Annoted 6

Summary:
            In this reading by Vogler, he discusses the crossing of the threshold by the hero.  The hero crosses the threshold in the second act when he is fully commited to the adventure.  Once the hero has crossed the threshold there is no turning back.  Vogler gives the analogy that crossing the threshold is like jumping out of a plane, once you jump there is no going back.  Once the hero makes the leap over the threshold, he is then thrown into the special world.  In order for the hero to cross the threshold he must first get passed the threshold guardian.  The guardian is a powerful and useful archetype.  They pop up to block the way and test the hero at any point in the story, but they tend to cluster around doorways, gates, and narrow passages of threshold crossings.  Vogler also tells us that sometimes threshold guardians and turn into allies for the hero.  Sometimes it is easy to point out where the threshold crossing is because in Westerns the threshold is clearly marked by a river or border crossing.  In addition once the hero has crossed the threshold, the screen on a movie or curtain in a theater will become dark or close signifying the plot and scenery is changing.  Once the hero enters what Campbell calls “A dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms where he mush survive a succession of trials,” or the special word, he becomes a beginner.  The hero no matter how powerful in the ordinary world is now the lowest in the special world.  The most important part of the special world is testing.  Either the mentor or the villain will set up the test for the hero.   While in the special world the hero can also gain a sidekick or a comical sidekick.  The sidekick’s job is to help the hero on his adventure.  The hero also encounters a rival who is the hero’s competition in spots, love, business or some other enterprise.  The hardest part for the hero to adjust to in the special world is the new rules that are in place that he must learn and follow.  The hero also must determine where the good local bars are in order to pick up gossip that he will need to help him complete his adventure. 

 

Reflection:  In the metamorphosis I still have a hard time identifying who is what archetype.  If Gregor is the hero his threshold to cross is being able to be comfortable in his new body, around his family, and finding out how to get around and make himself happy.  In Offshore Pirate Ardita’s threshold is when she must decide weather to go with the “pirates” and if she should fall in love with him, and also if she should run away with him.  The ally that Ardita gains is her uncle, had he not interfered, Ardita would never have fallen in love with a good man.  In Indian Camp the doctor doesn’t have to learn or become familiar with new rules. 

 

Reaction: In these chapters I found it really hard to relate them to some of the stories we read.  I still have a hard time deciding where A Good Man is Hard to Find, fits into any of the archetypes.  I found it strange that the threshold guardian can also be an ally to the hero.  I would have thought that anyone that was going to hold the hero back would not end up helping him.  I also found it strange that the hero will receive most of his information to help him along his adventure from people in a bar.  I guess I understand that since there are a lot of town’s people there that they will be informative but a just thought a bar was a silly place.  

Annoted 5

Summary:  
            In Vogler’s text we read about the refusal of the call and meeting with the mentor.  The refusal of the call is the halt on the road before the journey has really started and serves an important dramatic function of signaling the audience that the adventure is risky.  The text talks about how the hero usually takes the time to think about all his choices and weigh the consequences and either refuses the call or is willing to stake his life against the possibility of winning the goal.  Vogluer also talked about how more heroes hesitate to accept the call because of past experience, but that the hero eventually become ready to accept the call once a family member is kidnapped or dies.  Vogler talks about how the excuses the hero uses to refuse the call are temporary roadblocks usually over come by the urgency of the quest.  Vogler also talks about if a hero is persistent and constantly refuses the call to adventure by looking back and dwelling on the past and denying reality they that hero leads himself into be a tragic hero.  Sometimes the refusal of the call to adventure is good when the call is trying to lure the hero onto the evil side, and when the hero refuses the evil call it allows him to accept the right call to adventure.  There are also willing heroes who accept or even south out the call to adventure, Propp calls the m seekers rather than victimized heroes.  Sometimes the supporting characters are the ones who give insight to the audience about how the dangerous the adventure will be since the hero is willing and doesn’t thing about the consequences, the supporting character is killed or ties to convince the hero to abandon the adventure because it is too dangerous. If not a supporting character then the mentor will try to persuade the hero to not go on the adventure, while other mentor help guide their heroes to the adventure.  Some of the mentors help the heroes but warn them not to cross the boundaries they set for the hero, which is known as the secret door.  The hero can have help and magical powers from the mentor as long as they follow the rules but the hero inevitably always will open the secret door.  The mentor can also be known as the provider or donor according to Propp, he says that the mentor is responsible for protecting, guiding, teaching, testing, training, and providing magical gifts to the hero.  In addition to the mentor there is also a centaur Chiron, which is a prototype for all wise old men and women.  It is a strange mix of man and horse, which guides many of the Greek heroes to the adventures. 

 

Reflection:
I think that the way that Propp named the hero as either a seeker or a victimized hero is a good way of working it.  I think in the metamorphosis that Gregor, is definitely the victimized hero, he didn’t choose or seek out to be turned into a bug he was in a way victimized when he was turned into a bug without his knowledge and work up having to find himself transformed.  However, I think that Carlyle from the offshore pirate was a seeker, hero, he sought out his own adventure to make Ardita fall in love with him.  I don’t really see in either Indian Camp, or The Offshore Pirate’s heroes trying to make excuses as to why they cant make the journey or adventure.  Also in the store Indian camp, who what the mentor to the father, as the hero, and what special tools, guidance, or powers did they give him in order to help the woman give birth?  In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find I think that the grandmother would be the hero and that she does remember her past experiences which are what holds her back from wanted to go on the adventure into a city where there might be a murderer, and she happens to be right and her whole family is killed. 

 

Reaction:
I agree with the fact that there are willing, unwilling and tragic heroes.  When I think of a tragic hero, I don’t exactly think of a hero if the character never wants to go on the adventure and is always making excuses and is afraid and turns into a tragic hero, I don’t exactly understand what he did that was heroic.  I understand that the unwilling heroes need a little push or self-motivation in order to want to take on the adventure, and I am still confused as to why the motivation always has to be the death or kidnapping of a family member.  If the common ground for refusal of the call is past experience why cant past experience also be the reason that the hero accepts the call?  I think that the past experience would help motivate the hero to not want the same thing to happen again to himself or to anyone else, giving them the reason to accept the call to adventure. 

 

Questions:
1. When the hero breaks the secret door law, is the outcome always negative?
2. Shouldn’t the hero be well versed and not afraid to accept the call to adventure if he has been on adventures in the past?
3. Does a tragic hero ever actually accept the call to adventure and if so do they usually finish the task at hand?