his innocence in order to grow up, loosing the innocence and the same time naivety of not being self sufficient when he can already be it.


James and The Giant peach fit perfectly in Campells Mono myth structure or Heroes quest (As in Campelss, Here with a thousand faces). James is pushed into adventure by his own desire to find himself and explore whats outside,and so he hears "the call for adventure" as he crosses the boundaries established by her aunts that are physically invisible but completely based on his fear orphan and ignorance about the power of his own autonomy.He then embarks into adventures with tests and surprises that he never thought could happen to later return home more stringer ,confident and mature, this time having found his own value and having explored and transcended most of the pain of being an orphan to become more mature and independent.

At an archetypical orphan, James resembles a very innocent one(the previews archetype  in the list according to Campell), 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 perhaps does not understand as he has already adapted to  the isolated and abusive environment. What marks a the break of his innocence into a more rebellious James, is when the denial of his aunts (quote) for him to explore and be a child create to much pain in James hearth,(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 journey into becoming self sufficed by revealing to his by then accepted reality of loneliness, abuse and grief. After unconsciously reveling to his aunts orders to not wander around the hill(by crossing the hill limit he is crossing the threshold of innocence), because the common feeling of an orphan to live in limbo (belly of the whale under the pattern of Campell´s Monomyth) James then seeks excitement.

In the process of growing up and transcending being an orphan, the individual 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 excitement to later find the Giant peach. Surprisingly, when James decides to enter the peach in awe, he finds 7 insects (The sword masters who reflect James identity and teach him aspects of themselves, 7 years of age and seven insects resembling the wisdom acquired) that had also growth big due to the magic talisman the old man gave to James and that he accidental thrown near the peach three. The 7 insects 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 (A threshold)and meets the insects he begins a metamorphosis where he little by little starts to take them as friends and role models . And as chapter by chapter James becomes closer to the insects ,he becomes more interesting and full of surprises, it seems that the insects give James the reflection needed to create or find his own identify.


It is interesting to note that a peach that contains psychological elements (the insects) can be symbolized as James mind, and aspects of his personality that have or are developing. And the "crocodile tongues"(The Talismans according to Campell´s monomyth) that pushed the growth of the peach or"mind" of James could clearly resemble hormones and a natural need to grow up. In several cultures crocodiles resemble instincts,even brain anatomy looks at the reptilian brain or amygdala as the part  that controls emotions and instincts. What´s more the "tongues" are a symbol of speech and communication, and the color green of a yes or pass signal just like in traffic lights. So the talismans could be seen as the passing signal that instincts via the hormones are communication James psychology and body to "Grow Up".


And so , James adventures with his new friends starts when the peach starts to roll down the hill into the sea and to cross over to New York. The sea also resembles in Jungian psychology the subconsciousness mind, so as we can see the story shows us how we are going more deeply into James mind in order to find answers and integrate psychological aspects in order to become an independent person and finally "grow up" in maturity level. Once in the sea according to Campell´s mono myth, the set of trials start.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 role model to the insects who praise him for his wisdom and are very nervous to the events unfolding. And so the insects with fear of having nothing to eat or drink are scared of dying out of hunger and dehydration.The next test, resembling again the need for nurture of an orphan symbolized by Freud as the need for food ,unfolds.Because of the insects are scared to die out of hunger and dehydration, 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 fulfill that empty space of the need of an orphan for care with emotion which is symbolized under Freudian psychology resemble as food and liquid also symbolizes emotion.

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 subconsciousness 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 eat the peach in order to sunk it and eat the members. Therefore, with 7 insects that see James as clever smart person,he is pushed to take the role of a warrior. Consequently ,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 attracted to the centipede as balloons o lift off. He then proofs to the insects and himself that he is a string warrior that can solve critical situations. The sharks can symbolize fear to be eat out or taken over by life which is the reason he accepted being abused by his aunts in the first place. Therefore,James transcends this fear by finally taking the role of a independent creator of his life or someone who thinks for himself.


The Sea gulls  represent the freedom he is catching with the tools he gets from his new acquired /developed psychological aspects(Rescue from with out/ Magic Flight, Campell´s Monomyth). He gets a freedom from his fears (sharks) and flies to see a larger perspective of himself. Following, James and the insects find the "cloud men" who manipulate weather from above, and the centipede (aspect of being preponderant) insults them, angered the cloud men trow a big hail of storm to them and the peach gets damaged leaking juice and breaking a bit in pieces. As we can see there is a limit in freedom (flying) and James must respect nature and his own limits (sky is the limit, white cloud man) or else he will get hurt because he asked for it (centipede).


Following, the the next day at down the severely damaged "ship" and its members find themselves in the middle of a city with skyscrapers!. Then they end up passing by empire state, the "the highest building in the world" by the time, and seeing the whole city with astonishment. Sky scrappers, a symbol of power and something firm and powerful are what James wanted to see since he was a little boy when his parents told him about New York and highest building in the world. So by being in the top of the world James had finally find himself as someone powerful and with a firm personality he now had a higher perspective about life and was completely changed. Also the firefly fought to the torch of the statue of liberty and lighted with its light, clearly symbolizing freedom, the freedom James had acquired out of the pain and dependence of an orphan,and  the inability to realize his own powerful self as a wanderer.


Finally , the peach lands in the middle of central park where James lives with his friends the insects and makes the peach a museum, were he mainly resides and meets a lot of children and is happy ,marking his return into "home"(Campell's Monomyth end). As for the insects they are still James friends but they become good at they want to, some of them become famous artists, others make a lot of money and all are happy. At the end James makes a museum out of the peach becuase he now understands his mind ,himself and is proud of it!. More else he is not afraid to share what he is with others and so he makes a lot of friends. An lives happily in the middle of a city, (crazy powerful world) but in the park and in the peach (himself, with conviction,being independent and knowing his own power) . All and all, James and the Giant Peach resembles the psychological development of children into finding an identity and becoming independent. With the separation of his parents, the initiation into his own power, and his return to being happy, we see the pattern of development of children and how James became self sufficient ,transcending the orphans pain, and found himself as an strong and valuable individual and so also transcending the wanderer confusion and quest for an identity.

Bibliography

Dahl, Roadl. James and the Giant Peach. United Kingdom: Alfred A. Knopf, In. ,1961.

 

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Princeton UP, 1973.

Dahl, Roald. www.roalddahl.com , website. May,7,2012

Freud Sigmund . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud ,Wikipedia article, development phases. May,2,2012

Pearson, Carol. Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to help us Find Ourselves and Transform the World.  New York: Harper One. 1991.

Pearson, Carol. The Hero Within: Six Archetypes we Live By. 3rd Edition. New York: Harper One, 1986.

See also:
-Freud, Sigmound. Article on developmental phases.
http://www.kidsdevelopment.co.uk/freudsdevelopmentaltheory.html

Jung, Carl, Wikipedia article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious 

Blog Entry # 12 : Readable 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.

   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.


   English writer Roald Dahl(1916-1990) 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. After some years in his career he become known as one of the most important authors of children books in British literature.


              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.

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.

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.


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.

Finally , the peach lands in the middle of central park where James lives with his friends the insects and makes the peach a museum, were he mainly recides and meets a lot of children and is happy ,marking his return into "home"(Campell's Monomyth end). As for the insects they are still James friends but they become good at they want to, some of them become famous artists, others make a lot of money and all are happy. At the end James makes a museum out of the peach becuase he now understands his mind ,himself and is proud of it!. More else he is not afraid to share what he is with others and so he makes alot of frinds. An lives happiliy in the middle of a city, (crazy powerfull world) but in the park and in the peach (himself, with conviction,being independend and knowing his own power) . All and all, James and the Giant Peach resembles the psycological development of children into finding an identidy and becomeing independent. With the separation of his parents, the intiation into his own power, and his return to being happy, we see the pattern of development of children and how James became self sufficient ,transcending the orphans pain, and found himself as an strong and valuable individual and so also transcending the wanderer confusion and quest for an identity..

 

Bibliography

Freud Sigmund . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud ,Wikipedia article, development phases. May,2,2012

Pearson, Carol. Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to help us Find Ourselves and Transform the World.  New York: Harper One. 1991.

Pearson, Carol. The Hero Within: Six Archetypes we Live By. 3rd Edition. New York: HarperOne, 1986.

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.