“The Journey is the reward”: Discuss the truth of this statement using the core text, with one piece of text from the BOS booklet together with two pieces of related material. All issues are to speak in relation to Sally Morgan’s inner journey. The inner journey is a concept that has always been debated, and so has its meaning. The word inner’ has the alternative meaning of personal. Moreover, the word journey has an alternative meaning of movement. So, the concept of the inner journey, customarily, has the meaning of a personal movement.
Inner journeys have often been described as the metaphor behind a physical journey. The statement Journey is the reward’ and the idea of a personal movement are depicted in the texts, My Place by Sally Morgan, The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, The Transall Saga and Pay it Forward. My Place’ is the autobiographical story, in which Sally Morgan’s family refuses to accept their aboriginality.
It was the persistent attitudes of the family which prompted Sally to commence on her journey of self discovery. The poem The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost also revolves around the theme of the inner journey. The poem is based of a man’s recollection of decision that he once made and its ramifications. The novel The Transall Saga’ by Gary Paulson, is the fictional survival story about Mark’ and his adventure after he was transported to a foreign world by a mysterious blue light. Finally, the film, Pay It Forward’, is about a boy named Trevor McKinney and new found thoughts about the world after having been given a social studies assessment. This essay will highlight how all four texts portray the truth in the statement The Journey is the reward.’My Place is an autobiographical story by Sally Morgan. Sally was raised in an Aboriginal family which always denied their Aboriginality. Sally is the one who goes on a physical journey in order to discover her true family heritage and identity, which leads to a much more intricate inner journey. The road to enlightenment was not easy. She came across many obstacles and most of those came from her own family. Throughout the story the respondent is left wondering the reason behind the family’s silence towards each other. This statement only reinforces the idea that the core text, My Place, clearly depicts how the journey is the reward.
Sally Morgan uses a wide range of different techniques to convey her physical and internal movement to disclose her family heritage and her own identity. The book itself is structured in a completely original format. Sally has managed to make her story stand out by separating each individual story, thus, the book is separated into her own story, her Uncle Arthur’s story, her mother’s story and finally, her grandmother’s story.
It must be noted that inner journeys are plagued with choices, and this is a truth and reality that no one can escape. As Robert Frost says in The Road Not Taken’, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.’In Sally’s quest for information, she met a lady called Elsie’ who gave her a great depth and insight into her Grandmother and the past. In Sally’s mind, her journey was definitely rewarded and this made her feel full inside’. Sally’s mother, Gladys, had also found an new sense of fulfillment which completed her as a whole, because she was previously only half a person’. For Sally, it was her determination and stubborn’ nature which meant that she was rewarded, because in her heart she realized that unless the family went on such an epic journey we never would have known our place’. Sally said What had begun as a tentative search for knowledge had grown into a spiritual and emotional pilgrimage’. This journey of self discovery, enlightenment and acceptance, were all key discerning factors in how, for Sally, the journey was a rewarding experience. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, is another text which represents how the journey, alone, can be a rewarding experience. The Road Not Taken, is the poem about a man who is exploring the choices that he once had, as he made his journey through lfe. It is the brevity of the poem which represents the complexity of the decision that had to be made. In the composers inner journey, he speakes with an element of regret, which is represented in the line, sorry I could not travel both’.
The line and looked down one as far as I could’ shows that the traveller was weighing up his choices. Just as in My Place, Sally, was also faced with the task of weighing up her choices and the certain ramifications that would follow. Sally, on her journey for the truth, and Robert Frost, on his life’s journey, both took the road less traveled’. It was by taking the road less travled, that gave both parties the knowledge that their choices had made all the difference’. In summation, The Road Not Taken is another example of how the journey is the reward’. The Transall Saga by Gary Paulson, is the story of Mark Harrison’s camping trip into the dessert which soon leads to disaster. On Mark’s trip, a mysterious blue light transports him to another world, and he is then faced with the task of testing his skills against adversity in order to find his way home. This is yet another text, where by the lead character has to make difficult choices, and in Mark’s case, the sooner the better. Mark’s inner journey gave him the power to see that blue light’ was responsible for him being in this world, and is no doubt, the only way back to earth and home’. For Mark, the journey was the reward, for when he was told that the light strikes radomly, he began to see that life in this world wasn’t so bad’. Mark began see that through his journey he had made new friends, and to him these friendships were definelty a reward. This is more evidence to suggest that there is truth in the statement The journey is the reward’. Pay it forward, directed by Mimi Leder, is the film about an unusual’ year 7 social studies student, Trevor McKinney. The storyline evolves after Mr. Simonet, played by Kevin Spacey, gives the class a yearly assessment. At this point in the film, the inner journeys of the students begin as they ponder over the possibility of one idea changing the world. Trevor is instantly captivated when Mr. Simonet says the realm of possibility exists within each of you’. This statement is what enlightens Trevor to the bright side of such an experience and is the beginning of Mr. Simonet’s referent power over Trevor. Trevor created the idea of doing a life changing favour for three people then asking them to do the same process to three more people, thus the concept of Pay it Forward’. Trevor began to realize that his system was excellent when he noticed that people cannot always see what they want’ and that you can fix a person’. However, there were obstacles which needed to be faced. For instance, Trevor was told that his idea was Overly Utopian’. Trevor’s reward was in the journey, for his journey created ‘pay it forward’, the very system which brought his family back together. In conclusion, My Place, The Road Not Taken, The Transall Saga and Pay It Forward, are all texts which connote the message that there is truth in the statement, The journey is the reward’. My Place shows how Sally was able to discover her heritage, and more importantly, her identity. For Sally her journey payed of by meeting a whole new set of relatives and past family friends. The Road Not Taken, is a poem which vividly and subtly shows the respondent that all of lifes choices are important. The poem also tells us that he should never come back’ to change his decision. Sally is under similar circumstances, for she cannot go back on some of her decisions. The Transall Saga told us how Mark changed his personal perspective on life and his physical appearance. The reward that Mark received while on his journey was meeting people, and then receiving respect from these savages’. Pay it Forward, was the movie which enlightened the respondent into basic human nature, and to some extent what is wrong with the world. Trevor’s inner journey enabled him to discover that people can change and that the world may not be such a lost cause after all.
Cite this Inner Journeys of Fictional Characters
Inner Journeys of Fictional Characters. (2019, Feb 21). Retrieved from https://graduateway.com/inner-journeys-of-fictional-characters/