No! My essay is uber crappy!... Well, here it is... don't laugh at me. I did this in one night.
Essay Draft:
Argue that the Concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum. + something about the significance of journeys.
The significance of Journeys lies in the exploration of the self, as individuals grow and develop through experiences which challenge and inspire them. In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, the paths in the woods and forks in the roads are metaphors for our life journey and the dilemma of making choices. Through this experience, the speaker reflects upon himself and realizes that the impact of his decision will be felt for a very long time, stressing the life-altering significance of his journey. Victor Kelleher’s “The Ivory Trail” Cover shows that journeys are a catalyst for self exploration, and consequently didactic, accenting the significance of the concept of journeys. “Big World” by Tim Winton reveals that self exploration and the consequential growth and development occur through journeys containing experiences which challenge and inspire. Therefore, the concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum.
Paths presented to us in our life journey are determined by an inseparable accretion of probability and choice, for which the reverberations are life-altering and irreversible. In the third stanza of Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, the paths are described as “both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black”. The un-trodden leaves on the roads are a metonym for the lack of traffic. The roads are thus equally traveled and are identical, representing the indistinct yet severe consequences of decisions in our life journey.“The road not taken” reflects the diffidence and strain of remorse present in the mind when making an uncertain and irrevocable choice. Anaphora is used, mainly in the first stanza with the repetition of ‘and’ in, “And sorry…And be… And looked…”. This creates a stream of consciousness effect, where emphasis is placed on the lack of a definitive basis for decision-making, which forces the speaker to continually second-guess himself. This uncertainty shows the speakers trepidation when he is fraught with being uninformed of the irreversible repercussions of his decisions, highlighting the significance of his life-altering journey. The use of hyperbole in “ages and ages hence”, also shows that the single choice he makes in his journey will have a great impact, and be of significance in the future. These identical forks symbolize our freedom to choose, although, with ignorance of the possible ramifications of those choices. In this way, “The road not taken” shows that journeys are of life-altering significance. Therefore, the concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum.
Journeys create self exploration through experiences of danger and foreboding, ensuing development of insight and understanding. At the top right corner of “The Ivory Trail” Cover, a tagline “not all journeys have an ending” is written in a dark background. The tagline alludes to the idea that journeys are sinister and may not have a conventional ending, while the dark background adds a sense of blindness representing the uncertainty of journeys. This adds to the idea that journeys are dangerous and foreboding. This shows that there are journeys have catalysts for personal development. Of the three human figures on the cover page, the uppermost is merely a sliver of black, in roughly humanoid shape, the second is the stone face in the pyramid, and the last is the face in the rippling sand at the bottom. Their eyes which are a metonym representing insight cannot be seen in the upper figure. However, in the second figure, eyes are quite evident, although it is blank, and made of stone. Finally, the last figure has realistic eyes, which are exposed and fixated on something outside the cover, again adding to a sense of uncertainty and curiosity. Consequently, in the Ivory trails cover, the metonym of the eyes reflects the significant development of insight and maturity through journeys. Therefore, the concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum.
Through experiences of challenge and inspiration overcome on journeys, individuals grow and develop, attaining self-realization. After their car breaks down in “Big World”, the protagonist is left with an inability to change situation, and thinks with resignation, “In the end… it’s obvious we’re not going anywhere.” The physical journey has stopped at this stage. However, this opens up a period of unoccupied time allowing for the protagonist to reflect upon himself, his experiences and the destinations of his journey. “I’ll be one the bus… for a second chance at the exams. In a year Biggie will be dead… [Tony Macoli] is Australia’s richest merchant banker.” Acknowledging that his path diverges from the path of his friends is a key factor for allowing the protagonist to grow and develop an understanding of his true self. When the protagonist first began his friendship with Biggie, there had been a violent rescue of the protagonist from bullies. The protagonist describes it as, “I felt like somebody ransomed and set free. Until that moment I was disappearing.” The protagonist was losing his self-identity because of bullying. When Biggie overpowered the bullies, Biggie was overpowering one of the protagonist’s major obstacles. “Big World” shows that by overcoming the obstacles, the protagonist finds self-realization, and develops significant maturity and further stability of his self-identity. Therefore, the concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum
Consequently, journeys are significant as they are didactic with often life-altering choices. They induce significant development and growth, reinforcing individuals understanding of their true self. As a result, the concept of Journeys should be retained in the Year 12 Curriculum.
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